German Films Quarterly 2 2005
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German Films
Quarterly 2 · 2005
AT CANNES
In Competition
DON'T COME KNOCKING
by Wim Wenders
Out of Competition
CROSSING THE BRIDGE
by Fatih Akin
PORTRAITS
Oliver Hirschbiegel,
Ilona Ziok,
Neue Goldkind Film,
Alexandra Maria Lara
SPECIAL REPORT
Documentary Film
in Germany
German Films and
IN THE OFFICIAL PROGRAM OF THE
Cannes
In Competition In Competition In Competition In Competition
Don’t Come Battle in Heaven Hidden Manderlay
Knocking by Carlos Reygadas by Michael Haneke by Lars von Trier
by Wim Wenders
Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producer:
Reverse Angle/Hamburg & Berlin Essential Film/Berlin Bavaria Film/Geiselgasteig Pain Unlimited/Cologne
World Sales: World Sales: World Sales: World Sales:
HanWay Films/London The Coproduction Office/Paris Les Films du Losange/Paris Trust Film Sales/Hvidovre
Credits not contractual
Co-Productions
Film Festival 2005
Out of Competition Out of Competition Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard Un Certain Regard
CROSSING Merry Falscher Johanna Schlaefer
THE BRIDGE Christmas Bekenner by Kornél Mundruczó Sleeper
– The Sound of Istanbul by Christian Carion Low Profile by Benjamin Heisenberg
by Fatih Akin by Christoph Hochhaeusler
Producers: intervista digital media & German Co-Producer: Producer: German Co-Producer: German Co-Producers:
corazón international/Hamburg Senator Film/Berlin Heimatfilm/Cologne Thermidor Film/Cologne Juicy Film & Academy of
Television & Film (HFF/M)/Munich
World Sales: Bavaria Film World Sales: World Sales: World Sales:
International/Geiselgasteig Films Distribution/Paris Trust Film Sales/Hvidovre The Coproduction Office/Paris World Sales: Coop99/Vienna
german films quarterly 2/2005
focus on
6 DOCUMENTARY FILM
directors’ portraits
16 PLEASURE IN STORYTELLING
A portrait of Oliver Hirschbiegel
18 CHAMPION OF THE LIGHT TOUCH
A portrait of Ilona Ziok
producers’ portrait
20 THE GOLDEN BOYS
A portrait of Neue Goldkind Filmproduktion
actress’ portrait
22 A DREAM COME TRUE
A portrait of Alexandra Maria Lara
24 news
in production
30 AUGUST
Pia Marais
30 ELEMENTARTEILCHEN
Oskar Roehler
31 EMMAS GLUECK
Sven Taddicken
32 ES IST EIN ELCH ENTSPRUNGEN
Ben Verbong
32 HOTEL VERY WELCOME
Sonja Heiss
33 HUI BUH – DAS SCHLOSSGESPENST
Sebastian Niemann
34 IM LICHT DER NACHT
Vanessa Jopp
35 MADONNEN
Maria Speth
35 MODIFICATIONS
Frank Geiger
36 OFFSET
Didi Danquart
37 RAUCHZEICHEN
Rudolf Thome
38 SCHATTENSPIELE
Aelrun Goette
38 VINETA
Franziska Stuenkel
new german films
40 AM ENDE EINES TAGES AT THE END OF A DAY
Marcus Schuster
41 AM TAG ALS BOBBY EWING STARB
THE DAY BOBBY EWING DIED
Lars Jessen
42 BARFUSS BAREFOOT
Til Schweiger
43 DIE BLUTHOCHZEIT THE WEDDING PARTY
Dominique Deruddere
44 CALLING HEDY LAMARR
Georg Misch
45 CLOSE
Markus Lenz
46 CROSSING THE BRIDGE – THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL
Fatih Akin
47 DON’T COME KNOCKING
Wim Wenders
48 DURCH DIESE NACHT SEHE ICH
KEINEN EINZIGEN STERN THROUGH THIS NIGHT
Dagmar Knoepfel
49 ESTLAND MON AMOUR ESTONIA MON AMOUR
Sibylle Tiedemann
50 FATELESS
Lajos Koltai
51 FREMDE HAUT UNVEILED
Angelina Maccarone
52 FUER KURZE ZEIT NAPOLEON NAPOLEON FOR A WHILE
Bart van Esch
53 DIE HOEHLE DES GELBEN HUNDES
THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG
Byambasuren Davaa
54 KLANG DER EWIGKEIT SOUND OF ETERNITY
Bastian Clevé
55 DAS LAECHELN DER TIEFSEEFISCHE
THE SMILE OF THE MONSTERFISH
Till Endemann
56 LOST CHILDREN
Ali Samadi Ahadi, Oliver Stoltz
57 MASSAKER MASSACRE
Monika Borgmann, Lokman Slim, Hermann Theissen
58 MAX UND MORITZ RELOADED
MAX AND MORITZ RELOADED
Thomas Frydetzki
59 MEIN UEBERLEBEN IN KOLBUSZOWA
COFFEE BEANS FOR A LIFE
Helga Hirsch
60 MEINE FRAU, MEINE FREUNDE UND ICH
MY WIFE, MY FRIENDS AND ME
Detlef Bothe
61 PLAYA DEL FUTURO
Peter Lichtefeld
62 DER SCHATZ DER WEISSEN FALKEN
THE TREASURE OF THE WHITE FALCONS
Christian Zuebert
63 SOLO
Burkhard Feige
64 STADT ALS BEUTE BERLIN STORIES
Irene von Alberti, Miriam Dehne, Esther Gronenborn
65 DER TAG DER BEFREIUNG LIBERATION DAY
Martin Blankemeyer
66 UNKENRUFE CALL OF THE TOAD
Robert Glinski
67 WHITE WEDDING
RP Kahl, Anne Retzlaff
68 WILLENBROCK
Andreas Dresen
69 WILLY SOMMERFELD – DER STUMMFILMPIANIST
THE SOUNDS OF SILENTS
Ilona Ziok
the 100 most significant german films (part 17)
70 ASPHALT
Joe May
71 JEDER FUER SICH UND GOTT GEGEN ALLE
THE ENIGMA OF KASPAR HAUSER:
EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND GOD AGAINST ALL
Werner Herzog
72 NACHTS, WENN DER TEUFEL KAM
THE DEVIL STRIKES AT NIGHT
Robert Siodmak
73 DIE MYSTERIEN EINES FRISIERSALONS
THE MYSTERIES OF A HAIRDRESSER’S SHOP
79 film exporters
83 foreign representatives · imprint
Scene from ”Rhythm Is It!“
DOCUMENTARY
FILM IN GERMANY Documentary film in Germany is alive and well. A survey made by the competition for attention. Nonetheless, those who are looking for
German Documentary Association (Arbeitsgemeinschaft large-scale documentary films will find them several times each day on
Dokumentarfilm – AG DOK) lists 147 new titles alone for the year German television, especially the cultural channels ARTE and 3Sat.
2004: from Allende to Weltmarktfuehrer, with locations ran-
ging from the Carpathians to the primitive peoples of South America, However, documentary film in Germany is also experiencing consi-
and stories from Borussia Dortmund to Chick Corea. The diversity of derable difficulties. The growing demand and the continuing desire for
themes is remarkable, as is the number of differing artistic signatures. production are opposed by economic and media-political structures
that hinder the development of the genre. This is due to the interplay
Documentary film in Germany is also flourishing in cinemas, far more of several factors, all of which have emerged historically. There are
than ever before. At least, one may claim that it is beginning to flour- three key aspects: the considerable dependence of documentary film
ish. In comparison to previous times, large-scale international produc- on television, the long history of the documentary film as author film,
tions in particular have been attracting big audiences. The films and – directly connected to this – its small-scale, financially weak pro-
Fahrenheit 9/11 and Bowling for Colombine by Michael Moore were duction structure.
both seen by more than a million viewers. And German documenta-
ries also did well in the home market: for example, Thomas Grube
and Enrique Sanchez Lansch’s Rhythm Is It! recently attracted SIGN OF THE TIMES
some 421,000 viewers while Thomas Riedelsheimer’s Rivers and
Tides was seen by over 100,000 viewers. From the very beginning, documentary film in Germany has been
closely associated with television, at least in West Germany. A few of
Documentary film in Germany also draws healthy audiences on TV. It the exceptions that made it into cinemas in earlier times include the
is true that one often has to search for it there, and it can sometimes ecological films Strahlende Zukunft, Schade, dass Beton
only be found at a late hour, since broadcasters have firmly-estab- nicht brennt, and Keine Startbahn West – eine Region
lished program schemes, which limit time and space for documentary wehrt sich, which in 1981 lured more than 80,000 viewers into the
formats. In many cases, the ”docu“, with its various forms from ”real cinema – quite a sensation at that time. In East Germany however, the
life“ to docu-soap, has overtaken the classic documentary film in the genre was regarded as having considerable political significance and
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 6
Scene from ”Rivers and Tides“
was integrated into the DEFA state film studios. After reunification in
1989, the DEFA studio for documentary film was dissolved, meaning
that eastern German filmmakers also had to adapt themselves to the
conditions and demands of television.
Documentary film in Germany developed from two sources, televi-
sion journalism and the classical cultural film, whose ”images of cities
and landscapes“ contributed to its dominancy up until the late 1950s.
It was not until the beginning of the sixties that the documentary film
department of Sueddeutsche Rundfunk began to develop new forms,
clearly differentiated from the culture film. Authors of the later so-cal-
led “Stuttgart School” turned to everyday political and social life in the
Federal Republic. The most important films ran in a series entitled
Zeichen der Zeit (”Signs of the Times“); and Polizei-
staatsbesuch (”Visit to a Police State“) by Roman Brodmann
is a key film from this period: a film about the Shah of Persia’s visit to
Germany and the death of the student Benno Ohnesorg in 1967. The
Stuttgart School also had great significance for the emergence of an
independent documentary film language. Even today, documentary
film retains an important status at Suedwestfunk, and this also applies
to the promotion of young talents.
”Direct Cinema“ also exercised a valuable influence, and not only on
the Stuttgart School. At Norddeutsche Rundfunk, Klaus
Wildenhahn set aesthetic and political standards as an author and
the editor of documentaries. Wildenhahn, who also produced
theoretical writing on film, propagated the documentary film of
observation, using long and careful takes to approach people who did
not otherwise appear in the medium. Wildenhahn made an impres-
sion on an entire generation of documentary filmmakers during the
1970s, and his influence can still be felt today. Thomas Schadt,
one of the best-known current documentary filmmakers, still refers
to Wildenhahn as his teacher. (Today, Schadt is artistic director at the
Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg). Wildenhahn was not only a
film author, but often enough, he also paved the way for others with
his work as an editor: younger filmmakers such as Hans-Dieter
Grabe at ZDF or Ebbo Demant at SDR. Unfortunately however,
the filmmaking editor or the permanently employed maker of docu-
mentaries no longer exists today.
The possibilities of Direct Cinema, politicization through the student
movement, an operative attitude towards filmmaking, and a certain
documentary rigor shaped the filmmaking of the seventies. After the
decline of the revolt, many authors turned more to everyday events
and an observation of society. Their films now bore stronger signa-
tures of a more subjective character. Authors such as Hartmut
Bitomski (Der VW-Komplex and B 52) and Harun
Farocki (Auge/Maschine), developed the genre of essayistic
documentary film. The political movements led to the development
of a film workshop movement separate from television; here mem-
bers used video for work primarily concerned with the ecological and
peace movements. Authors like as Didi and Pepe Danquart or
Thomas Giefer emerged from such traditions.
SOLITARY FIGHTERS (”The Second View“) was formed in 2001. They see themselves in the
following way: ”We are not a collective. We are individuals capable of
However, a shared characteristic of all documentary filmmakers working in a team, solitary fighters.“
remained their status as author filmmakers. As such, they developed
a typical structure of production, via which they delivered work to Up until today, most documentary filmmakers in television have
television for many years. Since television is now formatting docu- indeed remained solitary fighters. In artistic terms, this has been the
mentary programs increasingly, this status and attitude to work is gra- precondition to a wide diversity of signatures. It has meant that out-
dually coming into conflict with programming reality. In order to com- standing individual achievements have made it to our television
bat this, an initiative of several authors entitled Der zweite Blick screens and – more so in recent years – also into the cinemas.
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 7
Filmposter ”Blackbox BRD“ But men are not alone in the field. Important full-length documentary
films have often been made by women: Helga Reidemeister
examined the position of imprisoned women with her Gotteszell –
Ein Frauengefaengnis and most recently compared women’s
views on war in Texas-Kabul. Aelrun Goette’s film Die
Kinder sind tot, which received several prizes, presents the back-
ground to a social tragedy. Karin Jurschik’s award-winning docu-
mentary research Die Helfer und die Frauen deals with trade
with women violently abducted from Kosovo and Bosnia
Herzegovina. Nor should one forget Irene Langemann’s ac-
claimed portrait of the Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martin in
Martin’s Passion (Die Martins Passion).
Any survey of successful German documentary films would be
incomplete without social studies such as Sebastian Winkel’s for-
mally exacting film 7 Brothers (7 Brueder), which reveals diffe-
rent perceptions of society and events experienced in individual life
stories, or Champions by Christoph Huebner and Gabriele
Voss, concerning the young generation of football players at
Borussia-Dortmund. This is a film not only about sport, but also
about dreams, the future, and life in general.
Contemporary history on television is firmly in the hands of the stan-
dardized documentation and its editors, but unusual documentary
films on the theme have also been made: examples include Eyal
Sivan’s film Ein Spezialist about Adolf Eichmann or Romuald
Karmakar’s Das Himmler-Projekt.
Of course one should not forget the great documentary studies of
people and landscapes in the East by Volker Koepp (Herr
Zwilling und Frau Zuckermann and Kalte Heimat) or the
film descriptions of society in East Germany produced by Thomas
Heise (Neustadt Stau – Stand der Dinge and Vaterland),
and one of the most extraordinary East German projects in docu-
Andres Veiel’s film Black Box BRD was as successful in cine- mentary film history: Winfried and Barbara Junge’s long-term
mas as Pepe Danquart’s Hell on Wheels (Hoellentour) about observations in the many Golzow films.
the Tour de France. Music has also become a well-received source of
documentary inspiration: Wim Wender’s Buena Vista Social Finally, and this may be unique worldwide, German documentary
Club was an international hit, as were Stefan Schwietert’s films have been made about the most important documentary film-
Tickle in the Heart and Julian Benedikt’s Blue Note. And makers themselves. In the series Dokumentarisch arbeiten
Thomas Schadt’s remake of the Ruttmann-classic Berlin (”Working in a Documentary Way“), the filmmakers Christoph
Symphony also impressed audiences on a large scale. Huebner and Gabriele Voss have portrayed seventeen important
Scene from ”Hell on Wheels“
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 8
Scenes from ”7 Brothers“
authors, not only from Germany. These portraits were broadcast in for example, but in practice they demonstrate little unity. The major
three series on the cultural channel 3Sat. The working interviews are channels ARD and ZDF only show documentary features on special
also available in book form (Dokumentarisch arbeiten, Dokumentarisch occasions. The newly created slots for documentation at prime time
arbeiten 2, Vorwerk Publishers, Berlin), and offer an outstanding are predominantly filled documentary series. In a study dating from
survey of the attitudes to work and aesthetic ideas embraced by the October 2002, ARD took the last place, having broadcast only one
author filmmakers. single documentary film in the course of a month. If at all, the broad-
casting slots for documentary film have depreciated to those around
midnight. The much-acclaimed ZDF series Das kleine Fernsehspiel also
NOT A BOOM, BUT AN UPWARD TREND broadcasts at this late hour.
Without television, certainly, very few of the films cited above – and The two cultural channels ARTE and 3Sat are very important and indi-
they in their turn are but a small selection – would have been made at spensable for documentary broadcasting. ARTE even plays a signifi-
all. The relationship remains a paradoxical one. Thomas Schadt de- cant role as a co-producer as well. The so-called ”third programs“ of
scribes it in the following way: ”Television is the greatest customer ARD also keep slots available for documentary films. But with only a
and simultaneously the greatest defeater of documentary film.“ few exceptions, the documentary film genre has very few established
editorial departments; at one station it may be assigned to the edi-
torial office of journalism, in another to the cultural office. ”It has an
Scene from ”Champions “
uncertain home and a crumbling lobby,“ says Thomas Schadt, ”and is
reliant on the commitment of individual editors.“
Another important factor is the general structuring of broadcasting
schemes and formatting – also of documentary programs. This disad-
vantages individual signatures; instead, there is a demand for drama-
turgy and narrative forms which suit calculated audiences and quotas
exactly, in which case the author takes a back seat behind the product
– a situation that appears particularly intolerable to author film-
makers.
However, the key aspect is that the dominant position of the televi-
sion stations cements production conditions, making a healthy econo-
mic basis for medium-sized producers, for example, almost impossi-
ble. Thomas Frickel from the AG DOK estimates that around
1500 small to very small production companies are working to pro-
vide the broadcasters in Germany with documentary films, documen-
tation and magazine contributions. Only a small proportion of these
– around 70 producers – handles larger volumes of production and
The paradox may be ascertained easily by checking the corresponding employs several people. And an even smaller proportion is in a posi-
broadcasting slots. Private broadcasters play little or no role as pro- tion to produce for the international market. Many of these produc-
ducers or broadcasters of documentary films or documentation. tion companies – known as ”backpack producers“ – can only survive
Private channels only invest in documentation for special events. The financially due to a high level of economic self-exploitation. And the
public channels, whose program assignment actually includes the cul- interests of these many individuals are represented to the broad-
tivation of the genre of documentary film, maintained that documen- casters by the AG DOK. The AG DOK, with 750 members, is the
tary genres were important in their declarations of intent for 2004, largest professional association for independent producers in
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 9
Scene from ”Martin’s Passion“
Germany and is open to representatives of all genres, but sees its According to a new study by the media researcher and documentary
general focus in media and political lobby work for the documentary filmmaker Lutz Hachmeister (Dokumentarische Produktion in Film
genre. und Fernsehen. Marktstudie Deutschland. HMR, Cologne, February
2005), the present structure makes it extremely difficult for medium-
But the economic conditions for most producers are poor, and des- sized producers of classical documentary films to survive; they finance
pite a growing interest in documentary programs in recent years, they their work primarily by means of mixed calculations and the provision
have not improved. The payment structure at the broadcasting sta- of common television formats. For this reason, and against all
tions has been enormously disadvantageous to producers for many expectations, only a small group of middle-sized producers has emer-
years, and this also applies to the conditions for utilization. Costs for ged to date. They secure their work mainly through increased coope-
research and the development of material generally fall back on the ration with the editorial offices of many broadcasting stations and
producers themselves. with funds from the regional film funding institutions. Large, complex
projects in particular could not be
Scene from ”Jochen – Ein Golzower“
financed at all without these film
subsidies. According to the HMR
study, in 2003 around 11 million
Euros in subsidies were granted to
documentary works, which, al-
though a significant contribution, is
slightly less than 5 percent of the
overall sum and considerably less
than the year before. However, the
new German Film Promotion Law
has established not only a signifi-
cant improvement for the funding
of documentary films, but the best
one ever: each film that achieves
admissions of over 25,000 viewers
will automatically receive reference
funding. And as the figures show,
more and more local documenta-
ries are performing on this level in
the cinemas.
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 10DOCU-CINEMA The reasons for this upward trend are diverse. Certainly, the desire
for more reality is also a reaction to television’s failure, feeding view-
In the case of large-scale productions entirely or partially funded by ers as it does with an increasing amount of escapist fiction and absurd
television, a cinema launch before television broadcasting has become real-life formats. And the political documentary films by Michael
the norm. The number of screens that show documentary films on a Moore have also strengthened the interest in the genre. They broke
regular basis is still relatively small – around 200 from a total of more down past barriers to reach audiences in multiplex cinemas and have
than 4000, according to Thomas Frickel. But an upward trend may be been seen by more than a million viewers. But even ”less spectacular“
discerned. German documentaries such as Rhythm Is It! and the OSCAR-
nominated The Story of the Weeping Camel (Die
Klaus Staniek, a documentary filmmaker and professor at the Geschichte vom weinenden Kamel) were seen by impressi-
Academy of Film and Television Potsdam-Babelsberg (HFF/B), has ve audiences.
been following the scene for many years. According to his investiga-
tions, the figures are continually rising. In 1980, for example, only one Finally, it may be the films themselves that explain the increase in
documentary film was seen by more than 50,000 cinemagoers attention. After a long-lasting, purist phase of socially-oriented docu-
Scene from ”The Story of the Weeping Camel“
(Septemberweizen by Peter Krieg, with some 70,000 mentary films, the wide possibilities of film language and of opulent
viewers), but in 2004 there were nine. While the three most success- film have been rediscovered. Today’s films have more narrative quali-
ful documentary films in 2002 were seen by just over a million ties and have thus become more attractive. Pepe Danquart pulls out
viewers, the figures for 2004 were already more than two million. all the stops with respect to dramatic narration and visual effects in
And the proportion of documentary films among the most successful Hell on Wheels, and Andres Veiel used the dramatic means of the
100 German films has also increased: from four films in the year 1994 feature film to create his story of four student actors in Die
to eighteen in 2004. The figures come from a previously unpublished, Spielwuetigen.
long-term study by the HFF/B, which Staniek presented in a lecture at
the Humboldt University in February 2005. According to the calcula-
tions of the HMR study and the German Federal Film Board (FFA), a
”significant increase in the status of documentary film in our cinemas“
could also be ascertained in the year 2004.
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 11INTEGRATION WITHIN STRUCTURES As well as the current competition, it offers various series and retro-
spective showings. The traditional awards given are the Golden Dove
The documentary film scene in Germany is integrated into a complex and Silver Dove and the new director Claas Danielsen intends to
and varied structure of institutions for training, promotion and pre- develop the festival into a meeting place for the documentary film
sentation. Five large film academies, several private schools and the scene as a whole.
media departments of various universities ensure that the next
generation receives excellent training. A wealth of festivals and some The Duisburger Filmwoche is in its 29th year, and takes place on
specialist television editorial offices create broadcasting slots and an annual basis. It is devoted to German-language documentary films,
opportunities for presentation. Awards for film and television pro- and therefore includes productions from Austria and Switzerland as
ductions generate acclaim, public attention, and often the basis for well from Germany. As a consequence of the financial crisis in public
further films with their prize money. spending, the festival is now partially sponsored by the television
channels 3Sat and ARTE. Juries from these two channels award prizes,
There are also institutes promoting the genre, such as the Haus des the city of Duisburg contributes a promotional award, and recently
Dokumentarfilms in Stuttgart, which was founded by the Goethe Institute has also presented its own award. The special
Suedwestrundfunk as an independent institute in 1991. It serves as an feature of the Duisburg festival is its structure. Films are not shown
encounter forum for all those interested in documentary film, con- parallel to one another, with the exception of the small competition
ducts research on German and international documentary work for for children’s documentary film. All the festival visitors can thus see all
television, organizes regular conferences, and publishes a series of the films and discuss them afterwards with the authors – most of
texts, Close up. The Documentary Film Initiative at the which attend.
Filmbuero North Rhine-Westphalia pursues similar aims. It offers the
documentary scene a forum for information and discussion, organizes The Munich International Documentary Film Festival
symposia, and publishes the book series Texte zum Dokumentarfilm. was founded in 1985 as a project by the Association for Documentary
Scene from ”Berlin Symphony“
CELEBRATING DOCUMENTARIES: Film Munich within the framework of Filmstadt Muenchen e.V. and
concentrates on the artistic documentary film. The festival has developed
FESTIVALS into an internationally acknowledged event now attended by all the
important documentary film directors, and has met with increasing
There are numerous festivals dedicated to documentary films in attention from a wider audience. However, like all the other festivals,
Germany. The oldest of which, now in its 48th year, is the Leipzig it suffers from financial restraints. Several series have been developed
Festival for Documentary and Animated Film. It was the in Munich over the course of time: an international competition, inter-
central festival in East Germany, oriented on the international political national programs, Horizonte for films from countries where condi-
film – primarily from the socialist countries. Despite its loss of state tions for documentary filming are (even more) difficult, and New Films
subsidy, after the fall of the Wall it has been possible to maintain the from Bavaria, which presents a forum for media workshops, amateurs
festival as a combination focusing on documentary film and animation. and up-and-coming authors in addition to those for the better-known
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 12Scene from ”Buena Vista Social Club“
authors. The awards include a documentary film prize from The German Film Award, organized by the German Film Academy in
Bayerischer Rundfunk, a prize for specialist documentary film, and a Berlin, includes an award for one of two films nominated in the cate-
promotional award from the local funder FilmFernsehFonds Bayern. gory “Best Documentary Film”. The acclaimed Adolf-Grimme Award
for television productions also presents an award in the category
At the Berlinale, documentary film also plays an important role, in the ”Information and Culture“, for which classical documentary films are
Forum and Panorama sections in particular, which present the Planet also considered regularly. The German Television Award presents prizes
Documentary Film Prize. At the renowned International Short Film in the two categories ”Report“ and ”Documentation“.
Festival in Oberhausen, international short documentary films are also
an important aspect of the program. The Documentary Film Prize of Baden-Wuerttemberg has been awarded
since 2003, and is jointly endowed by Suedwestfunk (SWR) and the
Some regional film festivals in Germany show documentary films as regional film funder MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg. The prize is pre-
well as other genre in their programs. These include the Grenz- sented every two years at the Documentary Film Workshop
landfilmtage in Selb, the Nordisches Filmfestival in Luebeck, the Tage Baden-Baden.
des Unabhaengigen Films in Augsburg, the International Festival
Mannheim-Heidelberg, and the Biberach Film Festival, to name but a The Bavarian Film Award and Hessen Film Award also have well-en-
few. dowed prizes in the documentary category, and on the national level,
the German Federal Film Board promoted and supported its Documen-
Beyond national borders, some of the numerous international festi- tary Tiger with three awards, totaling 100,000 Euros in support funds.
vals also offer German documentary filmmakers opportunities to
develop international connections. The leading festivals here are the
Festival International du Cinéma Documentaire/Vision du Réel in SUPPORTING YOUNG TALENT
Nyon, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in
Toronto, the Festival International du Documentaire ”Fidmarseille“ in Support for young talent in the field of documentary film is available
Marseille, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, and the at festivals and through various promotional awards in Germany, but
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA). is also offered by some editorial offices at various broadcasting sta-
tions.
AWARDING RECOGNITION In this context, a very important address in the television world is Das
kleine Fernsehspiel at ZDF. This department promotes the first and
Prizes for documentary films are awarded in relevant competitions second films made by young authors, both feature films and docu-
within the fields of both film and television. mentaries. Forty broadcasting slots are available each year, and 23
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 13low-budget films are produced annually. In addition, there are series coming generation to the film world as a whole, and to simplify the
such as Deutschland dokumentarisch and Ostwind – a collaborative pro- graduates’ ”first steps“ in their chosen careers.
ject by ZDF and RBB – which also encompass documentary films.
Here the editorial office also participates in the funding of material
examining a specific, pre-defined theme. After it had become clear in TRAINING FOR THE FUTURE
recent years that young authors were keen to investigate their own
identity and stories, but less willing to approach larger, socially rele- Training for documentary filmmakers is available in several cities in
vant topics, the editorial office selected the theme Absolute Beginners Germany. The five large film academies in Berlin, Potsdam, Munich,
for films about young people’s first steps in their chosen professions. Ludwigsburg and Cologne are of course the leading institutions. In all
And the project proved to be a success: from a large number of appli- the film schools, it is possible to observe a trend towards increased
cations, nine projects were developed, produced and the films broad- orientation on the practical demands of media professions, whereby
cast. A new theme, Agenda 2020 – How We Will Live in the Future has artistic pretensions and a solid, wide-ranging basic training are not
currently been launched. neglected. Depending on their emphasis, all the film academies offer
Scene from ”Kalte Heimat“
Suedwestfunk also provides broadcasting slots for the promotion of training courses for documentary filmmakers. These are often taught
young authors on its third television channel. The series Junger by filmmakers with practical experience, who work as authors as well.
Dokumentarfilm has been in existence since 1999 (initiated by SWR in And in each case, there are also close links with local television sta-
collaboration with the MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg and the Film tions.
Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg) and broadcasts a series of debut
films each year in spring. At the Film Academy Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, for
example, director Thomas Schadt has developed the department of
First Steps is another newcomer’s award that also includes the cate- documentary film, where lecturers include Helga Reidemeister and
gory of documentary film. It is presented annually to the best gradua- Ebbo Demant and there is close cooperation with Suedwestfunk. The
tion films from film academies in the German-speaking countries by course ”Documentary Film and Television Journalism“ is offered at
the production companies Constantin and teamWorx, the private the Academy of Television and Film in Munich, where the professor
television stations SAT.1 and Spiegel-TV, and Mercedes-Benz. The of the department is the documentary filmmaker Heiner Stadler.
prize aims to introduce the great creative potential of the up-and- Here extensive contacts with Bayerischer Rundfunk are cultivated.
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 14Scene from ”Touch the Sound“ shops. The Bavarian Academy of Television trains
students primarily for everyday practice at the
broadcasting stations and for television journalism.
A third group consists of the universities, which
also offer courses in subjects such as Media Science,
Journalism and Communications Science. Here,
depending on the various curricula, it is also possi-
ble to find practical forms of media training.
Each year, hundreds of graduates leave these
schools and seek a position on the job market.
There they encounter rapidly changing conditions.
For example, the new mobile technology with small
DV cameras, DVD as a medium of distribution, and
beamers as the projection surface currently offer
authors the opportunity to escape production con-
ditions that had begun to stagnate. Seen from a dif-
ferent perspective, traditional television has also
found a new way to produce cheaper programs in
collaboration with the one-man company, video
journalist – whether this is a better way, remains to
be seen.
Above all, however, it is foreseeable that – along-
side the mass medium of television – new modes of
distribution will open up for the genre of docu-
mentary film, via Internet and DVD, and that this
will lead to new narrative and aesthetic possibilities.
Conditions are fluid and they will remain so. The
large number of documentary films made each year
demonstrates many young filmmakers’ great,
unbroken interest in capturing and processing reali-
ty with the camera. Documentary film is very much
alive, and it will remain so.
Fritz Wolf, freelance print and radio journalist,
Das Medienbuero/Duesseldorf
The German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) offers no spe-
cialist training for documentary filmmakers, but documentary film is
taught as part of its foundation courses. The teachers at the dffb are
almost exclusively guest lecturers, and all work practically in the field.
The Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg does not
offer a specific course on documentary film, either, but Helke
Misselwitz and Klaus Staniek – two acknowledged documentary
filmmakers – are among the lecturers for the course in ”Film and
Television Direction“. The Academy of Media Arts in Cologne offers
the group of subjects ”Film / Television“ in the study course on
”Audiovisual Media“, where there are a number of professors spe-
cializing in documentary film work, including: Janine Meerapfel,
Hans Beller, Horst Koenigstein, Dietrich Leder and
Thomas Schmitt.
In addition to these academies, there are private schools such as the
International Film School Cologne, which was founded by the state
government of NRW and the Filmstiftung NRW and trains its stu-
dents directly for the film business. There are various possibilities for
documentary filmmakers among its numerous courses and work-
german films quarterly focus on documentary film
2 · 2005 15D I R E C TO R ’ S P O RT R A I T
A Rudolf Steiner School had a powerful influence on the life of
Oliver Hirschbiegel, who was born in Hamburg in 1957; he took
its critical approach to authority so seriously that he left school early
to go to sea as an apprentice ship’s cook. Subsequently, he began stu-
dies in Painting and Graphic Art at the College of Arts in Hamburg,
where he focused increasingly on the fields of Photography, Video
and Film under the tuition of Sigmar Polke. He approached direction
work via spatial installation and performance projects, and developed
the video magazine Infermental together with the video and film artist
Gabor Body. In 1986, he sold his first piece of writing – the story Das
Go! Projekt – to ZDF, on the condition that he could direct it himself.
After positive criticism of his debut as a director, more TV films –
mainly thrillers and crime stories – followed, as well as 14 episodes
for the TV crime series Kommissar Rex and two episodes of Tatort,
which received numerous prizes. He was also awarded Adolf Grimme
Awards and Emmy nominations for Trickser (1996) and Das
Urteil (1997), as well as the Bavarian Television Award for
Todfeinde (1998). In the year 2000, his feature film debut The
Experiment (Das Experiment) caused a sensation at home
and abroad. By contrast to this large-scale production about 20 men
confined to a cellar prison, he went on to make the fictive life con-
fession My Last Film (Mein letzter Film) together with
Hannelore Elsner, based on a screenplay by the author Bodo
Kirchhoff. Originally produced for television, the film was later launch-
ed in the cinemas. In close collaboration with the producer Bernd
Eichinger, he also made a film version of the last days of the Hitler
regime, Downfall (Der Untergang), which was nominated this
Oliver Hirschbiegel (photo © Joe Fish)
year for the OSCAR as Best Foreign Language Film. As he had done
after The Experiment, he followed this immense production with
a small, intimate, film monologue: Ein ganz gewoehnlicher
Jude, starring Ben Becker.
Agent:
PLAYERS Agentur Management GmbH
Sophienstrasse 21 · 10178 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-2 85 16 80 · fax +49-30-2 85 16 86
email: mail@players.de · www.players.de
PLEASURE IN
STORYTELLING
A portrait of Oliver Hirschbiegel
Entertainment and an artistic pretension – still treated as incompatible images: How do you make someone come in through a door? How
opposites in Germany – are quite naturally combined in the work of do you film an airplane that’s attacking a man? How do you film a car
Oliver Hirschbiegel. First and foremost, he is motivated by his journey? When do you have to cut, and what? It was a marvelous film
enjoyment of storytelling, and he learned his craft as an autodidact school!“
from the greatest in the profession, from Howard Hawks, John
Huston and Alfred Hitchcock: ”I drew my way through North by Television and cinema films such as Trickser, Todfeinde or The
Northwest from the first to the very last take and produced a real Experiment are exciting entertainment; at the same time, they
storyboard of the film. I wanted to find out how you tell a story using plumb the depths of the condition humaine, sounding out the darker
german films quarterly director’s portrait
2 · 2005 16sides that lurk in every one of us, but that few of us acknowledge. Without raising a warning finger or lecturing us at all, Hirschbiegel’s
This was also true of his most recent large-scale project Downfall, films aim directly for our senses; the Sueddeutsche Zeitung attests him
about which El Pais wrote: ”Hirschbiegel’s film confronts us with the a ”thoroughly American sense of tension and drama“, referring to
monster that we are as well." Long before this spectacular history film The Experiment ”as the only film for miles around that can keep
about the last twelve days in Hitler’s Fuehrer bunker, his work was up with the American competition“; this was reflected by impressive
repeatedly concerned with the major, dark German theme of audience figures both at home and abroad. Together with his camera-
National Socialism: for example, in the TV film Das Urteil, Klaus man Reiner Klausmann, the director loves the challenge of narrow,
Loewitsch played a witness to murder whose perception was colored enclosed spaces. Together, they find both elegant and dynamic solu-
by his own experiences as a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust. In the tions to difficult situations: whether in Trickser’s empty, derelict
oppressive psycho-thriller The Experiment, 20 men – all respec- house, where a seriously injured bank robber struggles to save his
table, normal citizens – who voluntarily participate in a research pro- life and his spoils; in the airport lounge of Das Urteil, where a
ject on aggression, adopt inhuman forms of behavior remarkably passenger is compelled to face his own demons; in the model prison
quickly when confronted with an artificial prison situation. And in his of The Experiment, where 20 men turn into bitter opponents; in
latest television film, Ben Becker – as Ein ganz gewoehnlicher the apartment of My Last Film, where an ageing actress makes her
Jude – talks himself into a rage over the hypocritical treatment of confession before the cameras; or in the Fuehrer’s bunker of Down-
Jews. fall. Hirschbiegel demonstrates a particularly sensitive hand when it
comes to sensing the finest vibrations from his actors, whether they
”Even before the Downfall project, I had made a deep investigation are working in the complex constellation of an ensemble or facing the
of this period, for as Germans we bear a responsibility for it. To my cameras entirely alone.
mind, the handling of it was always only a technical description, with-
out any real proximity to people. I had always recoiled from any Even before the OSCAR nomination for Downfall, his films had
demonizing of evil. The blood of those who were a million times res- aroused interest in Hollywood, but he views the offers with mixed
ponsible flows in our veins, whether we like it or not, and a civilized feelings: ”Cocteau once said that you should always sing up your own
people needs to analyze the past critically.“ family tree. Geographically, my family tree is Germany, or at least
Europe, while my method of working is based on a rather American
The construction of an experimental set-up in The Experiment starting point. And at the moment, German film is in a great position.
and the reconstruction of history in Downfall have more similarity We are now seeing a spectrum wider than it has been since before
than may first appear, therefore. Rather than keeping evil at a the war".
distance, as something alien or foreign, in both films Hirschbiegel
makes sure that it gets under the viewer’s skin: ”We all carry vio- Anke Sterneborg (Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Focus,
lence within us, even if we desperately try to defend ourselves against rbb Radio Kultur, epd) spoke with Oliver Hirschbiegel
it!“ Leaving the cinema after these films, we can no longer be quite
sure of ourselves. In Germany they probe open wounds, and so of
course they are an object of great controversy here, whereas abroad
they are viewed with less inhibition and more euphoria. The Wall
Street Journal, for example, wrote: ”Do we need to know this hu-
manized Hitler? The answer has to be an unequivocal yes. Casting
Hitler merely as a megalomaniacal lunatic or evil incarnate leaches his
crimes of their most disturbing aspect – human motivation.“
german films quarterly director’s portrait
2 · 2005 17D I R E C TO R ’ S P O RT R A I T
Ilona Ziok was born in Gliwice/Poland and emigrated to England,
while still a young girl, where she went to boarding school. With
Polish and English as her two languages, she first had to cope with
learning German when she came to Germany in the 1970s.
Continuing to develop and build on her childhood interest in theater,
she studied, during various periods, in Moscow, New York and
Frankfurt. Armed with a German government grant, it was while
again studying theater in Moscow that she discovered the medium of
film through Mikhail Kalatozov’s Letyat Zhuravli (Cranes Are Flying,
1957), a filmed adaptation of Viktor Rosov’s 1956 play, Vechno Zhivye
(Forever Alive). Back in Germany in 1989, she worked until 1991 at
Hessischer Rundfunk as a journalist in the Culture and Politics/Society
departments. On a spur of a moment decision, she left Frankfurt and
moved to Berlin, where she met and married her husband, the mini-
mal musician and composer, Manuel Goettsching. Together, they run
the production company CV Films and the music label, MG. ART.
Apart from teaching and lecturing for MEDIA Europe and in New
York, she is a prolific filmmaker, directing and producing documenta-
ries for cinema and television as well as features. A selection of her
internationally awarded films includes: Special Olympics in
Minneapolis (1991), Journey to Tunesia (1992), Wo ist die
Strasse, Wo ist das Haus – Eine Reise mit meiner
Tochter nach Schlesien (1993), Kurt Gerrons Karussell
(1999), The Count and the Comrade (2005), and The
Sounds of Silents (2005). She has also (co)-produced: Corridorius
(1995), La Legion Etrangere (1997), the mini-series Die
Buehnenrepublik (2003), Salvador Allende (2004), and The Nomi Song
(2004).
Contact: CV Films
Ilona Ziok
Fuggerstrasse 24 · 10777 Berlin/Germany
phone +49-30-23 62 71 67 · fax +49-30-2 13 59 77
email: cvfilmsberlin@aol.com · www.ashra.com
CHAMPION OF
THE LIGHT TOUCH
A portrait of Ilona Ziok
Is Ilona Ziok is a serious lady with a great sense of humor or a the reviews and viewer reaction confirmed Ziok’s belief that if the
humorous lady with a serious streak? She’s both! audience is entertained it will watch, listen, learn and react. ”Of
course it’s a sad film,“ she says, ”but it entertains too, and at the end,
”Humor is very important to me,“ she says. ”My favorite film is Ernst people still cry.“
Lubitsch’s To Be or Not To Be and I love the English sense of humor. My
films are first and foremost entertaining: The themes might be heavy For a woman whose first love was the theater, who came to film by
but the touch is always light.“ accident, Ziok has since imbued herself with the structures of
Hollywood filmmaking and applies the three act structure of a fiction
Of her OSCAR-nominated and international award-winning Kurt film to her documentaries.
Gerrons Karussell, her powerful mixture of music, cabaret and
death, Ziok says: ”I was told that one simply does not mix that.“ But ”I want a story that can be entertaining and also accessible,“ says Ziok.
german films quarterly director’s portrait
2 · 2005 18”I use a feature structure because I like documentaries, or whatever She is also quick and generous with her praise for those who have
I’m producing or directing, to lead somewhere. If I’m watching some- contributed to her success.
thing and not knowing where it’s going, what the point of it is, then I
get bored quickly and I don’t want to do that to my audience. The ”I’ve been saved by Eurimages. Ms. Renate Roginas is a wonderful
Americans understand this, few Germans do. And as long as there are person and understands films, as does my sales agent, Transit Film,“
still contemporary witnesses I find interesting then, as a director, I’d she says. ”I’ve had very good experience with them. I really appreciate
rather make documentaries even if I’ve studied fiction.“ Loy Arnold and Susanne Schumann’s work!“
Purists will look at her style and some will say it disqualifies her from An accomplished and respected filmmaker, Ziok has won a great
calling herself a ”documentarymaker“. But life is not all Discovery many awards – and didn’t want to talk about them! Suffice to say, the
Channel or finger-waving public broadcaster pontificating. Besides, list includes an OSCAR nomination, Banff ’s Rocky Award, awards at
says Ziok, ”I’m always interested in new forms, and not just in film. Telluride and numerous critics’ awards.
I’ve had interest from Broadway to turn Karussell into a musical.“
A self-proclaimed ”master of smalltalk“ who ”can only deal with
Ziok has a unique perspective. Her father, a German aristocrat, was tough themes through film, I could never talk about them“, her list of
a member of the anti-Nazi resistance, she was raised in England, and upcoming projects is, well, typically Ziok-eclectic.
is equally at home in the United States. She’s polyglot and poly-
national. First out of the film gate will be The Sounds of Silents, a look at
101-year old Willy Sommerfield, the world’s last surviving silent film
Her sense of differentiation also leads her to striking a balance, as accompanist from the 1920s.
best exemplified in The Count and the Comrade about a
German aristocrat and a Communist in the resistance. ”It’s my first film which has been generously subsidized,“ says Ziok.
”By Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and, of course,
”I showed the rough cut to both sides at the same time,“ says Ziok. MEDIA and Eurimages, like all my features.“
”They both found it so balanced yet so neutral. I didn’t want to inter-
pret them, I just let them portray themselves. I wanted to find the She is also working with US colleague and author Shareen Brizac on a
balance even though the film shows they can never be friends. Class film about Mildred Harnack and Martha Dodd, two Americans with
comes between them.“ the anti-Nazi resistance, and a musical about Fillmore West-founder
and famous rock impressario Bill Graham who discovered Hendrix,
There’s a seminal moment in the film when the aristocrat talks with Santana, Janis Joplin and the Grateful Dead. He was a Jew who
the Communists at the gates of the mansion. ”This is so beautiful,“ emigrated from Berlin in 1933, otherwise he’d have shared Gerron’s
says one. The aristocrat answers, ”If you had this, you wouldn’t be a fate.
Communist.“ As Ziok herself says, ”some things cannot be recon-
ciled.“ Her other projects include ballet in Moscow and Tokyo and her hus-
band’s concerts in the US, England and Japan, while for ARTE France
Ziok already has interest from the US about making a feature on the she’s working on a Jules Verne theme evening.
same subject and she has been asked to write the script.
In pre-production is the fiction Lilly (a Polish-German co-production
Like any decent filmmaker, she is fired up by certain subjects and has with Jacek Blawut directing) and her own feature Sing a Song of
the burning desire to realize them. One of these is the life and never Socialism, which tells the origins of the German Democratic
properly explained 1968 death of state prosecutor Fritz Bauer, who Republic through songs. A comedy about her husband, ”Killing
brought the Auschwitz trial to Frankfurt, just before he was to shine Manuel“ (sic), will follow, Ziok says, ”Goethe’s motto of ’The spi-
a doubtlessly unwelcome light on Germany’s legal and medical pro- rits I summon I can never be rid of ’.“ Billy Wilder used this principle
fession during the Nazi years. with 1,2,3. I’m co-writing with an Englishwoman, Alison Hindhaugh,
who is also very funny.“
”This will be a real crime film,“ says Ziok, ”because I’m examining his
death and so narrating his life – simple, but effective!“ And we’re back to humor again.
”Nonetheless, or perhaps because of this, it’s very hard to finance,“ Simon Kingsley spoke with Ilona Ziok
agrees Ziok. ”The BKM has rejected it twice.“
But the financing is coming together, including from the
Bundespresseamt (”The first film they’ve financed,“ says Ziok proud-
ly), the Hessen Film Fund, and Saarlandischer Rundfunk, Germany’s
smallest public broadcaster. Ziok has produced some successful films
with the commissioning editor of SR, Dr. Michael Meyer, and loves to
work with him. Sadly, this collaboration is their last due to his early
retirement.
Apropos money, the bane of every filmmaker, Ziok is perhaps a bles-
sed exception to the rule: ”I always get money,“ she laughs, ”but
never enough! That’s why my films take so long to be realized!“
german films quarterly director’s portrait
2 · 2005 19P R O D U C E R S ’ P O RT R A I T
In 2001, Christoph Mueller
founded the production company
Goldkind Film together with
Hofmann & Voges Entertainment and
served as line producer on the co-
medies Feuer, Eis & Dosenbier
and Erkan & Stefan II in 2002. A
year later, Mueller brought a new
partner – TV60Film and producer
Sven Burgemeister – onboard
and they produced Gregor
Schnitzler’s Soloalbum, based on
the novel by Benjamin Stuckrad-Barre.
In 2004, Mueller and Burgemeister
produced Florian Gaag’s feature debut
Wholetrain and Marc Rothe-
mund’s Silver Bear-winner Sophie
Scholl – The Final Days
(Sophie Scholl – Die letzten
Tage).
Contact:
Neue Goldkind Film-
produktion GmbH & Co. KG
Rambergstrasse 5
Christoph Mueller, Sven Burgemeister
80799 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-36 04 91 20
fax +49-89-36 04 91 22
email: info@goldkindfilm.com
www.goldkindfilm.com
THE GOLDEN BOYS
A portrait of Neue Goldkind Filmproduktion
After having met during their studies at Munich’s Academy of lot about my father’s work whilst growing up, I just liked going to see
Television & Film (HFF/M) when they worked on a short film films and that’s what made me want to have a go at it myself.“
together, it seems that it would just be a matter of time before
Christoph Mueller and Sven Burgemeister would join forces Burgemeister was one of the first students in the HFF/M’s new
to run a production company, Goldkind Film, together. Production & Media Economy course and initially worked as a free-
lancer on feature films and commercials before he became a junior
But, before that, they were each busy building up impressive track producer at TV60 Film in 1993. ”I had several offers from other com-
records in the field of production over the past 12 years. panies, but decided to work for TV60 because I have such a lot of
freedom there,“ recalls Sven who became a producer and co-share-
On the face of it, Sven Burgemeister had something of a head- holder in his father’s company from 1999.
start with a family background in the industry (his mother is a film edi-
tor and father Bernd the head of the leading German production His most well-known productions include Marc Rothemund’s prize-
house TV60 Film), but Sven stresses that, ”although I got to know a winning TV film Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt, the ZDF crime series Das
german films quarterly producers’ portrait
2 · 2005 20Duo, the three-parter Deutschlandlied, the Christmas film Der In the first four weeks of release to late March, Sophie Scholl grossed
Weihnachtswolf, and the European co-production of Stijn Coninx’s Die over $4.5 million at the German box office, and world sales agent
Stunde des Lichts. Together with his father and Marc Rothemund, Sven Bavaria Film International signed distribution deals with Japan
was awarded the Golden Camera 2003 for Best German TV Film (Die (Kinetique), Spain (Lola Films), Scandinavia (Future Films), Mexico
Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt) and the VFF TV Movie Award 2003 Producer (Quality Films), Portugal (Ecofilmes), former Yugoslavia (Discovery),
Prize for Das Duo – Der Liebhaber. Italy (Istituto Luce) and Peru (Gateno Films), and further deals are
pending.
Meanwhile, Christoph Mueller initially worked after film school
as a location and production manager for various productions before At the same time, Goldkind has another project completed – Florian
becoming a producer at FFP in 1996 where he was responsible for Gaag’s feature debut Wholetrain about the subculture of graffiti
two ProSieben thrillers directed by Sigi Rothemund. He followed this taggers – which couldn’t be more different from Rothemund’s drama
with a stint at MTM Medien & Television Muenchen where he devised of the World War II resistance figures. Wholetrain will be releas-
the ideas and treatments for Dominik Graf ’s thriller Der Skorpion and ed into the cinemas later this year.
the Veronica Ferres comedy Die Chaos-Queen (NDF). Then, between
1997 and 2000, Christoph worked at Helmut Dietl’s Diana Film, serv- Away from all of the excitement surrounding the Berlinale, Sven and
ing as producer on Jan-Josef Liefers’ directorial debut Jack’s Baby and Christoph are keeping level-headed about their future strategy for the
co-writing Late Show with Dietl, and also acting as the associate choice of projects and filmmakers they will work with. ”Our goal is to
producer for Constantin Film on Marc Rothemund’s feature Harte develop the scripts or ideas to such a point that we can then offer
Jungs. them to the best directors,“ Christoph explains. ”With one of our
projects in development, Young Goethe, for example, we have
In 2001, Christoph then took the step of setting up his own produc- been three years in development with writer Jens Otto (Solo-
tion outfit – Goldkind Film – with partners Hofmann & Voges album). Director Detlev Buck is attached to this project.
Entertainment and was executive producer on the two comedies
Feuer, Eis & Dosenbier and Erkan & Stefan II in 2002. Among the other projects on Goldkind’s drawing board at the
moment are an adaptation of the novel Vollidiot by Tommy Jaud (one
A year later, he brought TV60 Film onboard as a new partner, with of the writers on the TV comedy series Ladykracher) and a classic
Burgemeister as a joint managing director. breakdance film Fresh Kids being written by Christian Zuebert
(Lammbock) which is described as ”a coming-of-age story about iden-
”Our principle has been only to produce feature films,“ Christoph tity and dancing.“
explains, ”and, after the wave of teen comedies, we wanted to have
a go at making a sophisticated comedy.“ The result was Gregor For the moment, both partners want to concentrate on producing
Schnitzler’s Soloalbum, based on the cult novel by Benjamin films ”made in Germany“ rather than branch out into English-lan-
Stuckrad-Barre, which introduced Matthias Schweighoefer and Nora guage projects for the sake of it, although they could imagine that the
Tschirner to a larger audience for the first time. Young Goethe film might attract financing from outside of
Germany. Moreover, participation in one of the pan-European train-
”Goldkind wants to be varied in what it makes,“ he adds. ”We are ing programs such as EAVE or ACE ”might make sense and be useful
open to everything which means that, after a film like Sophie Scholl, we for the right kind of project.“
could then work on a fast, cheeky young comedy. Like everyone else,
we are hunting for quality, for that project which is unique. But a com- ”But our guiding principle at the company will be to stay small and
pany like Working Title which can make both a Billy Elliot and Mr. Bean flexible,“ Sven notes. ”The thing is that we have TV60 with a strong
is something we aspire to.“ structure in the background and so Goldkind Film can always
draw on their pool of staff and know-how if we need to.“
Meanwhile, Goldkind’s second production Sophie Scholl – The
Final Days was a case of events coming full circle for Christoph and Martin Blaney spoke to Christoph Mueller and Sven Burgemeister
Sven: Christoph first met Marc Rothemund during the shooting of the
ProSieben thrillers by father Sigi, while Sven became acquainted with
his work when Rothemund directed episodes of the ZDF Anwalt Abel
series for TV60 in 1997. Their collaboration on the TV film Die
Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt brought them together with Christoph and sub-
sequently provided the basis for all of them to work together on
Sophie Scholl.
The invitation for Sophie Scholl to screen in the Official Competition
at this year’s Berlinale was naturally a great honor for the young pro-
ducers and director Rothemund. The festival platform cast a spotlight
on Goldkind as ’a production company to watch’ and was an ideal
launch-pad for the international sales campaign for the film. In addi-
tion, the awarding of two prizes – Silver Bear for Best Actress to Julia
Jentsch and Silver Bear for Best Direction to Marc Rothemund – were
the cherry on the cake in X Verleih’s publicity drive ahead of the
film’s theatrical release in Germany on 24 February 2005.
german films quarterly producers’ portrait
2 · 2005 21You can also read
