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The Wolfpack director Crystal Moselle showed a deft hand in bringing a documentary-like authenticity to her drama Skate Kitchen. She’s now expanding those skills, heading out of NYC with The Black Sea, co-directed and starring Derrick B. Harden in a fish-out-of-water tale following a Brooklynite making waves in Bulgaria. Largely improvised with a cast also including Irmena Chichikova, Samuel Finzi, and Stoyo Mirkov, the film is a humorous, entertaining look at culture clashes and trying to find a sense of community.

Ahead of a theatrical release from Metrograph Pictures beginning on November 22, we’re pleased to exclusively debut the first poster for the film, which premiered earlier this year at SXSW and had a robust festival tour including Seattle, Nashville, Mill Valley, Middleburg, San Diego, and Philadelphia, Virginia, and Denver film festivals.

Here’s the synopsis: “Khalid, a charismatic big dreamer from Brooklyn, gets stuck in a small town...

Die Netflix-erfahrene Produktionsfirma Gaumont realisiert für den Streamer eine Thriller-Serie, die mit Felix Kramer und Susanne Wolff in den Hauptrollen durchaus auch an das Spionage-Format „Kleo“ denken lässt.

Felix Kramer und Susanne Wolff in „Bone Palace“ (Credit: Netflix)

Gaumont macht für Netflix die Thriller-Serie „Bone Palace“ (At) mit Felix Kramer und Susanne Wolff in den Hauptrollen. Creator und Headautor ist Paul Coates, der die Bücher zusammen mit Kim Zimmermann und Alexander Seibt schrieb. Regie führen Lennart Ruff und Philipp Leinemann. Executive Producer sind Andreas Bareiss und Sabine de Mardt.

Es geht in den sechs Episoden um ein sogenanntes Safe House, einem Berliner Zufluchtsort für alle, die nicht gefunden werden dürfen. Aber die Betreiber Ex-bnd-Agenten Simon (Felix Kramer) und Meret (Susanne Wolff) werden selbst von der eigenen Vergangenheit eingeholt

Der Dreh zum neuen Netflix-Thriller hat gerade in Berlin begonnen. In der von Gaumont produzierten Serie spielen neben den Hauptdarsteller:innen Susanne...

"A cinematic slam poem." Metrograph Pictures has unveiled an official trailer for a film called The Black Sea, co-directed by NYC filmmaker Crystal Moselle after The Wolfpack and Skate Kitchen. This premiered at the 2024 SXSW Film Festival earlier this year, and it also played at the Seattle and Nashville Film Fests. Inspired by Derrick B. Harden's travels to Bulgaria, The Black Sea is the transformative journey of a man who finds unexpected connections in a small coastal Eastern European town even as he finds himself to be the only black person around. Starring Derrick B. Harden as Khalid (he also co-directed this), Irmena Chichikova, Samuel Finzi, and Stoyo Mirkov. One review nicely states: "For Harden, it's an impressive debut that raises questions about the difference between a tourist, refugee, and immigrant, and explores how sometimes you have to travel a long physical distance to find what’s always been inside yourself.

Indie filmmaker Crystal Moselle is deepening her narrative feature style with a personal story, blending the lines between truth and fiction with a cinema verité approach.

Moselle, who made her directorial debut with buzzy 2015 documentary “The Wolfpack,” which won Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, gained further street cred with her Gotham-nominated feature “Skate Kitchen,” starring Jaden Smith.

Moselle now co-directs “The Black Sea” with the film’s lead star, rapper/musician Derrick B. Harden.

“The Black Sea” has an unscripted style while centering on Brooklyn barista Khalid (Harden), who upends his life to move to Bulgaria amid a catfishing mishap. The official synopsis reads: “What happens when a charismatic big dreamer gets stuck in a small town on the Black Sea? A Bulgarian fortune teller once said the touch of a black man will cure you. That’s where Khalid comes in, a charismatic guy from Brooklyn who...

New month, new selections at Paramount+! The streamer will also add dozens of film titles to its collection this month, the biopic "One Life" starring Anthony Hopkins, the absurdist "Sasquatch Sunset," and the sci-fi thriller "Breathe." Like "One Life," many of the titles are only available with a subscription to a Paramount+ with Showtime plan, but you can sign up for the tier with a seven-day free trial ($11.99 per month after the trial period).

On the TV side, start your engines: the new international "RuPaul's Drag Race" spinoff "RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars" will kick off its competition, welcoming the return of world-famous and world-favorite queens Alyssa Edwards, Kween Kong, Pythia, and more. From the all-new animated original series "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem," to the seventh and final season of the CBS drama series "Seal Team," there's something for everybody this month at Paramount+!

Ready to watch?...

Weiter geht’s mit der beliebten Ard-Degeto-Krimireihe „Allmen“ mit Heino Ferch in der Titelrolle: In „Allmen und das Geheimnis des Koi“ geht es, der Titel verrät’s, um einen kostbaren Fisch. Und das auf Teneriffa. Die UFA-Fiction-Produktion wird am 24. August ausgestrahlt. Erstmals führte eine Frau Regie: Sinje Köhler.

„Allen und das Geheimnis des Koi” (Credit: Ard Degeto Film/UFA Fiction/Repro)

Im fünften Fall der „Allmen“-Reihe begeben sich Heino Ferch und Samuel Finzi als Johann Friedrich von Almen und Butler Carlos auf Teneriffa auf die Suche nach einem kostbaren Zierfisch. Die Produktion der UFA Fiction (Sinah Swyter) im Auftrag der Ard Degeto Film für die Ard wird am 24. August ausgestrahlt. In der Ard Mediathek ist der neue Krimifall bereits ab 22. August abrufbar. Für die Inszenierung zeichnete mit Sinje Köhler zum ersten Mal eine Frau verantwortlich (bei den Vorgängerfilmen führte Thomas Berger Regie), das Drehbuch nach Martin Suters...

The SXSW Film & TV Festival said Wednesday that Universal’s The Fall Guy starring Ryan Gosling will serve as the 2024 edition’s Centerpiece film, and Netflix’s 3 Body Problem from David Benioff, D. B. Weiss and Alexander Woo will open the fest’s opening-night TV premiere.

The news comes as the festival, whose 31st edition runs March 8-16 in Austin, unveiled first titles in its Feature and Short Competitions, Midnighters, Global and Xr Experience categories. See the list below, which includes berths for the world premiere of Pamela Adlon’s Babes, the Daisy Ridley-starring Magpie, Prentice Penny’s docuseries Black Twitter, Season 3 of Hacks and the final season of Star Trek: Discovery.

Organizers said today that more titles, including the opening- and closing-night films, will be announced early next month across Headliner, Narrative Feature Competition, Documentary Feature Competition, Narrative Spotlight, Documentary Spotlight, Visions, Midnighter, Global, 24 Beats Per Second,...

The 2024 SXSW Film and TV Festival has announced its lineup, with Netflix’s splashy sci-fi series 3 Body Problem opening the fest and the Ryan Gosling and Emily Bunt action comedy The Fall Guy acting as a centerpiece screening.

David Benioff and Dan Weiss are behind 3 Body Problem, based on the book of the same name. David Leitch directed the Universal feature about a Hollywood stuntman (Gosling) who is tasked with tracking down the star of the latest movie he is working on.

The Pamela Adlon movie Babes will also act as a centerpiece screening. The narrative competition features include Crystal Moselle’s latest, The Black Sea, and Barbie Ferreira starrer Bob Trevino Likes It. Elsewhere in the lineup are a Cheech and Chong doc, Tommy Dorfman’s directorial debut, Lilly Singh comedy Doin’ It, and My Dead Friend Zoe, exec produced by NFL star Travis Kelce.

The film...

Germany’s impressive crop of crime drama, mystery, suspense, apocalyptic catastrophe, royal intrigue and tales of the supernatural is certain to attract buyers at this year’s MipTV in Cannes.

The selections of series, TV movies and unscripted shows offer a wide range of content but also remain heavy on crime — a favorite German genre.

Among the new offerings is Beta Film’s fact-based title “I am Scrooge.” Produced by Zeitsprung Pictures, the Cologne-based company behind the hit Netflix spy thriller “Kleo,” “I am Scrooge” chronicles the true story of Arno Funke, a frustrated artist who found fame as a bombmaking extortionist in the early 1990s.

Identifying himself as Dagobert Duck — the German name for the Disney character Scrooge McDuck — Funke targeted some of Germany’s biggest department stores, beginning with Berlin’s KaDeWe in 1988, while continually outwitting police and even becoming a local folk hero. The six-part series stars Friedrich Mücke,...

Non-profit Initiative

Real life husband and wife couple, celebrity cricketer Virat Kohli and Bollywood star Anushka Sharma, are merging their respective foundations – Anushka Sharma Foundation and Virat Kohli Foundation – to launch SeVVA, a joint non-profit initiative aimed at helping those in need.

Sharma and Kohli said in a joint statement: “In the words of Kahlil Gibran ‘for in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.’ With this sentiment in mind, we have decided to work together through SeVVA aiming to reach out to as many people as possible. SeVVA’s work won’t be confined to a particular issue as it will continue to strive for social good by championing humanity which is the need of the hour today.”

Next up for Sharma is “Chakda Xpress,” a Netflix film inspired by the life of one of women cricket’s all-time greatest players,...

Few directors have had as eclectic a career as Robert Schwentke. His 2002 German-language debut Tattoo — a slick Se7en-style serial-killer thriller — got the attention of Hollywood, and he initially appeared to be on the classic studio-director track, helming the Jodie Foster-starrer Flightplan, the all-star action hit Red and its sequel, and, most recently, the G.I. Joe movie Snake Eyes with Henry Golding and Andrew Koji.

But even from the start, Schwentke was a difficult director to pigeonhole. Best known for his action thrillers, he also took time to direct the romantic sci-fi drama The Time Traveler’s Wife with Eric Bana and Rachel McAdams, the supernatural comic-book adaptation R.I.P.D. with Ryan Reynolds and Jeff Bridges, and two films in the Divergent YA sci-fi franchise with Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort.

He has also continued to make smaller, more personal, German movies. The Family Jewels, his 2003 follow-up to Tattoo, is...

In 1980, the population of Bulgaria was nine million. Today it is seven million. Where did all those people go? And was a man called Peter Motorov amongst them?

It’s hard to watch January without thinking of November. The country may be different but there’s the same sense of post-Communist malaise as isolated villagers struggle to get by in harsh conditions, the same weighty black and white photography, the same conjuring of obscure folklore where the mythical and the mechanical intersect. Where that film burrowed into the darkness, however, January is illuminated by flashes of wit, and its satirical underpinnings are every bit as vital as its central mystery.

Peter Motorov is missing. Villagers come by to bother the guard (Samuel Finzi) about it, as he sits in his hut painstakingly cracking walnuts, one by one, using an overly complicated machine. His only human company is that of an old man.

Andrey Paounov’s opaque but arresting feature turns on mysterious disappearances and wolfish arrivals in a deep dark forest

Here’s a bitter, odd, quirky shaggy-dog ghost story with a wintry chill. Award-winning Bulgarian documentary film-maker Andrey Paounov makes his fiction feature debut with this adaption, along with British co-writer Alex Barrett, from a stage play by Bulgarian author Yordan Radichkov. Two middle-aged men are shivering in a remote snowy hut just on the border of a dark forest full of wolves. They are the Porter (Samuel Finzi) and the Old Man (Iossif Surchadzhiev), and they are … what? Forest rangers? Officials at a science research station? A third resident, Petar, has gone into town earlier, taking with him the horse-and-sled and his rifle.

While Petar is away, a sinisterly threatening man (Zachary Baharov) shows up with another man whose face is obscured by scarves, demanding help with his damaged snow plough.

John Malkovich starrer Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes and Alex Gibney’s untitled Boris Becker documentary are set to have their world premieres at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival next year. The projects are among the six titles which will play in the fest’s Berlinale Special Gala section, which also includes Brandon Cronenberg’s Infinity Pool, starring Alexander Skarsgård, Mia Goth and Cleopatra Coleman and Todd Field’s Tár.

Infinity Pool will get its European premiere at the festival while Field and Tár stars Cate Blanchett and Nina Hoss and composer Hildur Guðnadóttir will attend the festival to give a public talk as part of the Berlinale Talents section.

The festival also announced its first project from its Berlinale Series section: Zdf’s eco-thriller The Swarm (Der Schwarm), based on the eponymous bestseller by Frank Schätzing. The project follows an international group of scientists who do research...

Berlin-based sales company Picture Tree Intl. has boarded Robert Schwentke’s historical drama “Seneca – On the Creation of Earthquakes,” which has its world premiere in the Berlinale Special Gala section of the Berlin Film Festival. The teaser (below) for the film, which stars John Malkovich, Geraldine Chaplin, Tom Xander, “Dark’s” Louis Hofmann and Mary-Louise Parker, has been released.

The movie is a look at the relationship between Seneca and Nero, the infamous Roman Emperor he mentored since childhood, and who accused him of plotting his assassination.

As the foster father and mastermind of Nero, Seneca is instrumental in the rise of the self-indulgent young tyrant. The philosopher, known for his great speeches on renunciation and clemency, is himself one of the richest men in ancient Rome. But when one day the student tires of his teacher, Nero orders Seneca to kill himself. Is the latter ready for an honorable suicide,...

Zdf Enterprises, to be rebranded Zdf Studios in April, has snagged worldwide distribution rights to the topical post-wwii dramatic series “Between Two Worlds” (“Ein Hauch Von Amerika”).

Skein is set in a fictional German town in the ’50s where a robust U.S. military presence is impacting the lives of its people, in particular the two young friends Marie and Erika, whose relationships with their family, community and each other are put to the test by the presence of a U.S. army base.

Commented Sebastian Krekeler, director Zdfe.drama, Zdf Enterprises: “The clash of different cultures and the defence of a free society is more topical than ever. Racism and anti-Semitism, emancipation and civil rights, tradition versus new beginnings – many of the conflicts that were fought back then are far from over today.”

“‘Between Two Worlds’ is entertaining and at the same time provokes thought about issues that still concern us today,...

The film stars John Malkovich

UK actors Tom Xander and Andrew Koji have joined John Malkovich, Geraldine Chaplin and Julian Sands, in the cast of German director Robert Schwentke’s English-language feature Seneca – On The Creation of Earthquakes which began filming on location in the southern Moroccan city of Ouarzazate at the weekend.

Xander plays Emperor Nero who is beginning to weary of the famous Roman philosopher Seneca, played by Malkovich, his teacher, mentor and close advisor since childhood, while the casting of Koji, whose credits include Peaky Blinders and Warrior TV series, marks his second collaboration with Schwentke after...

TVNow, Rtl Deutschland’s streaming service, high-flying Berlin-based production house X Filme Creative Pool and production-distribution powerhouse Beta Film are partnering on what looks like one of the biggest German drama series productions of 2021: “House of Promises,” (a working title).

Beta Film is handling world sales and will present first moving images of the series at October’s Mipcom trade fair in Cannes, it said Friday.

Described by Beta Film as a “high-end” and a “visually stunning drama,” the 12-hour series is currently shooting on location in Berlin, Brandenburg and the Saxon city of Görlitz. Set in Berlin in the 1920s, it captures the hopes of a dazzling decade and the dramatic turn of an era from the perspective of a young woman and a Jewish family, owner of a state-of-the-art department store at Berlin’s Torstrasse 1.

Award winning director Sherry Hormann directs episodes 1-6, once again focusing on “complex,...

Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins Trailer — Robert Schwentke‘s Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins (2021) movie trailer has been released by Paramount Pictures. The Snake Eyes G.I. Joe Origins Trailer stars Henry Golding, Andrew Koji, Ursula Corbero, Samara Weaving, Haruka Abe, Tahehiro Hira, Iko Uwais, Shota Kakibata, Calum Dench, Samuel Finzi, Simon [...]

Continue reading: Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins Trailer: Henry Golding is Snake Eyes of the Arashikage Clan in Robert Schwentke’s 2021 Movie...

Picture Tree Intl. has picked up the global sales rights on comedy drama “Risks and Side Effects,” which follows a woman’s kidney transplant journey that threatens to break-up her friendships and marriage. The sales agency will launch sales at the European Film Market (March 1-5). Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer.

Austrian helmer Michael Kreihsl wrote and directed the film, which is based on a play of the same name by Stefan Vögel. It stars Samuel Finzi and Inka Friedrich (“God You’re Such a Pr—“), alongside Pia Hierzegger and Thomas Mraz (“The Tobacconist”).

In the film a routine check-up reveals that Pilates trainer Kathrin is suffering from kidney disease and needs a transplant. Her husband Arnold is a successful architect in the middle of a large project and is afraid of donating one of his kidneys. Götz, a friend of the couple’s, would undergo...

Producers on the Move, a networking forum for up-and-coming producers from Europe, takes place as a virtual event this week. The organizer, European Film Promotion, has given Variety exclusive access to the projects the producers are pitching to sales companies.

Here are their projects, including the latest films from the directors of SXSW standout “Lake Bodom” and Cannes breakout “Fire Will Come.” (Biographies of the producers can be found at this link.)

“After”

Producer: Andrea Queralt, 4 A 4 Productions (France)

Director: Oliver Laxe

Genre: Existential Road-Movie

The next film from Oliver Laxe, the director of Cannes breakout hit “Fire Will Come,” winner of the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize. “After” follows a disparate group of ravers who go in quest of the ultimate party in a remote corner of Africa. They embark on an odyssey into the depths of the Saharan desert, a mirror of sand for the characters.

“La Bella Estate”

Producer: Giovanni Pompili,...

Germany Weeps For The Victims Of HanauAs the 70th Berlin film festival was about to open in the capital a 43-year-old German racist opened fire at two Shisha (hookah pipe) joints in the secondary city of Hanau, near Frankfurt, killing 11 Turkish and Kurdish German residents and wounding many others. He then returned home where he calmly killed his mother and himself leaving a long death note condemning the Islamic takeover of the country.The news of the film festival gala opening ceremony was relegated to the middle pages of most papers as the entire nation reels in shock.Artistic director Carlo Chatrian ©, executive director of Berlinale International Film Festival Mariette Rissenbeek (R) and host Samuel Finzi observe a minute of silence in honor of victims of a shooting in Hanau as they attend the opening gala of the 70th Berlinale International Film Festival in Berlin, Germany, February 20, 2020. [Photo/Vcg]The turnout at...

The film, entitled Schachnovelle, will star Oliver Masucci in the lead role, alongside Albrecht Schuch, Birgit Minichmayr, Rolf Lassgard and Samuel Finzi. Best known for having directed the alpine drama North Face, as well as commercially successful adaptations of Winnetou novels and music videos featuring the likes of Madonna and Rammstein, German filmmaker Philipp Stölzl is now working on a reinterpretation of Stefan Zweig’s literary classic The Royal Game. Schachnovelle tells the story of lawyer Bartok, who, while on a cruise, recalls being imprisoned and tortured by the Nazis in Vienna. In 1938, Bartok gets arrested and taken to the Gestapo’s headquarters before he can flee to the USA with his wife. Because he refuses to cooperate with the Nazi officials and provide information about accounts that he manages, Bartok is sent into solitary confinement. A chess book helps him survive in captivity and overcome the mental suffering inflicted on.

Variety’s “10 Europeans to Watch” were feted Saturday night at a party held by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg at Berlin’s Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Co-hosting the evening were Kirsten Niehuus and Helge Jürgens, managing directors of Medienboard, the regional film, TV and digital-media funding body.

Pictured above are U.K. filmmaker and rapper Andrew Onwubolu, known by his alias Rapman, Irish producer Fodhla Cronin O’Reilly, Italian director Carlo Sironi (“Sole”), German director Leonie Krippendorff (“Cocoon”), Estonian director Tanel Toom, Germany-based Kosovan director Visar Morina (“Exile”), and Hungarian actor Abigél Szõke (“Those Who Remained”).

Before welcoming to the stage some of Europe’s most promising stars of tomorrow, Variety executive VP of content Steven Gaydos noted: “Variety is celebrating our 115th year covering international entertainment, before people were watching movies.”

He also shared the story of local producer Sol Bondy, who met Russian producers Ilya Stewart and Murad Osmann at Variety’s “10 Producers to...

The 70th Berlin Film Festival got off to a subdued and somber start on Thursday after news of a racially motivated mass shooting Wednesday night in the German city of Hanau rocked the country.

“I wanted to say something about the 70th anniversary of the Berlinale, but events in Hanau hit us all hard,” said Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek.

Artistic director Carlo Chatrian added: “We stand here as a community. When we sit in the cinema, there is no distinction between class or religion. Cinema brings us together.”

This year’s festival marks the first edition for Chatrian and Rissenbeek, who took over from Dieter Kosslick last year.

The opening night kicked off with the screening of Philippe Falardeau’s “My Salinger Year,” starring Sigourney Weaver, who was in attendance, and Margaret Qualley.

Hosting the show, actor Samuel Finzi offered an intense, often politically pointed speech that focused largely...

The 70th Berlin International Film Festival, and the first under new leadership team Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian, got underway tonight with a screening of Philippe Falardeau’s My Salinger Year, starring Sigourney Weaver and Margaret Qualley.

The Opening Gala included a minute’s silence to honor the victims of yesterday’s terror attack in the German town of Hanau, which claimed at least 11 lives.

“Originally I wanted to say a few words about how delighted we are about the 70th anniversary of the Berlinale, but the events in Hanau yesterday have shocked all of us, it hit us all hard,” said Rissenbeek, addressing the audience. “The Berlinale symbolises freedom, tolerance, respect and hospitality. The Berlinale is opposed to violence and racism. Our sympathy and thoughts go out the victims in Hanau and their families.”

“We stand here as a community, and being a community is what defines cinema,” said Chatrian.

The 2020 Berlin International Film Festival, the event’s 70th edition and the first under its new leadership team of Executive Director Mariette Rissenbeek and Artistic Director Carlo Chatrian, has named the host for its opening gala and awards ceremony.

Bulgarian-German actor Samuel Finzi, whose credits across screen and stage include 2014 comedy Worst Case Scenario, will host both events, with the opening night taking place on February 20 and the awards on February 29.

“We’re very pleased that Samuel Finzi will be hosting the inauguration of the 70th Berlinale. His eloquence, energy and improvisation skills promise an entertaining start to the festival,” commented Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian.

“As a European, it’s a great honor for me to be a part of one of the most important film festivals worldwide. I’m very happy about the opportunity to be a part of 2020 Berlinale on the occasion of its 70th anniversary, and a new beginning,...

The German star’s new directorial effort is the sequel to Class Reunion 1.0. Best known to international audiences for playing Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, German actor-filmmaker Til Schweiger, who in his native country enjoys superstardom status, finished shooting his new directorial effort last week. Entitled Class Reunion 2.0 - The Wedding, the new comedy is a sequel to his movie Class Reunion 1.0 - The Incredible Journey of the Silver Backs, which attracted more than 1.1 million viewers in 2018. As a reminder, Schweiger also directed last year’s box-office flop Head Full of Honey, an English-language remake of his German-language film of the same name from 2014. Class Reunion 2.0 will follow the main characters from Class Reunion 1.0 as they face a series of new challenges. Shortly after the class reunion, the lives of Thomas (Til Schweiger himself), Nils (Samuel Finzi) and Andreas (Milan Peschel),...

Netflix has wrapped filming on its first German Original film, Concrete Gold, starring David Kross (The Reader), Frederick Lau (Victoria) and Janina Uhse.

The Ufa-produced drama-thriller charts the rise and fall of three corrupt real estate agents who accumulate absurd wealth in no time but fall into a vortex of fraud, greed and drugs.

Cüneyt Kaya (Blockbustaz) wrote and directed the feature which is produced by Ufa Fiction’s Sebastian Werninger and Johannes Kunkel. Also among cast are Peri Baumeister, Detlev Buck, Samuel Finzi, Sophia Thomalla and Johanna Ingelfinger.

Kai Finke, Director of Content Acquisitions & Co-Productions at Netflix, said, “Working with Cüneyt Kaya and Ufa Fiction on Concrete Gold has been a joy. Cüneyt and our great cast have bough boundless energy to this fast-paced film and we thank the team of Ufa Fiction for creating such a high quality movie for Netflix. We are...

The Captain (Der Hauptmann) director Robert Schwentke: "There's certain conventions in German cinema." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

In the first instalment of my conversation with Robert Schwentke at the Quad Cinema, the director of Red, R.I.P.D., and Flightplan talks about his latest film The Captain (Der Hauptmann), shot by Florian Ballhaus and starring Max Hubacher with Alexander Fehling, Milan Peschel, Frederick Lau, Bernd Hölscher, Waldemar Kobus, Samuel Finzi, and Wolfram Koch.

Max Hubacher stars as Willi Herold in The Captain

Robert Schwentke also discusses with me the significance of the uniform for Emil Jannings in Fw Murnau's Der Letzte Mann; Heinz Rühmann in Helmut Käutner's Der Hauptmann Von Köpenick, based on Carl Zuckmayer's play; being a "big fan" of Bierkampf director and star Herbert Achternbusch; Heinz Schirk's Die Wannseekonferenz and Theodor Kotulla's Aus einem Deutschen Leben; certain conventions of German cinema, and...

"With all the deserters, you never know who's in the uniform." Music Box Films has debuted an official Us trailer for The Captain, a German film from last year about a deserter who discovers new powers when he is mistaken for a captain. After years making big Hollywood blockbusters, filmmaker Robert Schwentke returned to Germany to make this film. It's a play on the Stanford Prison Experiment, where someone with power suddenly takes this power further than thought possible. Set in WWII, the film is about a German army deserter, played by Max Hubacher, who changes his ways when he suddenly has more power. The cast includes Milan Peschel, Frederick Lau, Bernd Hölscher, Waldemar Kobus, Alexander Fehling, Samuel Finzi, and Wolfram Koch. This looks really, really good - I'm surprised we haven't heard more about this film until now. Take a look below. Here's the official Us trailer (+ two posters...

Denmark’s Katja Adomeit and Germany’s Ingmar Trost among upcoming European producers set to be showcased at Cannes.Scroll down for full list

European Film Promotion (Efp) has selected 20 emerging young European producers for the 16th edition of its Producers on the Move networking initiative, which will be held during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival from May 15-18.

The 2014 selection includes Danish producer Katja Adomeit, who produced and co-directed the hybrid film Not At Home with the Afghan director Shahrbanoo Sadat as well as co-producing Ruben Östlund’s Force Majeure as a freelancer for the Copenhagen office of Philippe Bober’s The Coproduction Office.

Cologne-based Ingmar Trost of Sutor Kolonko has also been selected. His credits include Ilian Metev’s award-winniıng documentary Sofıa’s Last Ambulance, Latvian director Juris Kursietis’ Modrıs and Ingo Haeb’s The Chambermaid Lynn, and he has just completed production of his third feature, Isabelle Stever’s The Weather Inside.

Lithuania will be...

Exclusive: Beta Cinema will handle international sales on German director Isabelle Stevers’ grotesque drama Cooking Cats, which began shooting in Cologne last week.

UK actor Jim Broadbent has been cast as a British ambassador in the drama set in the world of international aid schemes with Maria Furtwängler as an Un aid worker caught between the contradictions of a jetsetting life and tackling Third World poverty.

Other cast members include former European Shooting Star Dorka Gryllus and newcomer Mehmer Sözer.

Stever’s previous films include the feature films Erste Ehe and Gisela and an episode of the omnibus film Deutschland ‘09.

The co-production between Sutor Kolonko Filmproduktion, cine plus Filmproduktion and broadcasters Wdr, Br and Ndr will be released theatrically in Germany by Movienet.

Shooting will continue at the Hürth-based Medienparks Nrw studio, in Düsseldorf and Jordan’s Amman until the beginning of June.

Schipper thriller and love story

Another addition to Beta’s slate is actor-director [link=nm...

Bradley Cooper’s shaking off the fact that he ended up in an Oscar category against an unbeatable Daniel Day-Lewis by throwing himself into work he produces and, assuming he likes the script, might make as his directorial debut. The latest possibility to join that growing list is a remake of successful German comedy Kokowaah.If Cooper does take on the English-language version, he’ll be following in the footsteps of Til Schweiger, who co-wrote, directed and starred in the original, and has just seen the sequel storm into the charts in Germany.Kokowaah digs into the relationship between carefree bachelor Henry (Schweiger) and devoted dad Tristan (Samuel Finzi), who must re-evaluate their lives after learning the truth about who the father of Tristan’s eight-year-old daughter really is.Scott Rothman and Rajiv Joseph are re-writing the screenplay, which was first tackled by Chris Shafer and Paul Vicknair. Cooper plans to produce and star,...

After a string of announcements, it looks like the Toronto International Film Festival have locked down their line-up and it’s looking like a fantastic slate. Much of the additions today come in the form of previous Cannes premieres, including Michael Haneke‘s Amour (review), Cristian Mungiu‘s Beyond the Hills (review), Abbas Kiarostami‘s Like Someone in Love (review), Bernardo Bertolucci‘s Me and You (review), Hong Sang-soo‘s In Another Country and the Venice premiere Olivier Assayas‘ Something in the Air. Most notably missing is Leos Carax‘s Holy Motors, but we do get a new Michael Winterbottom film titled Everyday. Out of the Discovery section, the biggest film seems to be The Brass Teapot, and indie drama starring Juno Temple and Michael Angarano and one can check out all the additions below.

Masters

Amour Michael Haneke, Austria/France/Germany North American Premiere Screen legends Jean-Louis Trintignant and...

Palm Springs International Film Festival

Camera Ltd.

PALM SPRINGS -- The title character of Warden of the Dead, a 13-year-old orphan, shepherds the deceased and the grieving through the sprawling, labyrinthine cemetery where he lives and works.

Despite a premise that sounds lugubrious, the film is, at its best, a bright, autumnal fable tinged with comic absurdity. Writer-director-editor Ilian Simeonov loads his increasingly unfocused narrative with too many metaphoric elements, however, straining rather than enriching his story. If it doesn't coalesce, Bulgaria's foreign-language Oscar submission is nonetheless atmospheric and engaging for much of its running time.

Known only as the Kid (Vladimir Georgiev), the ragged-haired protagonist takes his job seriously, organizing crews of gravediggers, florists and dirge singers. When he's not traversing the premises with an air of authority, a pack of dogs at his heels, he sits in a modest house in a corner of the cemetery, pasting pictures of the recently buried into a little book. On the TV, a news commentator remarks on the pointlessness of an ongoing, unnamed war in the Balkans (the film's time period is unspecified).

The Kid can prophesy death, and when he says someone will die in 10 days, his elderly friend Angel (Itzhak Fintzi) prepares happily for his own longed-for demise. Having just watched the casket of his nemesis lowered into a rain-filled grave (the film's striking opening scene), Angel no longer has a reason to live. But for the dead man's daughter (Diana Dobreva), the betrayal that cost Angel his love and his freedom is not a closed chapter. She may also offer hope to cemetery employee Ivan (Samuel Fintzi, son of the actor playing Angel), a frustrated painter who idolizes Rubens.

Lensing by Dimitar Gotchev, who also produced the film, captures a vivid sense of the Kid's (the region's?) self-contained world. But Warden suffers from an excess of symbolic and magic-realist story strands. The secret nighttime delivery of war dead in plastic bags, for example, might have had more impact if it weren't sharing screen time with the Kid's telekinetic powers.