In key appointments at Constantin Film, one of Europe’s biggest – and most ambitious – of production powerhouses, Viola Jäger and Jan Ehlert has been named as its new Chief Content Officers.
Jan Ehlert will head up TV/streaming, Viola Jäger oversee content for theatrical/film; both report to Constantin Film CEO Oliver Berben.
For years, Constantin has built its business on big international hits, such as the “Resident Evil” franchise, and a rock-solid domestic business powered by national blockbusters, such as, most recently, “Chantal and the Magic Kingdom,” which has sold over 2.6 million admissions in Germany.
Coming just a couple of months after Berben took over formally from Martin Moszkowicz as Constantin Film CEO, the new appointments are a play for continuity. Ehlert joined Moovie in 2000, just a year after Constantin head Berndt Eichinger had bought the Berben-headed company. Focusing on TV in his now 24-year career at Constantin Film,...
Jan Ehlert will head up TV/streaming, Viola Jäger oversee content for theatrical/film; both report to Constantin Film CEO Oliver Berben.
For years, Constantin has built its business on big international hits, such as the “Resident Evil” franchise, and a rock-solid domestic business powered by national blockbusters, such as, most recently, “Chantal and the Magic Kingdom,” which has sold over 2.6 million admissions in Germany.
Coming just a couple of months after Berben took over formally from Martin Moszkowicz as Constantin Film CEO, the new appointments are a play for continuity. Ehlert joined Moovie in 2000, just a year after Constantin head Berndt Eichinger had bought the Berben-headed company. Focusing on TV in his now 24-year career at Constantin Film,...
- 5/22/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Oliver Berben didn’t just have idle dreams as a youngster about becoming an astronaut one day. He was actually working on a career in space by studying aerospace and space technology at a Berlin university well into his 20s.
But after stumbling into the movie industry through a part-time student job as a driver and runner, Berben realized that he had found his calling on the ground – so he gave up on the galaxies. And now, after a quarter century as a personable down-to-earth producer and executive at Constantin Film, Berben is about to take the controls of one of Germany’s biggest and most powerful production-distribution companies as its chief executive.
“I never would have thought that I’d have the chance to work for this company let alone get into a position to lead it,” Berben says. “It still feels a little surreal.”
The lesson he learned...
But after stumbling into the movie industry through a part-time student job as a driver and runner, Berben realized that he had found his calling on the ground – so he gave up on the galaxies. And now, after a quarter century as a personable down-to-earth producer and executive at Constantin Film, Berben is about to take the controls of one of Germany’s biggest and most powerful production-distribution companies as its chief executive.
“I never would have thought that I’d have the chance to work for this company let alone get into a position to lead it,” Berben says. “It still feels a little surreal.”
The lesson he learned...
- 2/8/2024
- by Erik Kirschbaum
- Variety Film + TV
Wild Bunch TV has boarded high-concept sci-fi thriller series, “Arcadia” from Belgian production shingle, jonnydepony.
Created by Philippe De Schepper and Bas Adriaensen, “Arcadia” refers to a post-global catastrophe society where its citizens’ rights and entitlements are determined by their scores. Life is good as long as you remain “healthy, focused and efficient.”
Four sisters, Luz, Milly, Alex and Hanna, retain top scores except for Luz. Their father, anxious to save Luz from being expelled to the Outer World, alters her scores but is caught. He is banished from Arcadia and the entire family is placed under surveillance, their scores slashed. The question now is whether they can get their old lives back.
De Schepper was the showrunner-writer for 10-part Flemish-language thriller series “Blackout,” set in Belgium where an act of sabotage plunges the country into darkness. The female prime minister receives an ominous missive: Turn the power back on and your daughter will perish.
Created by Philippe De Schepper and Bas Adriaensen, “Arcadia” refers to a post-global catastrophe society where its citizens’ rights and entitlements are determined by their scores. Life is good as long as you remain “healthy, focused and efficient.”
Four sisters, Luz, Milly, Alex and Hanna, retain top scores except for Luz. Their father, anxious to save Luz from being expelled to the Outer World, alters her scores but is caught. He is banished from Arcadia and the entire family is placed under surveillance, their scores slashed. The question now is whether they can get their old lives back.
De Schepper was the showrunner-writer for 10-part Flemish-language thriller series “Blackout,” set in Belgium where an act of sabotage plunges the country into darkness. The female prime minister receives an ominous missive: Turn the power back on and your daughter will perish.
- 10/17/2022
- by Anna Marie de la Fuente
- Variety Film + TV
“There is a new studio Star System…but instead of focusing on acting talent (as it did in the 1930s), it prioritizes those with the skills to create new stories, produce new shows and manage the evolution of new character IP…in other words, to make content that will succeed by the measures important in the new world order,” Ampere Analysis’ Guy Bisson announced at MipTV in a presentation.
By that measure, few figures were as important at this month’s buoyant French TV festival Canneseries than German author Ferdinand von Schirach and Constantin TV’s Oliver Berben.
Broadcast on Zdf and produced by Berben, 2013’s ”Crime Stories” and 2015’s “Shades of Guilt,” both based on von Schirach best-selling short story anthologies, scored up to 5 million viewers per episode and exceptional market shares of 17-18.
Inspired by a von Schirach stage play ”The Verdict” punched almost 7 million viewers and a...
By that measure, few figures were as important at this month’s buoyant French TV festival Canneseries than German author Ferdinand von Schirach and Constantin TV’s Oliver Berben.
Broadcast on Zdf and produced by Berben, 2013’s ”Crime Stories” and 2015’s “Shades of Guilt,” both based on von Schirach best-selling short story anthologies, scored up to 5 million viewers per episode and exceptional market shares of 17-18.
Inspired by a von Schirach stage play ”The Verdict” punched almost 7 million viewers and a...
- 4/27/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Israeli series “The Lesson,” a taut half-hour series parable on the vicious spiral of social media confrontation, took top honors on Wednesday night at a spirited 2022 Canneseries festival whose main competition was buoyed by titles from some of the boldest players in the business.
With “The Lesson” co-lead, the extraordinary Maya Landsmann, walking off with best performance for her nuanced turn as a super-sized troubled teen who goads her liberal teacher into a personal attack on her physical appearance – a put-down which goes viral – the series can rate as the big winner at this year’s event.
Produced by Yochanan Kredo at Jasmine TV for Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 – and scoring huge numbers when aired on the network – the show, written by Deakla Keydar and directed by Eitan Zur (“Asylum City”), also exemplifies the virtues of much best Israeli TV drama: Taut, pointed writing, great acting, direction which serves the drama,...
With “The Lesson” co-lead, the extraordinary Maya Landsmann, walking off with best performance for her nuanced turn as a super-sized troubled teen who goads her liberal teacher into a personal attack on her physical appearance – a put-down which goes viral – the series can rate as the big winner at this year’s event.
Produced by Yochanan Kredo at Jasmine TV for Israeli broadcaster Kan 11 – and scoring huge numbers when aired on the network – the show, written by Deakla Keydar and directed by Eitan Zur (“Asylum City”), also exemplifies the virtues of much best Israeli TV drama: Taut, pointed writing, great acting, direction which serves the drama,...
- 4/6/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Hamburg 1982. Andreas, in the family bathroom, spies his mother’s stockings, pulls one over his head breathing in deeply. His mother, still in a dressing gown, calls him to breakfast. As she makes him cheese on toast, he oggles her breasts.
Cut to the present. Andreas lives in a deeply religious Bavarian hamlet with Claudia, his besotted, church-frequenting, apron dress wearing wife. But he sinks into sexual reverie and perversion, unable to escape the distant past. Tragedy ensues, near inevitably, it could be argued.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, helmer of the Oscar-nominated “Downfall,” “The Diver” is one of six episodes in anthology series “The Punishment,” in which six of Germany’s most exciting directors, established and up-and-coming, adapt six short stories by Ferdinand von Schirach collected in his latest anthology, “Punishment” (“Strafe”).
Few writers have plumbed with such terse and knowing nuance the distinction of public and private guild and punishment than von Schirach,...
Cut to the present. Andreas lives in a deeply religious Bavarian hamlet with Claudia, his besotted, church-frequenting, apron dress wearing wife. But he sinks into sexual reverie and perversion, unable to escape the distant past. Tragedy ensues, near inevitably, it could be argued.
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel, helmer of the Oscar-nominated “Downfall,” “The Diver” is one of six episodes in anthology series “The Punishment,” in which six of Germany’s most exciting directors, established and up-and-coming, adapt six short stories by Ferdinand von Schirach collected in his latest anthology, “Punishment” (“Strafe”).
Few writers have plumbed with such terse and knowing nuance the distinction of public and private guild and punishment than von Schirach,...
- 4/6/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The fifth edition will see the TV festival return to its original springtime slot to run alongside MipTV.
French Oscar-winning director Xavier De Lestrade’s investigative thriller The Inside Game, Seeds Of Wrath and Danish bio-series The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen are among the 10 new series selected for competition in the upcoming edition of French TV festival Canneseries (April 1-6).
The fifth edition sees the event return its traditional springtime slot coinciding with the MipTV content market (April 4-6), after the festival moved to September in 2021 due to the Covid-pandemic.
Political thriller The Inside Game, Seeds Of Wrath stars Alix Poisson...
French Oscar-winning director Xavier De Lestrade’s investigative thriller The Inside Game, Seeds Of Wrath and Danish bio-series The Dreamer – Becoming Karen Blixen are among the 10 new series selected for competition in the upcoming edition of French TV festival Canneseries (April 1-6).
The fifth edition sees the event return its traditional springtime slot coinciding with the MipTV content market (April 4-6), after the festival moved to September in 2021 due to the Covid-pandemic.
Political thriller The Inside Game, Seeds Of Wrath stars Alix Poisson...
- 3/8/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- ScreenDaily
Paramount Plus’ “Halo,” a makeover of the massive video game hit by Steven Spielberg’s Amblin TV and 343 Industries, will open this year’s Canneseries.
In other potential highlights, Gillian Anderson will be on hand to receive the Variety Icon Award. Canneseries Artistic Director Albin Lewi praised Gillian Anderson for delivering 10 “edgy” and iconic roles that have helped to redefine the drama landscape, and for being a symbol of “this golden age of series.” “Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney will pick up the Madame Figaro Rising Star Award, the French TV festival announced Tuesday March 8 in Paris, unveiling its 2022 lineup.
“Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-huyk producer Yeon Kim-ji will be in Cannes for a South Korea Focus.
Main growth at 2022’s Cannesseries will be in industry terms, said Canneseries Managing Director Benoit Louvet. The festival will stage its 4th Vivendi-backed Talent Unlimited writers residencies and 3rd Canneseries Writers Club, with...
In other potential highlights, Gillian Anderson will be on hand to receive the Variety Icon Award. Canneseries Artistic Director Albin Lewi praised Gillian Anderson for delivering 10 “edgy” and iconic roles that have helped to redefine the drama landscape, and for being a symbol of “this golden age of series.” “Euphoria” star Sydney Sweeney will pick up the Madame Figaro Rising Star Award, the French TV festival announced Tuesday March 8 in Paris, unveiling its 2022 lineup.
“Squid Game” creator Hwang Dong-huyk producer Yeon Kim-ji will be in Cannes for a South Korea Focus.
Main growth at 2022’s Cannesseries will be in industry terms, said Canneseries Managing Director Benoit Louvet. The festival will stage its 4th Vivendi-backed Talent Unlimited writers residencies and 3rd Canneseries Writers Club, with...
- 3/8/2022
- by John Hopewell and Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
German series “The Allegation” (“Glauben”), directed by Daniel Geronimo Prochaska and written by best-selling author Ferdinand von Schirach, won the Dior Grand Prize and best screenplay at Wednesday night’s Canneseries prize awards ceremony.
The controversial story revolves around the real-life German Worms Trials from the 1990s with the series modernizing the context.
In the small town of Ottern, a pediatrician discovers seemingly incontrovertible evidence that a small girl has been continuously sexually abused. An email by his assistant to a friend sparks a social media furore against the child’s parents, with 25 people in Worms ending up being accused of belonging to a local child pornography ring.
Peter Kurth plays a brilliant, if gambling-addicted, criminal defense lawyer brought in to defend the accused in a series whose standout screenplay constantly challenges and changes audience perception of truth, suggesting elegantly that uncertainty may be a far more intelligent standpoint.
Produced by Moovie for Constantin Television,...
The controversial story revolves around the real-life German Worms Trials from the 1990s with the series modernizing the context.
In the small town of Ottern, a pediatrician discovers seemingly incontrovertible evidence that a small girl has been continuously sexually abused. An email by his assistant to a friend sparks a social media furore against the child’s parents, with 25 people in Worms ending up being accused of belonging to a local child pornography ring.
Peter Kurth plays a brilliant, if gambling-addicted, criminal defense lawyer brought in to defend the accused in a series whose standout screenplay constantly challenges and changes audience perception of truth, suggesting elegantly that uncertainty may be a far more intelligent standpoint.
Produced by Moovie for Constantin Television,...
- 10/14/2021
- by Liza Foreman
- Variety Film + TV
Two half-hour gems, Finland’s “Mister 8” and Germany’s “The Allegation,” took top-honors on Wednesday night at this year’s Canneseries, now fully consolidated as one of Europe’s major TV festivals.
The prizes are obvious recognition for the two series creators, Finland’s Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö and Germany’s Ferdinand von Schirach, and underscore the spirit of innovation at major TV companies across Europe.
“Mister 8” is backed by Finnish SVOD operator Elisa Viihde, “The Allegation” by Germany’s Rtl Group, which is currently in the throes of a high-end scripted drama revolution as it preps its lineup for its relaunched SVOD service, now called Rtl Plus, which goes live on Nov. 4.
Sold by France’s Federation Entertainment and co-written by director Nikki and producer Pösö, Canneseries best series winner “Mister 8” was described to Variety by Nikki as “a thriller with a comedy plot.”
Shot in black and white,...
The prizes are obvious recognition for the two series creators, Finland’s Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö and Germany’s Ferdinand von Schirach, and underscore the spirit of innovation at major TV companies across Europe.
“Mister 8” is backed by Finnish SVOD operator Elisa Viihde, “The Allegation” by Germany’s Rtl Group, which is currently in the throes of a high-end scripted drama revolution as it preps its lineup for its relaunched SVOD service, now called Rtl Plus, which goes live on Nov. 4.
Sold by France’s Federation Entertainment and co-written by director Nikki and producer Pösö, Canneseries best series winner “Mister 8” was described to Variety by Nikki as “a thriller with a comedy plot.”
Shot in black and white,...
- 10/13/2021
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
The Finnish comedy Mister 8 has won the top prize for best series at this year’s CanneSeries television festival. The series follows Maria (Krista Kosonen), a lean-in CEO of a family business who is also hyper-organized in her personal life, with a different partner for every day of the week. The problem comes when she falls for Mister 8, played by Pekka Strang. Strang who took the CanneSeries honor for best performance.
German crime drama The Allegation, the latest from bestselling crime author and screenwriter Ferdinand von Schirach, won the Dior Grand Prize at CanneSeries, as well as best screenplay honors ...
German crime drama The Allegation, the latest from bestselling crime author and screenwriter Ferdinand von Schirach, won the Dior Grand Prize at CanneSeries, as well as best screenplay honors ...
- 10/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Finnish comedy Mister8 has won the top prize for best series at this year’s CanneSeries television festival. The series follows Maria (Krista Kosonen), a lean-in CEO of a family business who is also hyper-organized in her personal life, with a different partner for every day of the week. The problem comes when she falls for Mister8, played by Pekka Strang, who took the CanneSeries honor for best performance.
German crime drama The Allegation, the latest from best-selling crime author and screenwriter Ferdinand von Schirach, won the Dior Grand Prize at CanneSeries, as well as best screenplay honors for von Schirach....
German crime drama The Allegation, the latest from best-selling crime author and screenwriter Ferdinand von Schirach, won the Dior Grand Prize at CanneSeries, as well as best screenplay honors for von Schirach....
- 10/13/2021
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
This adaptation of Ferdinand von Schirach’s thriller about a grandfather with a murky past is let down by conventional storytelling and clunky acting
“We need to know about the evil,” said the German lawyer-turned-bestselling-novelist Ferdinand von Schirach. “That’s the only way we can live with it.” His grandfather was head of the Hitler Youth and his grandmother served as Hitler’s secretary. Now, Von Schirach’s thriller about the legacy of Nazism featuring a grandfather with a murky past has been adapted into a watchable if sluggish and dated courtroom drama – let down by cliched storytelling and clunky acting that drains the movie of tension.
Elyas M’Barek plays newly qualified public defender Caspar Leinen, who is constantly being reminded that his Turkish heritage puts him on the outside of the establishment. Three months into the new job, he lands the case of his career, representing an Italian man...
“We need to know about the evil,” said the German lawyer-turned-bestselling-novelist Ferdinand von Schirach. “That’s the only way we can live with it.” His grandfather was head of the Hitler Youth and his grandmother served as Hitler’s secretary. Now, Von Schirach’s thriller about the legacy of Nazism featuring a grandfather with a murky past has been adapted into a watchable if sluggish and dated courtroom drama – let down by cliched storytelling and clunky acting that drains the movie of tension.
Elyas M’Barek plays newly qualified public defender Caspar Leinen, who is constantly being reminded that his Turkish heritage puts him on the outside of the establishment. Three months into the new job, he lands the case of his career, representing an Italian man...
- 9/7/2021
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
"You can't defend someone like him." Peccadillo Pictures in the UK has unveiled a new official UK trailer for the German legal thriller The Collini Case, from German filmmaker Marco Kreuzpaintner. This originally opened in Germany back in 2019, but is only now getting an official UK release in cinemas this September. Apparently this also opened in the US online last year, but we haven't heard about it until now, time to catch up with it anyway. Based on the international best-seller by Ferdinand von Schirach, The Collini Case is a slick and thrilling courtroom drama inspired by one of the biggest legal scandals in German history. Hoping to launch his career, a rookie defense lawyer takes on a mysterious case of a prominent Italian industrialist who's accused of murdering an old German tycoon, who was a father figure to him. He discovers more while digging into his past to try and understand his motives.
- 8/6/2021
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
With depictions of pandemic catastrophes, war, failing empires, the divide between rich and poor, shooting rampages and massive power outages, Germany’s newest TV shows appear to reflect the current apocalyptic zeitgeist.
German broadcasters and streaming services alike are going heavy on suspense, crime, psychological thrillers, action and adventure, often colored by themes of societal disruption and armed conflict.
Showrunner Christian Alvart (“Dogs of Berlin”) was in production with Zdf Enterprise’s new series “Sløborn” well before the Covid-19 pandemic but the storyline was eerily prescient: A community on the North Sea island of Sløborn is slowly devastated when a deadly virus begins killing residents while being largely ignored by most of the population until it’s too late. Alvart says he wanted to make a series about a crisis that occurs because people are too occupied with their daily lives to take the situation seriously.
In Zdf’s “Shadowplay,...
German broadcasters and streaming services alike are going heavy on suspense, crime, psychological thrillers, action and adventure, often colored by themes of societal disruption and armed conflict.
Showrunner Christian Alvart (“Dogs of Berlin”) was in production with Zdf Enterprise’s new series “Sløborn” well before the Covid-19 pandemic but the storyline was eerily prescient: A community on the North Sea island of Sløborn is slowly devastated when a deadly virus begins killing residents while being largely ignored by most of the population until it’s too late. Alvart says he wanted to make a series about a crisis that occurs because people are too occupied with their daily lives to take the situation seriously.
In Zdf’s “Shadowplay,...
- 10/13/2020
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
It has been a long time since Franco Nero got a role fully deserving of his talents. In Marco Kreuzpaintner's take on Ferdinand von Schirach's international bestseller, he shows that he's still got what it takes - even though, in the opening scenes, it's very difficult to tell what his character is thinking or feeling. The camera focuses closely on those steely blue eyes as he approaches his destination, a spacious glass-fronted office in an expensive looking building. There, he is greeted by elderly executive Hans Meyer (Manfred Zapatka), and though we don't directly witness what happens between them, it's not difficult to figure out - even before he staggers down into the lobby to announce it.
The 70-year-old German-Italian Fabrizio Collini offers no defence. He barely even speaks. Things look even worse for him when he is assigned earnest young lawyer Caspar Leinen (Elyas M'Barek), who, it turns out,...
The 70-year-old German-Italian Fabrizio Collini offers no defence. He barely even speaks. Things look even worse for him when he is assigned earnest young lawyer Caspar Leinen (Elyas M'Barek), who, it turns out,...
- 6/2/2020
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
This of course took place before Covid happened. But there is little reason to think that Constantin Television’s goals will have changed with coronavirus.
On Feb. 24, on the first day of the Berlinale Series Market, Oliver Berben, Constantin head of TV, entertainment and digital media, took to the stage to host a Constantin Television showcase.
It packed a major new show announcement: “The Palace,” produced for Zdf, an identical twin period drama, set just before the fall of the wall, from Uli Edel, director of 1981 movie German classic “Christine F,” Constantin’s first big international breakout, and a string of more recent series hits for the company, such as “Adlon Hotel” and “The Master Butcher.”
Rodica Doehnert (“Adlon Hotel”) serves as lead writer. Kathrin Bullemer and Rüdiger Böss produce. Global Screen handles worldwide distribution.
A sizzle reel served to introduce a new TV adaptation, which wrapped its shoot in February,...
On Feb. 24, on the first day of the Berlinale Series Market, Oliver Berben, Constantin head of TV, entertainment and digital media, took to the stage to host a Constantin Television showcase.
It packed a major new show announcement: “The Palace,” produced for Zdf, an identical twin period drama, set just before the fall of the wall, from Uli Edel, director of 1981 movie German classic “Christine F,” Constantin’s first big international breakout, and a string of more recent series hits for the company, such as “Adlon Hotel” and “The Master Butcher.”
Rodica Doehnert (“Adlon Hotel”) serves as lead writer. Kathrin Bullemer and Rüdiger Böss produce. Global Screen handles worldwide distribution.
A sizzle reel served to introduce a new TV adaptation, which wrapped its shoot in February,...
- 4/1/2020
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Sales agent Global Screen has kicked off sales for German thriller “The Collini Case,” starring Elyas M’Barek, the star of the hit “Fack Ju Göhte,” franchise, and produced by Constantin Film.
Arp Selection has acquired all rights for France and is planning a wide release at the end of year. Constantin will give the film a wide release in Germany in April. Global Screen is in negotiations with buyers from other territories.
The film centers on attorney Caspar Leinen, who takes on the defense of the suspect in a spectacular murder case. This leads him to unearth one of the greatest legal scandals ever in Germany, with its roots in the Nazi era.
The script is by Christian Zübert, Robert Gold and Jens Frederik Otto, adapted from Ferdinand von Schirach’s novel. The film is directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner. It was co-produced by Seven Pictures.
The film also stars...
Arp Selection has acquired all rights for France and is planning a wide release at the end of year. Constantin will give the film a wide release in Germany in April. Global Screen is in negotiations with buyers from other territories.
The film centers on attorney Caspar Leinen, who takes on the defense of the suspect in a spectacular murder case. This leads him to unearth one of the greatest legal scandals ever in Germany, with its roots in the Nazi era.
The script is by Christian Zübert, Robert Gold and Jens Frederik Otto, adapted from Ferdinand von Schirach’s novel. The film is directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner. It was co-produced by Seven Pictures.
The film also stars...
- 2/10/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Munich-based world sales company Global Screen has sold its 3D animation movie “Tabaluga” to more than 50 territories, including the U.K., Spain and Russia.
The pic centers on Tabaluga, “a brave little dragon, who, with the help of beautiful ice princess Lilli, not only finds his fire and the power of love, but also succeeds in saving the world from a tyrannical snowman,” Global Screen said.
Buyers include Signature Entertainment for the U.K. and Ireland, Flins & Piniculas for Spain and Voxell Baltic for Russia. Deals also were closed with Yejilim Entertainment (South Korea), Five Stars (Israel), Filma (Turkey), Ufd (Ukraine), Pro Films (Bulgaria), Karantanija (former Yugoslavia), Lightning McQueen (Vietnam), Garsu Pasaulio Irasai (Baltics), Suraya (Malaysia), Phars Filmco Motion Pictures (Middle East) and Nos (Portugal).
In Germany, Sony Pictures released the movie on Dec. 6 and has sold 500,000 tickets to date. A sale for North America and Canada is in final negotiations.
The pic centers on Tabaluga, “a brave little dragon, who, with the help of beautiful ice princess Lilli, not only finds his fire and the power of love, but also succeeds in saving the world from a tyrannical snowman,” Global Screen said.
Buyers include Signature Entertainment for the U.K. and Ireland, Flins & Piniculas for Spain and Voxell Baltic for Russia. Deals also were closed with Yejilim Entertainment (South Korea), Five Stars (Israel), Filma (Turkey), Ufd (Ukraine), Pro Films (Bulgaria), Karantanija (former Yugoslavia), Lightning McQueen (Vietnam), Garsu Pasaulio Irasai (Baltics), Suraya (Malaysia), Phars Filmco Motion Pictures (Middle East) and Nos (Portugal).
In Germany, Sony Pictures released the movie on Dec. 6 and has sold 500,000 tickets to date. A sale for North America and Canada is in final negotiations.
- 2/7/2019
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Sales outfit also boards hit comedy How About Adolf?
German sales outfit Global Screen has picked up two high-profile completed titles from Constantin FIlm: Marco Kreuzpaintner’s courtroom thriller The Collini Case, and Sönke Wortmann’s hit comedy How About Adolf? ahead of the European Film Market next month.
The Collini Case is based on Ferdinand von Schirach’s novel of the same name about an explosive murder trial. It was a sensation when it was published in Germany in 2011 as it featured a character based on von Schirach’s own infamous grandfather, the leader of the Hitler Youth during the Second World War.
German sales outfit Global Screen has picked up two high-profile completed titles from Constantin FIlm: Marco Kreuzpaintner’s courtroom thriller The Collini Case, and Sönke Wortmann’s hit comedy How About Adolf? ahead of the European Film Market next month.
The Collini Case is based on Ferdinand von Schirach’s novel of the same name about an explosive murder trial. It was a sensation when it was published in Germany in 2011 as it featured a character based on von Schirach’s own infamous grandfather, the leader of the Hitler Youth during the Second World War.
- 1/22/2019
- by Geoffrey Macnab
- ScreenDaily
Constantin Film is adapting German author Ferdinand von Schirach’s international bestseller “The Collini Case,” a legal thriller that deals with Germany’s Nazi past and that was inspired by the author’s own family history.
Elyas M’Barek (pictured), of “Fack ju Göhte” fame and one of Germany’s leading actors, toplines the film, “Der Fall Collini,” which is being directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Christian Zuebert, Robert Gold and Jens-Frederik Otto. M’Barek plays an attorney who takes on a defendant accused of the vicious murder of a respected elderly businessman. In researching the case, the young lawyer comes across one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history and a truth that nobody wants to face.
Alexandra Maria Lara (“You Are Wanted”) and Heiner Lauterbach (“Welcome to Germany”) also star in the courtroom drama, which is shooting this year for a 2019 release via Constantin.
Elyas M’Barek (pictured), of “Fack ju Göhte” fame and one of Germany’s leading actors, toplines the film, “Der Fall Collini,” which is being directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner from a screenplay by Christian Zuebert, Robert Gold and Jens-Frederik Otto. M’Barek plays an attorney who takes on a defendant accused of the vicious murder of a respected elderly businessman. In researching the case, the young lawyer comes across one of the biggest judicial scandals in German history and a truth that nobody wants to face.
Alexandra Maria Lara (“You Are Wanted”) and Heiner Lauterbach (“Welcome to Germany”) also star in the courtroom drama, which is shooting this year for a 2019 release via Constantin.
- 7/13/2018
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
German mini-major Constantin Film has greenlit an adaptation of The Collini Case, the best-selling legal drama from German lawyer turned novelist Ferdinand von Schirach.
German box-office magnet Elyas M’Barek (Suck Me Shakespeer) will star as a young defense lawyer charged with representing a 60-year-old Italian man who, apparently without cause, brutally murders Hans Meyer, one of Germany's richest business tycoons. As he investigates he uncovers dark secrets in Meyer's past that could prove the key to understanding the case.
Marco Kreuzpaintner (Sommersturm, The Trade) will direct the adaptation, which will co-star Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall) and Heiner Lauterbach. Kreuzpaintner ...
German box-office magnet Elyas M’Barek (Suck Me Shakespeer) will star as a young defense lawyer charged with representing a 60-year-old Italian man who, apparently without cause, brutally murders Hans Meyer, one of Germany's richest business tycoons. As he investigates he uncovers dark secrets in Meyer's past that could prove the key to understanding the case.
Marco Kreuzpaintner (Sommersturm, The Trade) will direct the adaptation, which will co-star Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall) and Heiner Lauterbach. Kreuzpaintner ...
- 7/13/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
German mini-major Constantin Film has greenlit an adaptation of The Collini Case, the best-selling legal drama from German lawyer turned novelist Ferdinand von Schirach.
German box-office magnet Elyas M’Barek (Suck Me Shakespeer) will star as a young defense lawyer charged with representing a 60-year-old Italian man who, apparently without cause, brutally murders Hans Meyer, one of Germany's richest business tycoons. As he investigates he uncovers dark secrets in Meyer's past that could prove the key to understanding the case.
Marco Kreuzpaintner (Sommersturm, The Trade) will direct the adaptation, which will co-star Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall) and Heiner Lauterbach. Kreuzpaintner ...
German box-office magnet Elyas M’Barek (Suck Me Shakespeer) will star as a young defense lawyer charged with representing a 60-year-old Italian man who, apparently without cause, brutally murders Hans Meyer, one of Germany's richest business tycoons. As he investigates he uncovers dark secrets in Meyer's past that could prove the key to understanding the case.
Marco Kreuzpaintner (Sommersturm, The Trade) will direct the adaptation, which will co-star Alexandra Maria Lara (Downfall) and Heiner Lauterbach. Kreuzpaintner ...
- 7/13/2018
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Netflix picks up an ITV series while Public Enemy [pictured] scooped the inagural MIPDrama Screenings awards.
Beta Film takes TV-event Terror
Germany-based sales outfit Beta Film has picked up worldwide rights for Terror, a TV courtroom drama that uses audience participation to reach its conclusion. Standing accused is a German air force pilot who has shot down a civilian aircraft after it was hijacked by terrorists, killing everyone on board but saving a stadium full of innocent people. After witnessing the trial, viewers are encouraged to vote online, or via telephone or text message, to decide the verdict, guilty or not guilty. Carnage co-producer Oliver Berben has teamed on the project with writer Ferdinand von Schirach (Shades Of Guilt) and director Lars Kraume (The People vs Fritz Bauer). At Miptv, Beta will be offering Terror at Miptv as both as a ready-made feature and a format.
Public Enemy takes drama screening award
Topping a field of 12 high-end drama series...
Beta Film takes TV-event Terror
Germany-based sales outfit Beta Film has picked up worldwide rights for Terror, a TV courtroom drama that uses audience participation to reach its conclusion. Standing accused is a German air force pilot who has shot down a civilian aircraft after it was hijacked by terrorists, killing everyone on board but saving a stadium full of innocent people. After witnessing the trial, viewers are encouraged to vote online, or via telephone or text message, to decide the verdict, guilty or not guilty. Carnage co-producer Oliver Berben has teamed on the project with writer Ferdinand von Schirach (Shades Of Guilt) and director Lars Kraume (The People vs Fritz Bauer). At Miptv, Beta will be offering Terror at Miptv as both as a ready-made feature and a format.
Public Enemy takes drama screening award
Topping a field of 12 high-end drama series...
- 4/4/2016
- ScreenDaily
★★★★☆ Bliss (Glück, 2011) - directed by Doris Dörrie and adapted from the short story by Ferdinand von Schirach - recounts the tale of Irina (Alba Rohrwacher), who leaves her war-torn country to become a prostitute on the streets of Berlin and Kalle (Vinzenz Kiefer), also living in on the streets of the German capital. These two individuals are alone and lost in the world until they are brought together through a chance encounter. As their relationship blossoms, a cataclysmic event threatens to destroy their fledgling love, with Kalle forced to extreme measures in order to preserve their happiness.
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- 2/17/2012
- by CineVue
- CineVue
Compulsively readable, though sleazy, Ferdinand von Schirach’s terse debut—11 short stories about crime and the law—arrives in English translation after spending 45 weeks on Germany’s bestseller charts. Von Schirach specializes in high-profile defenses of controversial figures: His clients included Günter Schabowski, the former East German politician accused of murdering refugees. It’s no surprise that as a controversial defense attorney, von Schirach presents 11 sympathetic accounts of criminals more to be pitied than censured. While his arguments often ring of self-justification and his narratives hew toward the tawdry, he also presents a compelling portrait of ...
- 1/20/2011
- avclub.com
Berlin -- German mini-major Constantin Film is proving a repeat offender with bestselling crime author Ferdinand von Schirach.
Just months after acquiring the rights to von Schirach's short story collection "Verbrechen," (Crime), Constantin has locked up rights to the author's latest work, "Schuld" (Guilt).
A German defense attorney, von Schirach stormed the best-seller list with "Verbrechen," his 2009 debut. The book of stories, which von Schirach based on his real-life clients, was sold to 30 countries, making it the most successful debut novel ever for a German author.
The first feature adapted from one of von Schirach's stories will be "Gluck" (Luck), from the "Verbrechen" collection, which veteran filmmaker Doris Dorrie has signed on to direct.
Just months after acquiring the rights to von Schirach's short story collection "Verbrechen," (Crime), Constantin has locked up rights to the author's latest work, "Schuld" (Guilt).
A German defense attorney, von Schirach stormed the best-seller list with "Verbrechen," his 2009 debut. The book of stories, which von Schirach based on his real-life clients, was sold to 30 countries, making it the most successful debut novel ever for a German author.
The first feature adapted from one of von Schirach's stories will be "Gluck" (Luck), from the "Verbrechen" collection, which veteran filmmaker Doris Dorrie has signed on to direct.
- 9/30/2010
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Berlin -- German director Doris Dorrie, hot off the comeback success of her latest comedy "The Hairdresser," has signed on to write and direct one or more feature adaptations from "Verbrechen," (Crime), a best-selling series of short stories from author Ferdinand von Schirach.
The first project will be "Gluck" (Luck), based on the story of the same name in the collection. It follows the relationship between two young people in Berlin: Irina, a prostitute and war refugee, and Kalle, a homeless punk.
Constantin Film, which produced "Hairdresser," is also on board for "Gluck" with Oliver Berben ("Pope Joan") producing. Constantin Film boss Martin Moszkowicz will act as executive producer. Shooting is planned for April/May of 2011 in Berlin and Eastern Europe. No talent is attached yet.
"Verbrechen" was published last year and immediately stormed the German bestseller charts, selling more than 200,000 copies. Translation rights have been sold to 30 countries.
The first project will be "Gluck" (Luck), based on the story of the same name in the collection. It follows the relationship between two young people in Berlin: Irina, a prostitute and war refugee, and Kalle, a homeless punk.
Constantin Film, which produced "Hairdresser," is also on board for "Gluck" with Oliver Berben ("Pope Joan") producing. Constantin Film boss Martin Moszkowicz will act as executive producer. Shooting is planned for April/May of 2011 in Berlin and Eastern Europe. No talent is attached yet.
"Verbrechen" was published last year and immediately stormed the German bestseller charts, selling more than 200,000 copies. Translation rights have been sold to 30 countries.
- 9/7/2010
- by By Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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