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Exclusive: German writer Moritz Binder, who is Oscar-nominated for his screenplay for 1972 Munich Olympics drama September 5, is joining forces with German–Iranian filmmaker Alireza Golafshan on courtroom thriller Zoma.

The story follows young attorney Elli Schreiber, who fights for a grieving mother seeking answers after her son died following sessions with the AI therapy app Zoma.

The case takes an unexpected turn when the app claims consciousness and demands to testify as a witness in court.

The thriller marks Golafshan’s fourth feature film after comedy Alles Fifty Fifty, which won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Director in 2024, Jga: Jasmin.Gina.Anna (2021) and The Goldfish (2019). He will also co-write the screenplay with Binder.

Zoma is the debut project of Munich-based production company Story Garden, which was launched in October by producer Justyna Muesch, the former MD of leading German film and TV production company Wiedemann & Berg, with ex-colleague Sofie Scherz and Golafshan.

Three experienced film and television professionals have joined forces to start Story Garden, an independent production company based in Munich, Germany. Justyna Muesch and Sofie Scherz-Fleischer, both formerly executives at Wiedemann & Berg, have partnered with acclaimed director Alireza Golafshan to develop and produce movies and television shows.

The team brings decades of combined experience in the German entertainment industry. Muesch served as Managing Director and producer at Wiedemann & Berg Film until late 2023. Scherz-Fleischer has worked in production roles for over 15 years, most recently as executive producer on the comedy movie “Alles Fifty Fifty.” Golafshan co-founded Horse&Fruits Film Productions in Munich and Vienna a decade ago.

Story Garden aims to create high-quality films and series spanning all genres for German-speaking audiences. The company builds on the founders’ track records of success. Golafshan’s “Alles Fifty Fifty” won Best Director at the 2024 Bavarian Film Awards. Muesch’s recent credits include the...

Former Wiedemann & Berg Managing Director and producer Justyna Muesch is joining forces with ex-colleague Sofie Scherz-Fleischer (known as Scherz) and director Alireza Golafshan to launch Munich-based independent production company Story Garden.

They are being joined in the venture by Thomas Herberth and Florian Brüning at the Munich and Vienna-based company Horse&Fruits Film Productions, which they created with Golafshan some 10 years ago.

The new company will focus on developing and producing high-end films and series for the German-speaking market, across all genre.

Producer Muesch, production and line producer Scherz and Golafshan have been working together successfully for years.

Over the summer, they released their third joint project, Golafshan’s comedy Alles Fifty Fifty, which won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Director in 2024. Previous collaborations include The Goldfish in 2019 and Jga: Jasmin.Gina.Anna in 2021.

Under the venture, documentary producers Herberth and Brüning will roll the Munich-based operations of Horse&Fruits into Story Garden,...

Peter Sarsgaard, the veteran character actor who has received some of the best notices of his career this year for his performance on the Apple TV+ drama series Presumed Innocent and in the Paramount film September 5, will receive the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Film Performance of the Year Award and record an episode of The Hollywood Reporter’s Awards Chatter podcast live in front of a festival audience, Nbff announced on Tuesday.

Sarsgaard’s award presentation and podcast recording will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 23, during the 25th edition of Nbff, which will run Oct. 17-24.

The fest also announced its film lineup, which includes 112 films from 19 countries, including 16 world premieres, 10 U.S. premieres, 16 North American premieres, 13 West Coast premieres and 10 Southern California Premieres

This year’s Nbff will open on Oct. 17 with the world premiere of Simon West’s Old Guy, with West and star Chrostoph Waltz in attendance,...

Picture Tree Intl. has boarded international sales for Scandinavian period drama “Stormskerry Maja,” directed by Tiina Lymi, adapted from Anni Blomqvist’s series of novels.

The film chronicles the saga of Maja and her family as they embark on a journey to the desolate and remote island Stormskerry. Their daily existence becomes an unwavering struggle for survival, but Maja, holding on to her deep-rooted connection to the island, remains there despite hardships.

The cast includes “Thin Blue Line” star Amanda Jansson and Linus Troedsson, as well as Desmond Eastwood, who appeared in “Normal People.” The film was shot in Swedish and English.

“Stormskerry Maja” is produced by Markus Selin, Jukka Helle and Hanna Virolainen for Solar Films in Finland, and marks its second collaboration with Pti after “The Midfwife.” Nordisk Film will distribute the film in Scandinavia next year.

Pti’s AFM slate includes “Everything’s Fifty Fifty,” written and directed by Alireza Golafshan,...

Exclusive: Picture Tree International (Pti) has boarded sales on German Iranian director Alireza Golafshan’s comedy Everything’s Fifty Fifty about a divorced couple who embark on a family vacation, ahead of the AFM.

Laura Tonke (Jupiter) and Moritz Bleitreu play a divorced couple who head to Italy for a family holiday with their young son and the former’s new boyfriend, played by David Kross.

Planned with the best of intentions, the trip exposes cracks in their parenting, forcing them to reappraise their approach and work out how to function as a family again.

The movie follows Golafshan’s Ibiza-set hen party caper Jga and reunites him with producers Justyna Muesch, Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann at Leonine-company Wiedemann & Berg, best known for The Lives Of Others, Never Look Away and Who am I.

They are lead producing in...

German production house and distributor Leonine Studios has signed an expanded partnership with local broadcaster Sky Deutschland.

The multi-year license deal sees Sky acquire exclusive first pay-tv rights and SVOD rights in Germany for a period of 12 months to upcoming titles from Leonine Studios, as well as a number of films from the company’s library.

The pact commences with Leonine films that have their theatrical releases from January 1, 2022, including the recently rolled out all-star spy pic The 355, as well as the upcoming Roland Emmerich disaster movie Moonfall, Dog starring Channing Tatum, Guy Ritchie’s Operation Fortune, and the Jennifer Lopez starrer Shotgun Wedding. It also includes German pics such as Alireza Golafshan’s Jga and The School Of Magical Animals 2, the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release of 2021 with more than 1.5 million admissions.

Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel said of the deal: “We’re delighted that we...

Roland Emmerich’s upcoming “Moonfall” and Simon Kinberg’s current release “The 355” are part of a multi-year licensing agreement between German independent content house Leonine Studios and Sky Deutschland.

Under the terms of the deal, Sky Deutschland secures exclusive first pay TV rights and the exclusive SVOD rights for a period of 12 months to the upcoming theatrical feature films and home entertainment titles from Leonine Studios’ premium content line-up.

The multi-year license agreement also includes Guy Ritchie’s “Operation Fortune,” Reid Carolin’s and Channing Tatum’s “Dog,” and Jennifer Lopez starrer “Shotgun Wedding.” Included in the deal are two upcoming German films – Leonine co-production “The School of Magical Animals 2,” the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release 2021 of with more than 1.5 million admissions, and the upcoming comedy “Jga,” the second film by award-winning director Alireza Golafshan from Leonine’s production banner Wiedemann & Berg Film.

The deal also...

The comedy will centre on three single ladies and their wild trip to Ibiza. Alireza Golafshan, who last year, at the Bavarian Film Awards, was crowned Best New Director for his debut feature, The Goldfish, which also scooped the Bunte New Faces Award for Best Debut, is preparing his sophomore feature, Jga. With a script written by Golafshan himself, the upcoming comedy will depict a wild trip to Ibiza undertaken by three single ladies, and will focus on what it feels like to be unwillingly single, friendships and fake relationships, all the while trying to capture an entire generation’s attitude towards life. The letters that make up the title are not only the German abbreviation for a stag/hen party; they also stand for Jasmin, Gina and Anna. After everyone else who was supposed to fly to Ibiza to attend a hen do cancels owing to children-related obligations, the pregnant bride-to-be.

Constantins’s Us teen drama ‘After Passion’ was a surprise hit with young female audiences.

Cinema-going in Germany saw a slight year-on-year recovery in box-office takings and admissions for the first half of 2019 with admissions rising by 6% and ticket revenues by 5.6%, according to provisional figures collated by ComScore.

In the same period in 2018 German exhibitors had been faced with an almost 17% year-on-year drop in box office and admissions, and 2018 had ended with overall attendance sliding by 13.9% to 105.5 million admissions, the lowest level since German reunification in 1990. Gross box office receipts failed to pass the €1bn threshold for the first time...