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Like in several other territories, commercial juggernauts will win it big in 2011. This should be the case for Germany. Til Schweiger, for example, is going to churn out family-oriented Kokowääh (no, that's not a word) and Keinohrhasen 3. As always, comedians are going to try to translate their concert hall fame into tickets, like Tom Gerhardt and Hilmi Sözer, who have teamed up for buddy-cop-com Die Superbullen, or Kurt Krömer, who's trying his luck in a movie called Eine Insel namens Udo - titles you won't have to memorize altogether, as they will hardly be exported to non-German-speaking countries. Pina, in contrast, will be: It's Wim Wenders' bow to the late Pina Bausch, a 3D dance theater experience running out of competition at coming February's Berlinale, dreaded in advance by arthouse purists. Meanwhile, these are some of the most promising German films that do show up on the horizon: #.5 Memory...

Tom Gerhardt's mud computer, one of the projects on display at Nyu's Itp spring show 2009, is a keyboard replacement made entirely of the squishy stuff. According to Gerhardt, the Mud Tub pioneers a "new open-ended interaction typology where prescriptive goals are centered around states, rather than specific user manipulation". So, for example, instead of clicking "Send" on your email, the Mud Tub might ask you to move two fingers a certain way in the mud.

It's hard to imagine a situation where the Mud Tub would be more useful than a traditional keyboard. Gizmodo suggests that the mud Ui could assist designers in modeling buildings, car fenders, and other physical objects. But could the mud hold position long enough to create a model of anything substantial? Regardless, Gerhardt's Mud Tub proves that we can connect computers to nature in a very real way.

tom gerdhardt's mud computer at itp...

CANNES -- Independent German production and distribution giant Constantin Film said Thursday that it booked a profit of €1.8 million ($2.3 million) on revenue of €57.1 million ($73.2 million) in the first quarter, a slight drop from its results for the same period a year ago. The Munich-based group, which also announced it has sold U.S. and foreign rights to its upcoming werewolf feature Skinwalkers to Lions Gate, said it expects to book pretax profit of at least €9 million ($11.5 million) and revenue of €190 million ($243.5 million) for the full year. That would be well below the €246.9 million in sales and €14.8 million in pretax profit that Constantin made last year. However, the year ago strength came on the back of the phenomenal boxoffice performance of in-house productions Dreamship Surprise and Downfall, which were the first- and fourth-most successful films, respectively, last year in Germany. Not that Constantin's 2005 lineup is without promise. On July 17, the company will bow Tim Story's comic book adaptation Fantastic Four, which Constantin co-produced with 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises. And July 21 sees the release of the fantasy film spoof Siegfried, featuring German comedy star Tom Gerhardt and director Sven Unterwaldt Jr., whose debut 7 Dwarfs was another breakout blockbuster, earning €38 million at the German boxoffice.

CANNES -- Independent German production and distribution giant Constantin Film said Thursday that it booked a profit of €1.8 million ($2.3 million) on revenue of €57.1 million ($73.2 million) in the first quarter, a slight drop from its results for the same period a year ago. The Munich-based group, which also announced it has sold U.S. and foreign rights to its upcoming werewolf feature Skinwalkers to Lions Gate, said it expects to book pretax profit of at least €9 million ($11.5 million) and revenue of €190 million ($243.5 million) for the full year. That would be well below the €246.9 million in sales and €14.8 million in pretax profit that Constantin made last year. However, the year ago strength came on the back of the phenomenal boxoffice performance of in-house productions Dreamship Surprise and Downfall, which were the first- and fourth-most successful films, respectively, last year in Germany. Not that Constantin's 2005 lineup is without promise. On July 17, the company will bow Tim Story's comic book adaptation Fantastic Four, which Constantin co-produced with 20th Century Fox and Marvel Enterprises. And July 21 sees the release of the fantasy film spoof Siegfried, featuring German comedy star Tom Gerhardt and director Sven Unterwaldt Jr., whose debut 7 Dwarfs was another breakout blockbuster, earning €38 million at the German boxoffice.