The founders are producers Roshanak “Rosh” Khodabakhsh and Jorgo Narje.
Netflix and Amazon Studios are among the backers of a new German programme entitled NewMotion to promote greater diversity in the nation’s film industry. It was officially launched at the Explorer Conference at Filmfest Hamburg this month.
The programme is the brainchild of producers Roshanak “Rosh” Khodabakhsh (Port au Prince Film und Kultur Produktion) and Jorgo Narjes (X Filme Creative Pool) in cooperation with the Producers Alliance Initiative for Qualification (Paiq).
“A central element of this initiative is a shadowing programme giving on-the-job training where you follow one person...
Netflix and Amazon Studios are among the backers of a new German programme entitled NewMotion to promote greater diversity in the nation’s film industry. It was officially launched at the Explorer Conference at Filmfest Hamburg this month.
The programme is the brainchild of producers Roshanak “Rosh” Khodabakhsh (Port au Prince Film und Kultur Produktion) and Jorgo Narjes (X Filme Creative Pool) in cooperation with the Producers Alliance Initiative for Qualification (Paiq).
“A central element of this initiative is a shadowing programme giving on-the-job training where you follow one person...
- 10/9/2023
- by Martin Blaney
- ScreenDaily
Berlin-based X Filme Creative Pool will adapt one of the most successful German-language podcasts, “Zeit Crime” (“Zeit Verbrechen”) into an anthology series for Paramount +.
Awarded the German Podcast Prize, “Zeit Crime” is based on the criminal investigations of Sabine Rückert and Andreas Sentker. According to producer Jorgo Narjes, it currently boasts 5 million streams per month and an average of 1.5 million listeners per episode, “most of them female and in their late twenties.” So far, the podcast consists of more than 100 episodes.
Filming started this month and will continue until the end of June 2023.
The show is helmed by four directors, making four separate 60-minute-long films, each one inspired by a specific story from the podcast. Faraz Shariat, also behind HBO/Sky show “The Baby,” Helene Hegemann (“Axolotl Overkill”), Jan Bonny (Netflix’s “King of Stonks”) and Mariko Minoguchi, who recently brought sci-fi “Element” to Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development,...
Awarded the German Podcast Prize, “Zeit Crime” is based on the criminal investigations of Sabine Rückert and Andreas Sentker. According to producer Jorgo Narjes, it currently boasts 5 million streams per month and an average of 1.5 million listeners per episode, “most of them female and in their late twenties.” So far, the podcast consists of more than 100 episodes.
Filming started this month and will continue until the end of June 2023.
The show is helmed by four directors, making four separate 60-minute-long films, each one inspired by a specific story from the podcast. Faraz Shariat, also behind HBO/Sky show “The Baby,” Helene Hegemann (“Axolotl Overkill”), Jan Bonny (Netflix’s “King of Stonks”) and Mariko Minoguchi, who recently brought sci-fi “Element” to Locarno Pro’s Alliance 4 Development,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Netflix has doubled its budget to €500 million ($571 million) for German-language productions between 2021 and 2023 and has revealed a raft of new projects.
On Tuesday, the Netflix German-language team presented a selection of 19 productions, including previously announced projects, at the Content Remote Show. The shows are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
New series include eight-parter “Achtsam Morden” (working title), based on the book of the same name by Karsten Dusse, which topped the Spiegel bestseller list for over nine months and is now being filmed for Netflix by Constantin Film, Jan Ehlert and Nina Viktoria Philipp. Writers Miriam Rechel and Chris Geletneky tell the story of top lawyer Björn Diemel, who to save his marriage, finds a new work-life balance with the help of a mindfulness seminar and accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.
Another book adaptation, also produced by Constantin Television, is thriller series “Liebes Kind” (working title). Based on the novel by Romy Hausmann,...
On Tuesday, the Netflix German-language team presented a selection of 19 productions, including previously announced projects, at the Content Remote Show. The shows are from Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
New series include eight-parter “Achtsam Morden” (working title), based on the book of the same name by Karsten Dusse, which topped the Spiegel bestseller list for over nine months and is now being filmed for Netflix by Constantin Film, Jan Ehlert and Nina Viktoria Philipp. Writers Miriam Rechel and Chris Geletneky tell the story of top lawyer Björn Diemel, who to save his marriage, finds a new work-life balance with the help of a mindfulness seminar and accidentally becomes a murderer in the process.
Another book adaptation, also produced by Constantin Television, is thriller series “Liebes Kind” (working title). Based on the novel by Romy Hausmann,...
- 2/8/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
As part of its 70th anniversary, the International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg (Iffmh) is presenting its new Grand Iffmh Award for the first time, honoring two filmmakers at the top of their game, Andrea Arnold and Guillaume Nicloux. Iffmh will also pay tribute to producer Bettina Brokemper and director Claude Lelouch with Homages.
All four will be on hand for this year’s festival, where they will hold masterclasses and discuss their work.
“This year we’re trying to find a balance between tradition and innovation, so with our Homage we are paying tribute to the tradition of cinema with Lelouch, and radical cinema, which Lelouch has done and which Brokemper is also producing,” says Iffmh director Sascha Keilholz.
Keilholz described Brokemper “one of the most important German producers,” in part for her ability to find different solutions to make different types of films. She does not limit herself to only...
All four will be on hand for this year’s festival, where they will hold masterclasses and discuss their work.
“This year we’re trying to find a balance between tradition and innovation, so with our Homage we are paying tribute to the tradition of cinema with Lelouch, and radical cinema, which Lelouch has done and which Brokemper is also producing,” says Iffmh director Sascha Keilholz.
Keilholz described Brokemper “one of the most important German producers,” in part for her ability to find different solutions to make different types of films. She does not limit herself to only...
- 11/10/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
American playwright and filmmaker Kenneth Lonergan, French actor and “The Artist” star Bérénice Bejo, and Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir will serve on the International Jury of the Berlin Film Festival.
The other jury members are German producer Bettina Brokemper, Italian actor Luca Marinelli, and programmer, film critic and director Kleber Mendonça Filho from Brazil. As previously reported actor Jeremy Irons will head the jury.
Lonergan wrote and directed “Manchester by the Sea,” for which he won the Oscar for original screenplay. He earned Oscar nominations for co-writing “Gangs of New York” and “You Can Count on Me” in the same category.
Bejo was Oscar nominated for “The Artist” and won best actress at Cannes for “The Past.”
Jacir’s debut feature “Salt of This Sea” was in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival. Her second feature film, “When I Saw You,” premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum section,...
The other jury members are German producer Bettina Brokemper, Italian actor Luca Marinelli, and programmer, film critic and director Kleber Mendonça Filho from Brazil. As previously reported actor Jeremy Irons will head the jury.
Lonergan wrote and directed “Manchester by the Sea,” for which he won the Oscar for original screenplay. He earned Oscar nominations for co-writing “Gangs of New York” and “You Can Count on Me” in the same category.
Bejo was Oscar nominated for “The Artist” and won best actress at Cannes for “The Past.”
Jacir’s debut feature “Salt of This Sea” was in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival. Her second feature film, “When I Saw You,” premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum section,...
- 2/4/2020
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Michael Weber’s The Match Factory is on board as sales agent of Locarno Film Festival International Competition title “Wintermärchen” (A Winter’s Tale), the company announced Tuesday. The film is German writer-director Jan Bonny’s follow-up to black comedy “Counterparts,” which played in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival in 2007.
“Wintermärchen” explores how social problems and emotional disorientation can result in violent right-wing terrorism. The film centers on a right-wing terror cell, whose members dream of nationwide attention. “Tommy and Becky are tired and disillusioned until Maik joins them. Overwhelmed by a complex relationship of love, hate and friendship their path of destruction leads to a series of violent crimes,” according to a statement.
The German-language film, which world premieres Aug. 10, stars Thomas Schubert, Ricarda Seifried and Jean-Luc Bubert. It was written by Jan Eichberg and Bonny, and produced by Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm, whose other titles include...
“Wintermärchen” explores how social problems and emotional disorientation can result in violent right-wing terrorism. The film centers on a right-wing terror cell, whose members dream of nationwide attention. “Tommy and Becky are tired and disillusioned until Maik joins them. Overwhelmed by a complex relationship of love, hate and friendship their path of destruction leads to a series of violent crimes,” according to a statement.
The German-language film, which world premieres Aug. 10, stars Thomas Schubert, Ricarda Seifried and Jean-Luc Bubert. It was written by Jan Eichberg and Bonny, and produced by Bettina Brokemper at Heimatfilm, whose other titles include...
- 7/31/2018
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Before Telluride, before Venice, before TIFF, there is the last great festival of the summer season: Locarno Festival, a singular Swiss event that typically features a strong mix of fest favorites from Sundance and Cannes, along with their own batch of returning favorites.
This year’s lineup is no exception, including films from Spike Lee, Ethan Hawke, Kent Jones, Aneesh Chaganty, Cristina Gallego, and Ciro Guerra that have premiered elsewhere, along with new films from Hong Sangsoo, Vianney Lebasque, and Yolande Zauberman. Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming sequel “The Equalizer 2″ will also screen, along with the second season of Bruno Dumont’s series “Coincoin and the Extra Humans.”
This morning’s lineup announcement includes the Piazza Grande section and the International Competition.
Check out the full lineup for this year’s Locarno Festival below.
Piazza Grande
“The Guest,” Duccio Chiarini, Italy Switzerland, France
“Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” Bruno Dumont, France
“Liberty,...
This year’s lineup is no exception, including films from Spike Lee, Ethan Hawke, Kent Jones, Aneesh Chaganty, Cristina Gallego, and Ciro Guerra that have premiered elsewhere, along with new films from Hong Sangsoo, Vianney Lebasque, and Yolande Zauberman. Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming sequel “The Equalizer 2″ will also screen, along with the second season of Bruno Dumont’s series “Coincoin and the Extra Humans.”
This morning’s lineup announcement includes the Piazza Grande section and the International Competition.
Check out the full lineup for this year’s Locarno Festival below.
Piazza Grande
“The Guest,” Duccio Chiarini, Italy Switzerland, France
“Coincoin and the Extra-Humans,” Bruno Dumont, France
“Liberty,...
- 7/11/2018
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
Bruno Dumont's CoinCoin et les Z'inhumainsThe lineup for the 2018 festival has been revealed, including new films by Hong Sang-soo, Radu Muntean, Mariano Llinás and others, alongside retrospectives and tributes, and much more.
Piazza GRANDEBlacKkKlansmanBlazeCoincoin et les Z'inhumainsI Feel GoodLe vent tourneLes Beaux EspritsLibertyL'ordre des medecinsL'ospiteManila in the Claws of LightBirds of PassageRuben Brandt, Collector (Milorad Krstic, Hungary)Se7enSearchingThe Equalizer 2Un nemico che ti vuole bene (Denis Rabaglia, Italy/Switzerland)What Doesn't Kill Us
Concorso INTERNAZIONALEGlaubenbergA Family TourDianeLa FlorYaraMenocchioToo Late To Die YoungRay & LizHotel By the RiverA Land ImaginedMSibelGenèseWintermärchenAlice T.
Concorso Cineasti Del PRESENTEAll GoodThose Who WorkChaosClosing TimeImmersed FamilyFaust The Dive Suburban BirdsYoung and AliveLikemebackDead Horse NebulaWe Are ThankfulSophia AntipolisHierLong Way HomeTrot
Signs Of Lifea Room with a Coconut ViewCommunion Los AngelesHow Fernando Pessoa Saved PortugalDulcineaGulyabaniThe Fragile HouseMan in the WellJulio Iglesias's HouseThe Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas ChauvinSedução da CarneAnything And AllThe Grand BizarreErased,...
Piazza GRANDEBlacKkKlansmanBlazeCoincoin et les Z'inhumainsI Feel GoodLe vent tourneLes Beaux EspritsLibertyL'ordre des medecinsL'ospiteManila in the Claws of LightBirds of PassageRuben Brandt, Collector (Milorad Krstic, Hungary)Se7enSearchingThe Equalizer 2Un nemico che ti vuole bene (Denis Rabaglia, Italy/Switzerland)What Doesn't Kill Us
Concorso INTERNAZIONALEGlaubenbergA Family TourDianeLa FlorYaraMenocchioToo Late To Die YoungRay & LizHotel By the RiverA Land ImaginedMSibelGenèseWintermärchenAlice T.
Concorso Cineasti Del PRESENTEAll GoodThose Who WorkChaosClosing TimeImmersed FamilyFaust The Dive Suburban BirdsYoung and AliveLikemebackDead Horse NebulaWe Are ThankfulSophia AntipolisHierLong Way HomeTrot
Signs Of Lifea Room with a Coconut ViewCommunion Los AngelesHow Fernando Pessoa Saved PortugalDulcineaGulyabaniThe Fragile HouseMan in the WellJulio Iglesias's HouseThe Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas ChauvinSedução da CarneAnything And AllThe Grand BizarreErased,...
- 7/11/2018
- MUBI
The lineup for this year’s Locarno International Film Festival, which celebrates its 71st edition, has arrived. Among the most-anticipated titles in the lineup there’s a new feature from Hong Sang-soo titled Hotel by the River and the latest film from Tuesday, After Christmas director Radu Muntean, Alice T. Also in the slate is Man in the Well, a short film from Hu Bo, made before his first and final feature An Elephant Sitting Still. Ahead of our coverage, check out the full lineup below (via Mubi), also featuring previously premiered films from Spike Lee, Kent Jones, Ethan Hawke, Ciro Guerra & Cristtina Gallego, Aneesh Chaganty, and more.
Piazza Grande
BlackKkansman
Blaze
Coincoin et les Z’inhumains
I Feel Good
Le vent tourne
Les Beaux Esprits
Liberty
L’ordre des medecins
L’ospite
Manila in the Claws of Light
Birds of Passage
Ruben Brandt, Collector
Se7en
Searching
The Equalizer 2...
Piazza Grande
BlackKkansman
Blaze
Coincoin et les Z’inhumains
I Feel Good
Le vent tourne
Les Beaux Esprits
Liberty
L’ordre des medecins
L’ospite
Manila in the Claws of Light
Birds of Passage
Ruben Brandt, Collector
Se7en
Searching
The Equalizer 2...
- 7/11/2018
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
The Locarno Film Festival has unveiled the official lineup for its 71st edition, including 13 world premieres in the main competition, which is characterized by films with women at their center.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian – who moves to the Berlin Film Festival next year – noted that, although only three of the 15 titles competing for the Golden Leopard are directed by women, “a large number of the films are portraits of women.”
That applies to U.S. first-time director Kent Jones’ drama “Diane,” which stars Mary Kay Place and made a splash at Tribeca; Romanian auteur Radu Muntean’s teenage pregnancy drama “Alice T”; Turkey’s “Sibel,” by Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, whose protagonist is a young, rebellious mute woman; and Iraqi director Abbas Fahdel’s “Yara,” about a young woman who lives with her grandmother in an idyllic Lebanese village “where politics and the female condition in the Arab world come crashing in.
Artistic director Carlo Chatrian – who moves to the Berlin Film Festival next year – noted that, although only three of the 15 titles competing for the Golden Leopard are directed by women, “a large number of the films are portraits of women.”
That applies to U.S. first-time director Kent Jones’ drama “Diane,” which stars Mary Kay Place and made a splash at Tribeca; Romanian auteur Radu Muntean’s teenage pregnancy drama “Alice T”; Turkey’s “Sibel,” by Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, whose protagonist is a young, rebellious mute woman; and Iraqi director Abbas Fahdel’s “Yara,” about a young woman who lives with her grandmother in an idyllic Lebanese village “where politics and the female condition in the Arab world come crashing in.
- 7/11/2018
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Jodorowsky actor directorial debut to be presented at new co-production event; Reygadas curates for Filmfest Hamburg.
Argentinian actor Leandro Taub’s directorial debut The Dream of the Guest and Slovenian filmmaker Jan Cvitkovic’s new feature film Mercedes Fire Horse are among the projects to be presented at a new co-production event, the Matchbox Coproduction Lounge, during this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival (Sept 14-18).
Matchbox’s inaugural edition will also present Buddy Giovinazzo’s Potsdamer Platz which had been the last project, which the late Tony Scott had optioned to direct.
Taub, who was a lead actor in veteran Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Cannes competition film Endless Poetry this year, wrote the screenplay for the comedy drama which centres on how a family’s life changes dramatically when a special guest, claiming to be building a space ship, moves into their home to “confront them” with his strong belief in the possibility of the...
Argentinian actor Leandro Taub’s directorial debut The Dream of the Guest and Slovenian filmmaker Jan Cvitkovic’s new feature film Mercedes Fire Horse are among the projects to be presented at a new co-production event, the Matchbox Coproduction Lounge, during this year’s Oldenburg International Film Festival (Sept 14-18).
Matchbox’s inaugural edition will also present Buddy Giovinazzo’s Potsdamer Platz which had been the last project, which the late Tony Scott had optioned to direct.
Taub, who was a lead actor in veteran Chilean director Alejandro Jodorowsky’s Cannes competition film Endless Poetry this year, wrote the screenplay for the comedy drama which centres on how a family’s life changes dramatically when a special guest, claiming to be building a space ship, moves into their home to “confront them” with his strong belief in the possibility of the...
- 8/22/2016
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
COLOGNE, Germany -- The German Film academy handed veteran director Doris Dorrie the equivalent of a golden bouquet Friday, nominating her latest drama "Cherry Blossoms" for six Lolas, the German equivalent of the Oscar.
Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama "The Edge of Heaven" with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller "Yella" with four.
Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.
Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's "Counterparts" and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit "Runaway Horse".
Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in "Yella", a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller "Black Book" (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in "Counterparts".
"Cherry Blossoms" has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.
The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and "The Fisher and His Wife" (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to "Men".
But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.
Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama "The Edge of Heaven" with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller "Yella" with four.
Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.
Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's "Counterparts" and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit "Runaway Horse".
Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in "Yella", a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller "Black Book" (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in "Counterparts".
"Cherry Blossoms" has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.
The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and "The Fisher and His Wife" (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to "Men".
But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.
- 3/28/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- The German Film academy handed veteran director Doris Dorrie the equivalent of a golden bouquet Friday, nominating her latest drama Cherry Blossoms for six Lolas, the German equivalent of the Oscar.
Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama The Edge of Heaven with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller Yella with four.
Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.
Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's Counterparts and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit Runaway Horse.
Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in Yella, a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller Black Book (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in Counterparts.
Cherry Blossoms has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.
The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and The Fisher and His Wife (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to Men.
But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.
Close behind were Fatih Akin's cross-cultural drama The Edge of Heaven with five Lola nominations and Christian Petzold's cerebral mystery thriller Yella with four.
Dorrie's film -- a sweetly tragic story of a terminally ill widower who travels to Japan to fulfill a lifelong dream of his dead wife -- picked up Lola noms in most of the main categories, including best film, best director and best actor for star Elmar Wepper.
Wepper has to be considered a front runner for the best actor Lola but he will be going up against two local veterans: Matthias Brandt for his role as an abused husband in Jan Bonny's Counterparts and Ulrich Noethen for his comic turn as a husband stuck in a midlife crisis in Rainer Kaufmann's crossover hit Runaway Horse.
Nina Hoss picked up a Lola nomination for her starring turn in Yella, a role for which she won the best actress Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival last year. Also nominated are Dutch actress Carice van Houten for Paul Verhoeven's World War II thriller Black Book (a German-Dutch co-production) and Victoria Trauttmansdorff as a husband-beating wife in Counterparts.
Cherry Blossoms has been getting rave reviews from German and international critics since its debut at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Many consider it the best film in Dorrie's long career.
The 52-year-old director made her name with light comedies including "Men" (1985) and The Fisher and His Wife (2005). While her films were often boxoffice hits, they were usually snubbed come awards time. Dorrie has only one Lola -- or German Film Award -- to her credit: a best screenplay prize in 1985 for her script to Men.
But this year her movie is the one to beat in what is a surprisingly diverse field.
- 3/28/2008
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
COLOGNE, Germany -- Eran Kolirin's "The Band's Visit", Anton Corbijn's "Control", Jan Bonny's "Counterparts" and Ozer Kiziltan's "Takva: A Man's Fear of God" will duke it out for this year's European Film Academy's European Discovery award.
The prize, awarded to up-and-coming directors for their first full-length feature film, will be voted on by the EFA's 1,800 members and presented in Berlin on Dec. 1 as part of the 20th annual European Film Awards.
The four films selected represent a wide range of styles and themes.
"The Band's Visit", which won Israel's Film Academy Award as well as the Coup de Coeur award in Cannes, is a light tragicomedy about an Egyptian police band stranded in a small Israeli town.
"Control", a stark, black-and-white depiction of the final days of British singer Ian Curtis, the founder of seminal rock band Joy Division, won the Camera d'Or prize in Cannes as well as best new British feature and best British performance for star Sam Riley at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
The prize, awarded to up-and-coming directors for their first full-length feature film, will be voted on by the EFA's 1,800 members and presented in Berlin on Dec. 1 as part of the 20th annual European Film Awards.
The four films selected represent a wide range of styles and themes.
"The Band's Visit", which won Israel's Film Academy Award as well as the Coup de Coeur award in Cannes, is a light tragicomedy about an Egyptian police band stranded in a small Israeli town.
"Control", a stark, black-and-white depiction of the final days of British singer Ian Curtis, the founder of seminal rock band Joy Division, won the Camera d'Or prize in Cannes as well as best new British feature and best British performance for star Sam Riley at the Edinburgh Film Festival.
- 9/28/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
- Ask me what the 1,800 voting members of the European Film Academy will choose as their top film of the year and I'd confidently say: the Romanian pic that won over Cannes. Ask me what the same jury will choose as the top film from a first time filmmaker and I could say it will be a film about a musical band. That is because out of the four choices, I'm guessing that Eran Kolirin's The Band's Visit and Anton Corbijn's Control have about an equal chances on this award. The other two noms are Gegenüber (Counterparts) by Jan Bonny from Germany and A Man’s Fear of God by Özer Kiziltan. The four debut films nominated for European Discovery of 2007 were determined by a committee comprised of Fipresci (the International Federation of Film Critics) members Jacob Neiiendam (Denmark), Marco Lombardi (Italy) and Dana Linssen (the Netherlands), and
- 9/27/2007
- IONCINEMA.com
Munich Filmfest
MUNICH -- In Counterparts, the feature debut of young Cologne director Jan Bonny that recently screened at the Munich Filmfest, the film's strengths and weaknesses are deeply entangled. While the acting is good -- especially when it needs to be, during chillingly matter-of-fact scenes of domestic violence -- there is practically zero character development. The main problem is that Counterparts completely fails to create a sense of suspense, which will most likely condemn it to a short art house run in German-speaking territories and brief festival exposure.
There are other good points that somehow also end up as problems. The Dogma-style cinematic discipline -- no musical scoring, no makeup, environmental lighting, all hand-held camera work by cinematographer Bernhard Keller -- creates a depressingly truthful sense of how everyday and common this family tragedy can be. Yet many crucial moments are played with the main actor's back to the camera, so it is almost impossible to identify with what the characters are going through.
The trouble starts with the script, which Bonny co-wrote with Christina Ebelt. While it's not difficult to accept Bonny's twist on the domestic violence problem -- and it's not giving away much to reveal that it is the wife who is beating the husband -- the background of her frustration and his emotional helplessness is too pat and easy.
The wife, grade school teacher Anne (Victoria Trauttmannsdorff), has a domineering, hypercritical father (Jochen Striebeck), and her police officer husband Georg (Matthias Brandt) needs to please everyone. These two points are elaborated again and again when one or at most two mentions would have sufficed.
So a ranking policeman is being physically abused on a regular basis by a schoolteacher, but there's no wondering about how it's all going to end because Bonny makes it clear early on that it never will. Not all films have to result in a happy ending for the main character, but there at least has to be a struggle for triumph to engage the audience's emotions even if victory remains forever out of reach.
Given the rich psychological and explosive plot possibilities of the basic situation Bonny has given us, Counterparts steadfastly refuses to make the most of itself.
COUNTERPARTS
A Heimatfilm production in association with WDR/Cologne and Film Foundation
Credits:
Director: Jan Bonny
Screenwriters: Jon Bonny, Chrstina Ebelt
Producer: Bettina Brokemper
Director of photography: Bernhard Keller
Music: Sonoton
Costume designer: Frauke Firl
Editor: Stefan Stabenow
Cast:
Anne: Victoria Trauttmannsdorff
Georg: Matthias Brandt
Michael: Wotan Wilke Moering
Denise: Susanne Bormann
Hans Josef: Jochen Striebeck
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
MUNICH -- In Counterparts, the feature debut of young Cologne director Jan Bonny that recently screened at the Munich Filmfest, the film's strengths and weaknesses are deeply entangled. While the acting is good -- especially when it needs to be, during chillingly matter-of-fact scenes of domestic violence -- there is practically zero character development. The main problem is that Counterparts completely fails to create a sense of suspense, which will most likely condemn it to a short art house run in German-speaking territories and brief festival exposure.
There are other good points that somehow also end up as problems. The Dogma-style cinematic discipline -- no musical scoring, no makeup, environmental lighting, all hand-held camera work by cinematographer Bernhard Keller -- creates a depressingly truthful sense of how everyday and common this family tragedy can be. Yet many crucial moments are played with the main actor's back to the camera, so it is almost impossible to identify with what the characters are going through.
The trouble starts with the script, which Bonny co-wrote with Christina Ebelt. While it's not difficult to accept Bonny's twist on the domestic violence problem -- and it's not giving away much to reveal that it is the wife who is beating the husband -- the background of her frustration and his emotional helplessness is too pat and easy.
The wife, grade school teacher Anne (Victoria Trauttmannsdorff), has a domineering, hypercritical father (Jochen Striebeck), and her police officer husband Georg (Matthias Brandt) needs to please everyone. These two points are elaborated again and again when one or at most two mentions would have sufficed.
So a ranking policeman is being physically abused on a regular basis by a schoolteacher, but there's no wondering about how it's all going to end because Bonny makes it clear early on that it never will. Not all films have to result in a happy ending for the main character, but there at least has to be a struggle for triumph to engage the audience's emotions even if victory remains forever out of reach.
Given the rich psychological and explosive plot possibilities of the basic situation Bonny has given us, Counterparts steadfastly refuses to make the most of itself.
COUNTERPARTS
A Heimatfilm production in association with WDR/Cologne and Film Foundation
Credits:
Director: Jan Bonny
Screenwriters: Jon Bonny, Chrstina Ebelt
Producer: Bettina Brokemper
Director of photography: Bernhard Keller
Music: Sonoton
Costume designer: Frauke Firl
Editor: Stefan Stabenow
Cast:
Anne: Victoria Trauttmannsdorff
Georg: Matthias Brandt
Michael: Wotan Wilke Moering
Denise: Susanne Bormann
Hans Josef: Jochen Striebeck
Running time -- 100 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 7/24/2007
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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