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Beta Film has taken world sales rights to drama series “Other People’s Money,” which will make its world premiere next month in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.

The series centers on Europe’s biggest tax fraud ever. It tells the story of how a criminal network of megarich investors, bankers and lawyers stole €146 billion from European taxpayers.

The showrunner and creator is Jan Schomburg. The producers are Michael Polle at X Filme Creative Pool (“Babylon Berlin”), Ole Søndberg (“Millennium” trilogy) at True Content Entertainment, and Epo-Film. The show is backed by broadcasters Zdf, Dr and New8, which is a group of public broadcasters from northern and western Europe.

“Other People’s Money” is the latest addition to Beta’s Berlinale lineup, headed by the Berlinale’s opening film “The Light” by Tom Tykwer, starring Lars Eidinger and the Panorama world premiere “Cicadas” by Ina Weisse (“The Audition”), starring Nina Hoss.

“Other People’s Money...

Michael Krummenacher’s World War II drama “The Traitor” (“Landesverräter”) tells the true story of a young man in Switzerland who, seeking to escape the repression of militarization during World War II, falls into the hands of a manipulative German spy.

The film, which world premieres at the Zurich Film Festival, follows Ernst Schrämli (played by newcomer Dimitri Krebs), a poor but talented young singer and non-conformist in St. Gallen who regularly clashes with authority. Despising having to serve in the military for neutral Switzerland during the war, he dreams of becoming a famous crooner in Berlin.

When a charismatic Nazi spy (Fabian Hinrichs) takes a liking to him, the vulnerable Ernst not only finds the fatherly security he’s been missing, but also an opportunity he never imagined. For quick money and the prospect of a German visa, Ernst begins to supply his new acquaintance with military information.

The...

The Zurich Film Festival has revealed the first titles in their Gala section, which includes several films that will bring star power to the red carpet and directors with award-winning credentials.

Among the first 11 titles to be announced are “Conclave,” by the director of Oscar winner “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Edward Berger, with Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci and John Lithgow heading the cast.

Also selected is Tim Fehlbaum’s “September 5,” starring Peter Sarsgaard, and Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl,” which is toplined by Pamela Anderson and Jamie Lee Curtis.

Steve McQueen, an Oscar winner with “12 Years a Slave,” delivers “Blitz,” starring Saoirse Ronan and rock star Paul Weller, and Nick Hamm presents “William Tell,” starring Claes Bang and Ben Kingsley.

Sean Baker’s “Anora,” the winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes, also joins the selection, as does Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain,” featuring...

Crime show “Divided We Stand,” which will premiere in Germany on the public broadcaster Ard on Feb. 22 with the title “Zerv,” screened this week at the European Film Market in the Berlinale Series Market Selects section. World sales are being handled by Beta Film.

The show, based on true events, follows a group of police officers from West Germany who are sent to Berlin to form a special investigations unit, called Zerv, which aims to root out crimes committed in the German Democratic Republic (Gdr) during the Communist era. However, as the officers dig deeper into the crimes in the East they start to find that many of them had originated in the West.

Speaking to Variety, exec producer Gabriela Sperl says the clash of cultures, values and ideologies was not only interesting, but also held the promise of some darkly comic moments as the West Germans try to “teach...

“The Fear Index,” starring Josh Hartnett, and the third season of iconic Israeli series “False Flag” will both screen at the Berlinale Series Market Selects, whose lineup was unveiled Tuesday.

The latest from “The Crown” producers Left Bank Pictures, Sky Original “The Fear Index” is billed as a fast-paced, gripping Frankenstein-style parable on the dangers of AI. Based on the Robert Harris novel of the same title, its international sales will be handled by NBCUniversal Global Distribution.

Sold by Keshet International, “False Flag” is one of milestone titles that turned Israel’s series into a global brand, with Fox International taking the world on season one at 2015’s Mipcom in its first global acquisition of a foreign-language series.

Season three marks the return of both original series creators, Maria Feldman and Amit Cohen, in a tale which looks set to weave the same web of distrust, deception and sudden twists as the first two seasons.

Selection includes TV series from UK, Sweden, Austria, France, Germany, Israel and Denmark.

The Berlin International Film Festival (February 7 – 17) has unveiled the seven TV titles set to be screened in this year’s Berlinale Series programme.

Among the line-up is Amazon’s Hanna written by David Farr, who co-wrote the 2011 film of the same name. It is directed by Sarah Adina Smith, whose film credits include Buster Mal’s Heart, which starred Rami Malek. Hanna stars Esmé Creed-Miles, Joel Kinnaman and Mireille Enos. NBCUniversal International Studios is producing alongside Working Title Television.

Also in the selection is Netflix’s first Swedish original series Quicksand,...

Sophie Scholl – Die Letzten Tage / Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (2005) Direction: Marc Rothemund Cast: Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Gerald Alexander Held, Johanna Gastdorf, André Hennicke Screenplay: Fred Breinersdorfer Oscar Movies, European Film Award Movies Recommended Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days Directed with clenched fists by Berlin Film Festival winner Marc Rothemund, who seems to have been at least partly inspired by Robert Bresson's minimalist The Trial of Joan of Arc, Sophie Scholl: The Final Days is an intense, unsentimental, impeccably produced retelling of the last days of the young female leader of the White Rose, the German resistance movement. Set in 1943, Fred Breinersdorfer's screenplay chronicles the events that followed the arrest of Sophie Scholl (Julia Jentsch) and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) after they're accused of distributing "subversive" leaflets at a German university. In the complex title role, Berlin Film Festival, German Academy Award,...

The 2010 German Academy Award winners will be announced on April 23 in Berlin. Best film Everyone Else, dir. Maren Ade When We Leave, dir. Feo Aladag Soul Kitchen dir. Fatih Akin Storm dir. Hans-Christian Schmid The White Ribbon dir. Michael Haneke Desert Flower dir. Sherry Hormann Best documentary The Woman with the 5 Elephants dir. Vadim Jendreyko The Heart of Jenin dir. Marcus Vetter, Leon Geller Best children’s film Lippel’s Dream dir. Lars Buchel The Suburban Crocodiles dir. Christian Ditter Best director Maren Ade for Everyone Else Feo Aladag for When We Leave Michael Haneke for The White Ribbon Hans-Christian Schmid for Storm Best actress Corinna Harfouch for This Is Love Sibel Kekilli for When We Leave Susanne Lothar for The White Ribbon Birgit Minichmayr for Everyone Else Best actor Fabian Hinrichs for Schwerkraft Henry Hubchen for Whiskey [...]...

Berlin -- Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" may have missed out on the best foreign film Oscar but the Austrian filmmaker is all but certain to sweep the German Film Awards after "The White Ribbon" received 13 nominations for the country's top prize, the Lolas.

"The White Ribbon" picked up Lola noms in all possible categories, including best film, best director and best acting noms for stars Burghart Klaussner and Susanne Lothar.

Cinematographer Christian Berger, whose stark black-and-white images earned him an Oscar nomination, is the favurite to win the Lola for best cinematography at the German Film Awards on April 23 in Berlin.

"When We Leave," a drama from first-time director Feo Aladag, was the big surprise, earning six Lola nominations including ones for best film and best actress for Sibel Kekilli ("Head-On") in her comeback role as a young woman banished from her devout Muslim family.

Hans-Christian Schmid's...

PARIS --The fifth annual Rendez-Vous Franco-Allemands (Franco-German Meetings) is set to kick off in Versailles on Nov. 22, French film promotion organization Unifrance announced Wednesday.

The three-day confab, presided over by the heads of both countries' state film bodies, Veronique Cayla and Peter Dinges, will feature a series of meetings for film industry professionals.

The subjects du jour will include new ways of financing and the implications for co-productions, the deployment of digital screens and the implication of VOD for film and television.

A pitching session will help both Gallic and German producers find co-production partners for their various projects. Russian producers also are planning to make the trip to Versailles to observe the exchanges and propose their own projects.

Unifrance will introduce young talents from Germany (Martina Gedek, August Diehl, Alexander Fehling, Fabian Hinrichs, Sibel Kekilli, Anneke Kim Sarnau, Hinnerk Schoenemann, Joerdis Triebel and Sebastian Urzendowsky) and France (Melvil Poupaud, Nicolas Cazale, Jennifer Decker, Valerie Donzelli, Mylene Jampanoi, Adrien Jolivet, Aissa Maiga and Allyson Paradis) to each other and to visiting producers.

BERLIN -- Taking advantage of the discovery of long buried documents in old East German archives and recent interviews with witnesses or relatives and friends of those involved in the historical episode, the makers of Sophie Scholl -- The Final Days provide a clear and compelling account of the last six days in the life of Sophie Scholl, a resister of the Nazi regime in Germany in 1943. The movie is understandably static as the guts of the film are Sophie's interrogations by Gestapo officer Robert Mohr. But it's static electricity. The film has a jumpy, nervous energy as the two verbally dual over matters of life and death.

Rock solid performances by up-and-coming German actress Julia Jentsch as Sophie and Alexander Held (Downfall) as Mohr along with an excellent cast of supporting players insure that no one mistakes this for a lifeless docu-drama. Sophie Scholl will have its largest impact, of course, in German-speaking territories. But with interest in that era recently sparked by Downfall, the film could get picked up in many other territories.

Sophie may be a major heroine in German history, but Jentsch plays her for what she was -- an ordinary young woman who in extraordinary times finds the courage to do what is right. She and her brother Hans (Fabian Hinrichs) are members of the White Rose resistance, a group portrayed in other German films, most notably Michael Verhoeven's The White Rose. A foolish decision to smuggle anti-Nazi leaflets into Munich University and secretly distribute them while classes are in session results in the arrest of Sophie and Hans on February 18, 1943.

Director Marc Rothemund and his frequent collaborator, writer Fred Breinersdorfer, then let events speak for themselves. Separated from the others, Sophie is grilled by Mohr for hours. Initially, she denies involvement and is so convincing she is nearly released. Then comes damning evidence found in a search of the siblings' apartment. When Sophie sees her brother's confession, she too admits guilt -- and does so with pride.

Now comes Sophie's verbal dance with Mohr to protect friends and fellow collaborators. Later, Mohr offers Sophie a chance to get a milder sentence at the price of renouncing her ideals. She refuses. But the most interesting part of the interrogation comes when these two debate the goals and methods of the Nazi government and the question of how posterity will remember their differing points of view.

Mohr is a long time interrogator. His interest lies in upholding the law and not who wrote the law or whether it has anything to do with justice. Sophie contends that there is a thing called right and wrong that is separate from what any particular law says.

Mohr was a man who in 1943 must have known how badly things were going in the war -- which is the major point of the students' leaflets -- as well as being aware of the heinous deeds in the Nazi's rule. Held's Mohr never equivocates or concedes any of Sophie's points. Yet he develops a grudging admiration for her and struggles to answer some points.

Certainly, his offer to save her neck is curious if he truly believes what he says he does. It may be his final, futile attempt to win the argument. And herein lies the dramatic and moral value of the movie: Their argument transcends the Nazi era. It looks to civil courage, a thing in short supply even today.

Rothemund keeps sets, costumes and camerawork simple so the greater concentration is on his actors and the play of words. He and Breinersdorfer refuse to sentimentalize any of Sophie's decisions over these few days. But they do see her battle against tyranny as a dramatic assertion of human beings' desire for freedom no matter what the cost.

SOPHIE SCHOLL -- THE FINAL DAYS

Bavaria Films International presents a Goldkind Film and Broth Film production

Credits:

Director: Marc Rothemund

Writer: Fred Breinersdorfer

Producers: Christoph Mueller, Sven Burgemeister, Fred Breinersdorfer, Marc Rotheremund

Director of photography: Martin Langer

Production designer: Jana Karen

Music: Johnny Klimek, Reinhold Heil

Costumes: Natascha Nesslauer

Editor: Hans Funck.

Cast: Sophie Scholl: Julia Jentsch

Robert Mohr: Alexander Hold

Hans Scholl: Fabian Hinrichs

Else Gebel: Johanna Gastdort

Dr. Freisier: Andre Hennicke

Christoph Pobst: Florian Stetter

No MPAA rating

Running time -- 120 minutes...

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- Where Martin Scorsese's ruthless examination of events leading up to an act of unspeakable violence in "Taxi Driver" was a feverish dream about alienation and rage, Dito Tsintsadze's "Gun-shy", which similarly puts a disaffected man on a collision course with murder, is a poetic and oftentimes surreal tale layered with dry wit. Each film perhaps reflects the temperament of its maker and the tenor of troubled yet different times.

"Gun-shy" is clearly not a film for everyone, and its German language probably consigns it to the festival circuit outside Europe. Yet the film will resonate with those willing to venture into a dangerous realm, where filmmakers mix irony and humor with things that are terrible.

Seemingly, many of the film's characters understand that its young protagonist, Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs), will commit a crime before he does. For his part, Lukas is gun-shy, a youth performing community service -- delivering hot meals to the elderly -- in lieu of military service. A pretty woman on a streetcar, Isabella (Lavinia Wilson), slips him a note that reads "Help me!" He follows her. What looks like a sexual come-on gradually turns out to be a plea for help by a woman in an abusive relationship with an older lecturer in, of all things, self help.

Lukas' seemingly innocent nocturnal activities draw the attention of a police detective and wind up involving an aging prostitute, an old soldier and a Turkish arms dealer. While Lukas is an alienated and disconnected individual in a new city, he is nevertheless compassionate, which leads to his downfall.

Manuel Mack's atmospheric cinematography and Thilo Mengler's production design details turn "Gun-shy" into a moody, existential thriller certain to provoke myriad responses from audiences.

Toronto International Film Festival

TORONTO -- Where Martin Scorsese's ruthless examination of events leading up to an act of unspeakable violence in "Taxi Driver" was a feverish dream about alienation and rage, Dito Tsintsadze's "Gun-shy", which similarly puts a disaffected man on a collision course with murder, is a poetic and oftentimes surreal tale layered with dry wit. Each film perhaps reflects the temperament of its maker and the tenor of troubled yet different times.

"Gun-shy" is clearly not a film for everyone, and its German language probably consigns it to the festival circuit outside Europe. Yet the film will resonate with those willing to venture into a dangerous realm, where filmmakers mix irony and humor with things that are terrible.

Seemingly, many of the film's characters understand that its young protagonist, Lukas (Fabian Hinrichs), will commit a crime before he does. For his part, Lukas is gun-shy, a youth performing community service -- delivering hot meals to the elderly -- in lieu of military service. A pretty woman on a streetcar, Isabella (Lavinia Wilson), slips him a note that reads "Help me!" He follows her. What looks like a sexual come-on gradually turns out to be a plea for help by a woman in an abusive relationship with an older lecturer in, of all things, self help.

Lukas' seemingly innocent nocturnal activities draw the attention of a police detective and wind up involving an aging prostitute, an old soldier and a Turkish arms dealer. While Lukas is an alienated and disconnected individual in a new city, he is nevertheless compassionate, which leads to his downfall.

Manuel Mack's atmospheric cinematography and Thilo Mengler's production design details turn "Gun-shy" into a moody, existential thriller certain to provoke myriad responses from audiences.