Germany network Rtl Deutschland has struck a long-term strategic deal with Wiedemann & Berg Film and the producer’s parent, Leonine Studios.
The multi-year agreement covers free TV and streaming, and means Rtl Deutschland will have exclusive rights to German theatrical releases from the two companies, which produced or co-produced the country’s most successful film in each year between 2020 and 2023.
The pact includes the new comedy Alter Weisser Mann from director Simon Verhoeven starring Jan Josef Liefers, Nadja Uhl, Friedrich von Thun, Michael Maertens, Meltem Kaptan and Elyas M’Barek. It began shooting this month.
The film follows family man Heinz Hellmich, who tries show is ‘wokest’ side and prove he is not an ‘old white man’ to land the job he has longed for. Inviting his boss and colleagues to a dinner party, his family politically correct facade begins to crumble, causing chaos among the guests.
Andreas Fischer, Chief Operating...
The multi-year agreement covers free TV and streaming, and means Rtl Deutschland will have exclusive rights to German theatrical releases from the two companies, which produced or co-produced the country’s most successful film in each year between 2020 and 2023.
The pact includes the new comedy Alter Weisser Mann from director Simon Verhoeven starring Jan Josef Liefers, Nadja Uhl, Friedrich von Thun, Michael Maertens, Meltem Kaptan and Elyas M’Barek. It began shooting this month.
The film follows family man Heinz Hellmich, who tries show is ‘wokest’ side and prove he is not an ‘old white man’ to land the job he has longed for. Inviting his boss and colleagues to a dinner party, his family politically correct facade begins to crumble, causing chaos among the guests.
Andreas Fischer, Chief Operating...
- 4/26/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Crime show “Divided We Stand,” which will premiere in Germany on the public broadcaster Ard on Feb. 22 with the title “Zerv,” screened this week at the European Film Market in the Berlinale Series Market Selects section. World sales are being handled by Beta Film.
The show, based on true events, follows a group of police officers from West Germany who are sent to Berlin to form a special investigations unit, called Zerv, which aims to root out crimes committed in the German Democratic Republic (Gdr) during the Communist era. However, as the officers dig deeper into the crimes in the East they start to find that many of them had originated in the West.
Speaking to Variety, exec producer Gabriela Sperl says the clash of cultures, values and ideologies was not only interesting, but also held the promise of some darkly comic moments as the West Germans try to “teach...
The show, based on true events, follows a group of police officers from West Germany who are sent to Berlin to form a special investigations unit, called Zerv, which aims to root out crimes committed in the German Democratic Republic (Gdr) during the Communist era. However, as the officers dig deeper into the crimes in the East they start to find that many of them had originated in the West.
Speaking to Variety, exec producer Gabriela Sperl says the clash of cultures, values and ideologies was not only interesting, but also held the promise of some darkly comic moments as the West Germans try to “teach...
- 2/15/2022
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Josh Hartnett Starrer ‘The Fear Index,’ ‘False Flag’ S3 to Screen at Berlinale Series Market Selects
“The Fear Index,” starring Josh Hartnett, and the third season of iconic Israeli series “False Flag” will both screen at the Berlinale Series Market Selects, whose lineup was unveiled Tuesday.
The latest from “The Crown” producers Left Bank Pictures, Sky Original “The Fear Index” is billed as a fast-paced, gripping Frankenstein-style parable on the dangers of AI. Based on the Robert Harris novel of the same title, its international sales will be handled by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
Sold by Keshet International, “False Flag” is one of milestone titles that turned Israel’s series into a global brand, with Fox International taking the world on season one at 2015’s Mipcom in its first global acquisition of a foreign-language series.
Season three marks the return of both original series creators, Maria Feldman and Amit Cohen, in a tale which looks set to weave the same web of distrust, deception and sudden twists as the first two seasons.
The latest from “The Crown” producers Left Bank Pictures, Sky Original “The Fear Index” is billed as a fast-paced, gripping Frankenstein-style parable on the dangers of AI. Based on the Robert Harris novel of the same title, its international sales will be handled by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.
Sold by Keshet International, “False Flag” is one of milestone titles that turned Israel’s series into a global brand, with Fox International taking the world on season one at 2015’s Mipcom in its first global acquisition of a foreign-language series.
Season three marks the return of both original series creators, Maria Feldman and Amit Cohen, in a tale which looks set to weave the same web of distrust, deception and sudden twists as the first two seasons.
- 1/18/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Film and TV productions in Germany have come back with gusto following the three-month Covid-19 lockdown earlier this year, albeit under stringent health protection requirements.
Despite a second lockdown in November due to the rise in coronavirus cases, shooting continues around the country, both in studios and on location. Warners’ “Matrix 4,” Sony’s “Uncharted,” Apple TV Plus’ “Foundation” and the Netflix pic “Munich” are among the big international productions that have recently shot in Germany.
At Studio Babelsberg, “Matrix 4” and “Uncharted” recently wrapped after being initially shut down in March. “We are happy that we were able to carry out both productions without any major incidents in the very difficult period after the lockdown and that everything went wonderfully,” says Studio Babelsberg COO Christoph Fisser.
Peter Dinges, CEO of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa), notes that “Matrix 4” in particular was “an absolutely major project for us,...
Despite a second lockdown in November due to the rise in coronavirus cases, shooting continues around the country, both in studios and on location. Warners’ “Matrix 4,” Sony’s “Uncharted,” Apple TV Plus’ “Foundation” and the Netflix pic “Munich” are among the big international productions that have recently shot in Germany.
At Studio Babelsberg, “Matrix 4” and “Uncharted” recently wrapped after being initially shut down in March. “We are happy that we were able to carry out both productions without any major incidents in the very difficult period after the lockdown and that everything went wonderfully,” says Studio Babelsberg COO Christoph Fisser.
Peter Dinges, CEO of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa), notes that “Matrix 4” in particular was “an absolutely major project for us,...
- 12/9/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
German cinema looks set for an exciting year with forthcoming works that include a high-profile Cannes selection celebrating one of Germany’s most iconic filmmakers, an expressionistic thriller set in 1920s Vienna, a tale of Nazi seduction and a new Thomas Mann adaptation.
The Covid-19 pandemic dashed the excitement of a splashy Cannes premiere for Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” part of the festival’s Official Selection, but the film is nevertheless certain to generate buzz with its portrayal of legendary filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and his turbulent film career that spanned 1969 to 1982.
In making the film, Roehler found inspiration in Fassbinder’s own work.
“We didn’t want to do your standard biopic,” says producer Markus Zimmer, managing director of Bavaria Filmproduktion. “I think we did come very close to what Fassbinder would have made out of his own life. We tried to be in line with the artistic...
The Covid-19 pandemic dashed the excitement of a splashy Cannes premiere for Oskar Roehler’s “Enfant Terrible,” part of the festival’s Official Selection, but the film is nevertheless certain to generate buzz with its portrayal of legendary filmmaker Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and his turbulent film career that spanned 1969 to 1982.
In making the film, Roehler found inspiration in Fassbinder’s own work.
“We didn’t want to do your standard biopic,” says producer Markus Zimmer, managing director of Bavaria Filmproduktion. “I think we did come very close to what Fassbinder would have made out of his own life. We tried to be in line with the artistic...
- 6/24/2020
- by Shalini Dore
- Variety Film + TV
The Cannes Marché du Film, along with a sales initiative led by Hollywood agencies, is hosting the first major virtual market since the start of pandemic, starting on June 23. Distributors and sales agents are looking forward to it: the turn-up for the online Cannes Marché du Film is significant with more than 7,000 accredited participants as of mid-June.
“As nobody can leave their house, a virtual market is the next best thing. It’s a valid and worthwhile effort … people need something to initiate interactions. If this virtual market can help in some way to stimulate business that’s a great thing,” says Dylan Leiner at Sony Pictures Classics.
Here’s a look at some key titles for sale:
“Balestra”
Director: Nicole Dorsey
Producers: Pierre Even
A disgraced competitive fencer (Tessa Thompson) is aiming for her Olympic comeback. She receives a prototype device allowing her to extend her training into her...
“As nobody can leave their house, a virtual market is the next best thing. It’s a valid and worthwhile effort … people need something to initiate interactions. If this virtual market can help in some way to stimulate business that’s a great thing,” says Dylan Leiner at Sony Pictures Classics.
Here’s a look at some key titles for sale:
“Balestra”
Director: Nicole Dorsey
Producers: Pierre Even
A disgraced competitive fencer (Tessa Thompson) is aiming for her Olympic comeback. She receives a prototype device allowing her to extend her training into her...
- 6/23/2020
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
By Christopher Stipp
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
The Basketball Diaries - Blu-ray Review
I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it but this is without question the best film Leonardo DiCaprio has ever done.
A story about the young life of Jim Carroll, the film is an abrasive, dark, evocative portrait that showcases DiCaprio as an actor that seamlessly blends into the background of a story that is nothing short of compelling. Now in Blu-ray this is a wonderful chance to revisit a movie that helped Leo be known as an actor to contend with but, I think, the real joy in re-watching this movie is its dealing with drug culture that wasn’t proselytizing in nature but exposed it for what it was.
There was...
The Archives, Right Here
Check out my new column, This Week In Trailers, at SlashFilm.com and follow me on Twitter under the name: Stipp
The Basketball Diaries - Blu-ray Review
I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t believe it but this is without question the best film Leonardo DiCaprio has ever done.
A story about the young life of Jim Carroll, the film is an abrasive, dark, evocative portrait that showcases DiCaprio as an actor that seamlessly blends into the background of a story that is nothing short of compelling. Now in Blu-ray this is a wonderful chance to revisit a movie that helped Leo be known as an actor to contend with but, I think, the real joy in re-watching this movie is its dealing with drug culture that wasn’t proselytizing in nature but exposed it for what it was.
There was...
- 4/16/2010
- by Christopher Stipp
Berlin -- Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" may have missed out on the best foreign film Oscar but the Austrian filmmaker is all but certain to sweep the German Film Awards after "The White Ribbon" received 13 nominations for the country's top prize, the Lolas.
"The White Ribbon" picked up Lola noms in all possible categories, including best film, best director and best acting noms for stars Burghart Klaussner and Susanne Lothar.
Cinematographer Christian Berger, whose stark black-and-white images earned him an Oscar nomination, is the favurite to win the Lola for best cinematography at the German Film Awards on April 23 in Berlin.
"When We Leave," a drama from first-time director Feo Aladag, was the big surprise, earning six Lola nominations including ones for best film and best actress for Sibel Kekilli ("Head-On") in her comeback role as a young woman banished from her devout Muslim family.
Hans-Christian Schmid's...
"The White Ribbon" picked up Lola noms in all possible categories, including best film, best director and best acting noms for stars Burghart Klaussner and Susanne Lothar.
Cinematographer Christian Berger, whose stark black-and-white images earned him an Oscar nomination, is the favurite to win the Lola for best cinematography at the German Film Awards on April 23 in Berlin.
"When We Leave," a drama from first-time director Feo Aladag, was the big surprise, earning six Lola nominations including ones for best film and best actress for Sibel Kekilli ("Head-On") in her comeback role as a young woman banished from her devout Muslim family.
Hans-Christian Schmid's...
- 3/19/2010
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cologne, Germany -- Sonke Wortmann's "Pope Joan" crowned Germany's boxoffice this weekend, one of seven German productions or co-productions to make the top ten.
The Constantin Film production, which stars Johanna Wokalek as a 9th century female pontiff, grossed $4.4 million in its first four days, with 370,000 admissions over 461 theaters. The German-Spanish-Italian co-production was shot in English and also stars John Goodman and David Wenham. Summit Entertainment is handling international sales.
German productions crowded out most imports. Simon Verhoeven's romantic comedy "Men In the City," came in at number three, just behind Disney animated family feature "G-Force." A Warner Bros. release, "Men" stars Christian Ulmen, Til Schweiger and Nadja Uhl and has grossed more than $10 million in its first three weeks.
Besides "G-Force," only two other Hollywood titles made the German top ten: "Up," which came in at number five in its fifth week in release and Sony's romcom "The Ugly Truth,...
The Constantin Film production, which stars Johanna Wokalek as a 9th century female pontiff, grossed $4.4 million in its first four days, with 370,000 admissions over 461 theaters. The German-Spanish-Italian co-production was shot in English and also stars John Goodman and David Wenham. Summit Entertainment is handling international sales.
German productions crowded out most imports. Simon Verhoeven's romantic comedy "Men In the City," came in at number three, just behind Disney animated family feature "G-Force." A Warner Bros. release, "Men" stars Christian Ulmen, Til Schweiger and Nadja Uhl and has grossed more than $10 million in its first three weeks.
Besides "G-Force," only two other Hollywood titles made the German top ten: "Up," which came in at number five in its fifth week in release and Sony's romcom "The Ugly Truth,...
- 10/26/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun’s Daratt (top); Kevin Bishop, Siobhan Hewlett, Marianne Faithfull in Irina Palm (middle); Nadja Uhl, Thekla Reuten in Twin Sisters (bottom) The European Film Academy has announced that the winners of the 2009 Prix Eurimages, an award "acknowledging the decisive role of co-productions in the European film industry," will go to two producers "who have combined their efforts to develop and promote European cinema": Diana Elbaum and Jani Thiltges, heads of, respectively, Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium and Samsa Film in Luxemburg. Additionally, they have joined forces with Patrick Quinet, Sébastien Delloye and Claude Waringo to create Liaison Cinématographique, a production company based in Paris. Under [...]...
- 10/19/2009
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
Cologne, Germany -- History repeated itself in several ways at this year's German TV Awards, held Saturday night in Cologne. Public broadcasters ZDF and ARD once again swept the honors, taking 16 of 21 trophies, and all the main winners were historic dramas looking at Germany's recent past.
ZDF's "Die Wolfe" (The Wolves), a docu-drama set in the 1940s, won three TV awards, helping the channel to a final tally of 10, far ahead of all competitors.
But it was ARD's "Mogadischu," a "Flight 93"-style drama tracking the infamous 1977 terrorist hijacking of a Lufthansa flight, that scooped the evening's top prize as best TV movie. Produced by Berlin-based teamWorx, the movie stars Thomas Kretschmann, Nadja Uhl and Said Taghmaoui.
For a change, the top winner was also a ratings hit. Roland Suso Richter's drama scored a 21% share in its first airing last November, with 7.3 million Germans tuning in.
Along with ARD and ZDF,...
ZDF's "Die Wolfe" (The Wolves), a docu-drama set in the 1940s, won three TV awards, helping the channel to a final tally of 10, far ahead of all competitors.
But it was ARD's "Mogadischu," a "Flight 93"-style drama tracking the infamous 1977 terrorist hijacking of a Lufthansa flight, that scooped the evening's top prize as best TV movie. Produced by Berlin-based teamWorx, the movie stars Thomas Kretschmann, Nadja Uhl and Said Taghmaoui.
For a change, the top winner was also a ratings hit. Roland Suso Richter's drama scored a 21% share in its first airing last November, with 7.3 million Germans tuning in.
Along with ARD and ZDF,...
- 9/27/2009
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- German romantic comedy specialist Doris Doerrie ("The Fischer and His Wife") and art-house favorite Hans-Christian Schmid ("Requiem") are returning to familiar ground for their next projects.
Doerrie received €300,000 ($384,000) in production subsidies from Berlin's Medienboard on Monday for her upcoming project "Hamani". Monica Bleibtreu, Elmar Wepper and Nadja Uhl star in the feature from Olga Film, which Berlin distributor Majectic has picked up for local release.
Schmid, whose "Requiem" won a Silver Bear in Berlin and four German Film Lolas, received €170,000 ($218,000) in development funding from the Medienboard for a slate of seven projects at his Berlin-based 23/5 shingle.
Doerrie received €300,000 ($384,000) in production subsidies from Berlin's Medienboard on Monday for her upcoming project "Hamani". Monica Bleibtreu, Elmar Wepper and Nadja Uhl star in the feature from Olga Film, which Berlin distributor Majectic has picked up for local release.
Schmid, whose "Requiem" won a Silver Bear in Berlin and four German Film Lolas, received €170,000 ($218,000) in development funding from the Medienboard for a slate of seven projects at his Berlin-based 23/5 shingle.
- 11/13/2006
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Miramax Films
Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.
One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.
Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.
While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.
The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.
A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.
But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.
And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.
Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.
One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.
Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.
While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.
The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.
A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.
But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.
And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.
What does home mean when you live thousands of miles from your native country? This question gets a boisterous, comic examination in Filippos Tsitos' "My Sweet Home". In the film, a bargain-basement wedding shower in a scruffy Berlin cafe turns into a wild night of alcoholic self-scrutiny by a collection of expatriates who happen to drop by.
"Home" is a classic co-production. This German-Greek collaboration, directed by a Greek who lives in Berlin, features actors from throughout the world, including the United States, Germany, Portugal, Russia, India, Algeria and Japan. The music is Balkanized Western European, and the comedy is international.
The movie is certain to provoke huge laughs in Berlin, where mispronunciations and in-jokes add to the comedy. But the story could take place in any large, multiethnic city where ex-pats wake up each morning and wonder what the hell they're doing there. This gem, screened in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, is ripe for export as long as distributors don't get turned off to the low budget and a mostly unfamiliar cast.
Most of the film occurs on the eve of the wedding of Bruce (Harvey Friedman), an American drifter, and his German girlfriend of one month, Anke (Nadja Uhl). A polterabend, or wedding shower -- called a "poltergeist" by one foreigner -- begins in a cafe where Bruce works as a waiter. No real guests come by -- only a group of strangers -- and their one acquaintance, Anke's disapproving mother (Monika Hansen), who turns up uninvited, is thrown out by Anke.
Along with the miffed proprietor (Mario Mentrup), who wanted to go to Los Angeles with Bruce were he to return home, are a married Brazilian student about to be deported, two Russian street musicians who steal from each other, a young Asian woman unhappy in her marriage to an aging German, a Moroccan construction worker romancing a Greek woman in hopes of settling down at her father's resort hotel and a defeated East Berliner who reminiscences about the "glory" days of the Wall.
Bruce slips away to mull his hasty decision to marry and encounters a Pakistani man angry at everyone and a cab driver whose claim to lead a highly organized life is suspect.
Back at the cafe, one ex-pat challenges the next to place a long-distance call home and admit his failure. This catches on as a game of dare. Accompanying the celebration of misery is the Balkan All-Star Band, which cheerfully plays music to fit each moment's dramatic event -- a chase around the tables, a near-fistfight or dances between new partners that enrage old partners.
As the celebration builds, Tsitos probes the isolation and need for community that all of the ex-pats feel. The movie becomes a comic and even an existential version of "Casablanca", where international refugees are trapped in jobs and situations on foreign soil but can hope for no exit visas and truly have nowhere to go. The dream that spurred everyone to go abroad has long been forgotten as everyone lives a life of ad-libs and compromises that suit no final purpose.
Performances are uniformly strong. Friedman is a marvel at comic ambivalence, while Uhl shines as a woman tired of being wary and determined to start afresh.
The cafe set never feels claustrophobic thanks to Hanno Lentz's energetic cinematography and Petar Markovic and Nebojsa Stanojevic's rhythmic editing. "Home" is Tsitos' graduation work from the German Film and Television Academy. Give this guy his diploma.
MY SWEET HOME
Twenty Twenty Vision, Pandora Film
and Ideefixe Prods.
in collaboration with ZDF-Arte,
the Greek Film Center, Prooptiki,
Deutsche Film und Fernseh Akademie Berlin
and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.
Producer: Thanassis Karathanos
Screenwriter-director: Filippos Tsitos
Director of photography: Hanno Lentz
Production designer: Peter Weber
Music: Dr. Nelle Karajilic, Dejan Sparavalo
Costume designer: Nebojsa Lipanovic
Editors: Petar Markovic, Nebojsa Stanojevic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bruce: Harvey Friedman
Anke: Nadja Uhl
Cafe proprietor: Mario Mentrup
Anke's mother: Monika Hansen
Ino: Neil de Souza
Hartmut: Peter Lewan
Hakim: Mehdi Nebbou
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Home" is a classic co-production. This German-Greek collaboration, directed by a Greek who lives in Berlin, features actors from throughout the world, including the United States, Germany, Portugal, Russia, India, Algeria and Japan. The music is Balkanized Western European, and the comedy is international.
The movie is certain to provoke huge laughs in Berlin, where mispronunciations and in-jokes add to the comedy. But the story could take place in any large, multiethnic city where ex-pats wake up each morning and wonder what the hell they're doing there. This gem, screened in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, is ripe for export as long as distributors don't get turned off to the low budget and a mostly unfamiliar cast.
Most of the film occurs on the eve of the wedding of Bruce (Harvey Friedman), an American drifter, and his German girlfriend of one month, Anke (Nadja Uhl). A polterabend, or wedding shower -- called a "poltergeist" by one foreigner -- begins in a cafe where Bruce works as a waiter. No real guests come by -- only a group of strangers -- and their one acquaintance, Anke's disapproving mother (Monika Hansen), who turns up uninvited, is thrown out by Anke.
Along with the miffed proprietor (Mario Mentrup), who wanted to go to Los Angeles with Bruce were he to return home, are a married Brazilian student about to be deported, two Russian street musicians who steal from each other, a young Asian woman unhappy in her marriage to an aging German, a Moroccan construction worker romancing a Greek woman in hopes of settling down at her father's resort hotel and a defeated East Berliner who reminiscences about the "glory" days of the Wall.
Bruce slips away to mull his hasty decision to marry and encounters a Pakistani man angry at everyone and a cab driver whose claim to lead a highly organized life is suspect.
Back at the cafe, one ex-pat challenges the next to place a long-distance call home and admit his failure. This catches on as a game of dare. Accompanying the celebration of misery is the Balkan All-Star Band, which cheerfully plays music to fit each moment's dramatic event -- a chase around the tables, a near-fistfight or dances between new partners that enrage old partners.
As the celebration builds, Tsitos probes the isolation and need for community that all of the ex-pats feel. The movie becomes a comic and even an existential version of "Casablanca", where international refugees are trapped in jobs and situations on foreign soil but can hope for no exit visas and truly have nowhere to go. The dream that spurred everyone to go abroad has long been forgotten as everyone lives a life of ad-libs and compromises that suit no final purpose.
Performances are uniformly strong. Friedman is a marvel at comic ambivalence, while Uhl shines as a woman tired of being wary and determined to start afresh.
The cafe set never feels claustrophobic thanks to Hanno Lentz's energetic cinematography and Petar Markovic and Nebojsa Stanojevic's rhythmic editing. "Home" is Tsitos' graduation work from the German Film and Television Academy. Give this guy his diploma.
MY SWEET HOME
Twenty Twenty Vision, Pandora Film
and Ideefixe Prods.
in collaboration with ZDF-Arte,
the Greek Film Center, Prooptiki,
Deutsche Film und Fernseh Akademie Berlin
and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.
Producer: Thanassis Karathanos
Screenwriter-director: Filippos Tsitos
Director of photography: Hanno Lentz
Production designer: Peter Weber
Music: Dr. Nelle Karajilic, Dejan Sparavalo
Costume designer: Nebojsa Lipanovic
Editors: Petar Markovic, Nebojsa Stanojevic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bruce: Harvey Friedman
Anke: Nadja Uhl
Cafe proprietor: Mario Mentrup
Anke's mother: Monika Hansen
Ino: Neil de Souza
Hartmut: Peter Lewan
Hakim: Mehdi Nebbou
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
BERLIN -- Production company Teamworx said Thursday that German television celebrity Harold Schmidt will star as former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt in the big-budget miniseries Storm Tide for leading commercial broadcaster RTL. The two-part series from producer Nico Hofmann (The Tunnel) follows the real-life story of a catastrophic 1962 flood in Hamburg. Schmidt will star alongside Gotz George, Ottfried Fischer, Hannelore Elsner, Elmar Wepper, Nadja Uhl and Heiner Lauterbach. Schmidt, often called Germany's David Letterman, wrapped up his critically acclaimed eponymous late-night talk show in December. Schmidt is currently shooting the romantic comedy Vom Suchen Und Finden Der Liebe (Looking and Finding Love) with director Helmut Dietl. Schmidt's feature film debut as an actor was Dietl's 1999 satire Late Show.
Miramax Films
Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.
One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.
Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.
While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.
The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.
A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.
But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.
And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.
Already familiar to more than 3.5 million Dutch and German readers, "De Tweeling" (Twin Sisters), Tessa de Loo's acclaimed novel about the very different roads taken by twins separated at an early age, has been made into a handsomely appointed, solidly acted feature by director Ben Sombogaart.
One of the best foreign language Oscar hopefuls unspooled at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the drama possesses the epic sweep and historical perspective that appeals to older viewers, as domestic distributor Miramax is no doubt aware.
Working from a cleanly constructed adaptation by Marieke van der Pol, family film director Sombogaart first sets the clock back to 1925, when 6-year-old twins Anna and Lotte are separated by relatives following the death of their parents.
While Anna remains in Germany, where she's immediately put to work on the farm belonging to her abusive uncle and his wife; sickly sister Lotte is shipped off to the Netherlands home of distant relations where she's nursed back to health and given a good education.
The vastly different upbringings take the girls in very different sociological and political directions. College-educated Lotte marries the Jewish son of family friends, Anna finds employment as a maid and becomes the war bride of an Austrian officer who has joined the Secret Service.
A chance meeting at a spa half-century later, proves that time, alone, isn't necessarily an effective healer and the constant shifting back and forth between past events and the sisters' uncomfortable reunion would seem to undercut some potential emotional impact.
But the performances -- with Thekla Reuten and Ellen Vogel in the roles of Lotte young and old, while Nadja Uhl and Gudrun Okras play the young and old Anna parts -- are uniformly excellent.
And while the miniseries-ready concept may not be the most innovative in the world, "Twin Sisters" has many a reflective thought to provoke about the role of social conditioning in shaping individual destinies.
CANNES -- Miramax Films executive vp acquisitions and co-productions Agnes Mentre said Monday that the mini-major had sealed a deal to acquire North American rights to Dutch Helmer Ben Sombogaart's epic feature "Twin Sisters" (De Tweeling). The film is based on the novel "Twins" by Tessa De Loo and tells the story of German twin sisters who are separated with one being raised in Holland and the other remaining in rural Germany. The sisters' lives take very different turns until they meet again 40 years after World War II. "Twins" was a bestseller in Holland and Germany with more than 3.5 million readers. De Loo's book was originally published in the Netherlands in 1993 and is the author's first to have been translated into English. "Twin Sisters" was written for the big screen by Marieke van der Pol and stars Thekla Reuten, Nadja Uhl, Ellen Vogel, Gudrun Okras, Jeroen Spitzenberger, and Roman Knizka. Anton Smit and Hanneke Niens produced.
- 5/20/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
What does home mean when you live thousands of miles from your native country? This question gets a boisterous, comic examination in Filippos Tsitos' "My Sweet Home". In the film, a bargain-basement wedding shower in a scruffy Berlin cafe turns into a wild night of alcoholic self-scrutiny by a collection of expatriates who happen to drop by.
"Home" is a classic co-production. This German-Greek collaboration, directed by a Greek who lives in Berlin, features actors from throughout the world, including the United States, Germany, Portugal, Russia, India, Algeria and Japan. The music is Balkanized Western European, and the comedy is international.
The movie is certain to provoke huge laughs in Berlin, where mispronunciations and in-jokes add to the comedy. But the story could take place in any large, multiethnic city where ex-pats wake up each morning and wonder what the hell they're doing there. This gem, screened in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, is ripe for export as long as distributors don't get turned off to the low budget and a mostly unfamiliar cast.
Most of the film occurs on the eve of the wedding of Bruce (Harvey Friedman), an American drifter, and his German girlfriend of one month, Anke (Nadja Uhl). A polterabend, or wedding shower -- called a "poltergeist" by one foreigner -- begins in a cafe where Bruce works as a waiter. No real guests come by -- only a group of strangers -- and their one acquaintance, Anke's disapproving mother (Monika Hansen), who turns up uninvited, is thrown out by Anke.
Along with the miffed proprietor (Mario Mentrup), who wanted to go to Los Angeles with Bruce were he to return home, are a married Brazilian student about to be deported, two Russian street musicians who steal from each other, a young Asian woman unhappy in her marriage to an aging German, a Moroccan construction worker romancing a Greek woman in hopes of settling down at her father's resort hotel and a defeated East Berliner who reminiscences about the "glory" days of the Wall.
Bruce slips away to mull his hasty decision to marry and encounters a Pakistani man angry at everyone and a cab driver whose claim to lead a highly organized life is suspect.
Back at the cafe, one ex-pat challenges the next to place a long-distance call home and admit his failure. This catches on as a game of dare. Accompanying the celebration of misery is the Balkan All-Star Band, which cheerfully plays music to fit each moment's dramatic event -- a chase around the tables, a near-fistfight or dances between new partners that enrage old partners.
As the celebration builds, Tsitos probes the isolation and need for community that all of the ex-pats feel. The movie becomes a comic and even an existential version of "Casablanca", where international refugees are trapped in jobs and situations on foreign soil but can hope for no exit visas and truly have nowhere to go. The dream that spurred everyone to go abroad has long been forgotten as everyone lives a life of ad-libs and compromises that suit no final purpose.
Performances are uniformly strong. Friedman is a marvel at comic ambivalence, while Uhl shines as a woman tired of being wary and determined to start afresh.
The cafe set never feels claustrophobic thanks to Hanno Lentz's energetic cinematography and Petar Markovic and Nebojsa Stanojevic's rhythmic editing. "Home" is Tsitos' graduation work from the German Film and Television Academy. Give this guy his diploma.
MY SWEET HOME
Twenty Twenty Vision, Pandora Film
and Ideefixe Prods.
in collaboration with ZDF-Arte,
the Greek Film Center, Prooptiki,
Deutsche Film und Fernseh Akademie Berlin
and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.
Producer: Thanassis Karathanos
Screenwriter-director: Filippos Tsitos
Director of photography: Hanno Lentz
Production designer: Peter Weber
Music: Dr. Nelle Karajilic, Dejan Sparavalo
Costume designer: Nebojsa Lipanovic
Editors: Petar Markovic, Nebojsa Stanojevic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bruce: Harvey Friedman
Anke: Nadja Uhl
Cafe proprietor: Mario Mentrup
Anke's mother: Monika Hansen
Ino: Neil de Souza
Hartmut: Peter Lewan
Hakim: Mehdi Nebbou
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
"Home" is a classic co-production. This German-Greek collaboration, directed by a Greek who lives in Berlin, features actors from throughout the world, including the United States, Germany, Portugal, Russia, India, Algeria and Japan. The music is Balkanized Western European, and the comedy is international.
The movie is certain to provoke huge laughs in Berlin, where mispronunciations and in-jokes add to the comedy. But the story could take place in any large, multiethnic city where ex-pats wake up each morning and wonder what the hell they're doing there. This gem, screened in competition at the Berlin International Film Festival, is ripe for export as long as distributors don't get turned off to the low budget and a mostly unfamiliar cast.
Most of the film occurs on the eve of the wedding of Bruce (Harvey Friedman), an American drifter, and his German girlfriend of one month, Anke (Nadja Uhl). A polterabend, or wedding shower -- called a "poltergeist" by one foreigner -- begins in a cafe where Bruce works as a waiter. No real guests come by -- only a group of strangers -- and their one acquaintance, Anke's disapproving mother (Monika Hansen), who turns up uninvited, is thrown out by Anke.
Along with the miffed proprietor (Mario Mentrup), who wanted to go to Los Angeles with Bruce were he to return home, are a married Brazilian student about to be deported, two Russian street musicians who steal from each other, a young Asian woman unhappy in her marriage to an aging German, a Moroccan construction worker romancing a Greek woman in hopes of settling down at her father's resort hotel and a defeated East Berliner who reminiscences about the "glory" days of the Wall.
Bruce slips away to mull his hasty decision to marry and encounters a Pakistani man angry at everyone and a cab driver whose claim to lead a highly organized life is suspect.
Back at the cafe, one ex-pat challenges the next to place a long-distance call home and admit his failure. This catches on as a game of dare. Accompanying the celebration of misery is the Balkan All-Star Band, which cheerfully plays music to fit each moment's dramatic event -- a chase around the tables, a near-fistfight or dances between new partners that enrage old partners.
As the celebration builds, Tsitos probes the isolation and need for community that all of the ex-pats feel. The movie becomes a comic and even an existential version of "Casablanca", where international refugees are trapped in jobs and situations on foreign soil but can hope for no exit visas and truly have nowhere to go. The dream that spurred everyone to go abroad has long been forgotten as everyone lives a life of ad-libs and compromises that suit no final purpose.
Performances are uniformly strong. Friedman is a marvel at comic ambivalence, while Uhl shines as a woman tired of being wary and determined to start afresh.
The cafe set never feels claustrophobic thanks to Hanno Lentz's energetic cinematography and Petar Markovic and Nebojsa Stanojevic's rhythmic editing. "Home" is Tsitos' graduation work from the German Film and Television Academy. Give this guy his diploma.
MY SWEET HOME
Twenty Twenty Vision, Pandora Film
and Ideefixe Prods.
in collaboration with ZDF-Arte,
the Greek Film Center, Prooptiki,
Deutsche Film und Fernseh Akademie Berlin
and the Hellenic Broadcasting Corp.
Producer: Thanassis Karathanos
Screenwriter-director: Filippos Tsitos
Director of photography: Hanno Lentz
Production designer: Peter Weber
Music: Dr. Nelle Karajilic, Dejan Sparavalo
Costume designer: Nebojsa Lipanovic
Editors: Petar Markovic, Nebojsa Stanojevic
Color/stereo
Cast:
Bruce: Harvey Friedman
Anke: Nadja Uhl
Cafe proprietor: Mario Mentrup
Anke's mother: Monika Hansen
Ino: Neil de Souza
Hartmut: Peter Lewan
Hakim: Mehdi Nebbou
Running time -- 87 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 2/21/2001
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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