London’s Raindance Film Festival is making a significant calendar shift for its 32nd edition, moving from its traditional fall slot to a new summer schedule.
Raindance kicks off with the U.K. premiere of Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” a horror feature starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens that previously played at Berlin and SXSW. Closing the festival is the European premiere of “National Anthem” by Luke Gilford, starring Charlie Plummer as a construction worker joining a community of queer rodeo performers. The film, which was at Toronto and SXSW, leads into the Pride in London weekend with a wild West End party.
This year, Germany is the festival’s guest of honor. The festival will showcase new German films, including “Cuckoo,” “Eternal You” and “What You See of Me.” A dedicated shorts program and industry panels, including a session with production designer Mona Cathleen Otterbach, will highlight Germany’s cinematic achievements.
Raindance kicks off with the U.K. premiere of Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” a horror feature starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens that previously played at Berlin and SXSW. Closing the festival is the European premiere of “National Anthem” by Luke Gilford, starring Charlie Plummer as a construction worker joining a community of queer rodeo performers. The film, which was at Toronto and SXSW, leads into the Pride in London weekend with a wild West End party.
This year, Germany is the festival’s guest of honor. The festival will showcase new German films, including “Cuckoo,” “Eternal You” and “What You See of Me.” A dedicated shorts program and industry panels, including a session with production designer Mona Cathleen Otterbach, will highlight Germany’s cinematic achievements.
- 5/20/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The 32nd edition of the UK’s Raindance Film Festival is to open with horror-thriller Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schafer, as the festival shifts away from autumn to a midsummer slot, running June 19-28.
This year, 90% of the international films screening in competition are debut features. The jury includes actors Alice Englert, Claes Bang, Jared Harris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and producers Ivana MacKinnon and Paul Sng.
Cuckoo is a German-us co-production that has played at Berlin and SXSW. Schafer plays a 17- year-old who is forced to leave her American home to live with her father and his new family as...
This year, 90% of the international films screening in competition are debut features. The jury includes actors Alice Englert, Claes Bang, Jared Harris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and producers Ivana MacKinnon and Paul Sng.
Cuckoo is a German-us co-production that has played at Berlin and SXSW. Schafer plays a 17- year-old who is forced to leave her American home to live with her father and his new family as...
- 5/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
The 32nd edition of the UK’s Raindance Film Festival is to open with Tilman Singer’s horror-thriller Cuckoo, starring Hunter Schafer, as the festival shifts away from autumn to a midsummer slot, running June 19-28.
This year, 90% of the international films screening in competition are debut features.
The jury includes actors Alice Englert, Claes Bang, Jared Harris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and producers Ivana MacKinnon and Paul Sng.
Opening night film Cuckoo is a German-us co-production, that has played at Berlin and SXSW. Schafer plays a 17- year-old who is forced to leave her American home to live with her...
This year, 90% of the international films screening in competition are debut features.
The jury includes actors Alice Englert, Claes Bang, Jared Harris and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett and producers Ivana MacKinnon and Paul Sng.
Opening night film Cuckoo is a German-us co-production, that has played at Berlin and SXSW. Schafer plays a 17- year-old who is forced to leave her American home to live with her...
- 5/20/2024
- ScreenDaily
Jessica Hausner on the references to Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining and Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby: “The idea behind Hotel [starring Franziska Weisz] was to use all those classical horror film elements on purpose, to put them together but to not lift the secret.”
In the second instalment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we move the conversation to Hotel, starring Franziska Weisz with Birgit Minichmayr (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon) and Lovely Rita with Barbara Osika as Rita, Wolfgang Kostal and Karina Brandlmayer as her parents, and Peter Fiala as her man of interest. The two films have the costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew (Maren Ade’s multiple European Film...
In the second instalment with Jessica Hausner on three of her feature films before her latest, the bewitching Club Zero (European Film Award Best Original Score to Markus Binder), we move the conversation to Hotel, starring Franziska Weisz with Birgit Minichmayr (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon) and Lovely Rita with Barbara Osika as Rita, Wolfgang Kostal and Karina Brandlmayer as her parents, and Peter Fiala as her man of interest. The two films have the costumes, as always, designed by Tanja Hausner, cinematography by Martin Gschlacht, sound design by Erik Mischijew (Maren Ade’s multiple European Film...
- 5/11/2024
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
Isabelle Huppert will head up the 2024 Venice Film Festival jury this year. Serving as jury president, Huppert will hand out the Golden Lion and other awards when the festival on the Lido concludes. The dates for this year’s edition are August 28 to September 7.
Huppert has never before served as jury president at Venice, but she did at Cannes in 2009, awarding the Palme d’Or to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” after deliberations with James Gray, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Asia Argento, Robin Wright, and Lee Chang-dong. Before that she’d served on the jury headed by Dirk Bogarde at Cannes in 1984, which gave the top prize to “Paris, Texas.”
The 71-year-old actress has been a powerhouse force in global cinema for the past 50 years, making her mark in French cinema before quickly appearing in Hollywood productions such as Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate.” Over the past decade Huppert’s...
Huppert has never before served as jury president at Venice, but she did at Cannes in 2009, awarding the Palme d’Or to Michael Haneke’s “The White Ribbon” after deliberations with James Gray, Nuri Bilge Ceylan, Asia Argento, Robin Wright, and Lee Chang-dong. Before that she’d served on the jury headed by Dirk Bogarde at Cannes in 1984, which gave the top prize to “Paris, Texas.”
The 71-year-old actress has been a powerhouse force in global cinema for the past 50 years, making her mark in French cinema before quickly appearing in Hollywood productions such as Michael Cimino’s “Heaven’s Gate.” Over the past decade Huppert’s...
- 5/8/2024
- by Christian Blauvelt
- Indiewire
German filmmaker Tom Tykwer is taking over as managing director of X Filme Creative Pool, the company he co-founded 30 years ago, replacing partner Stefan Arndt, who is stepping down from the post on his own accord.
Tykwer will head up X Filme together with Uwe Schott, a producer who has been at the Berlin-based outfit since 2009 and has worked on many of the company’s biggest productions, from Cloud Atlas to the TV series Babylon Berlin.
Arndt, whose cinematic resume includes Run Lola Run, The White Ribbon, and Oscar winner Amour, will continue to produce for X Filme and, as a co-founder, remains a shareholder in the company.
In a statement, he said he wanted to withdraw from the daily business of managing X Filme “so that I can concentrate more on producing again. Some exciting projects are already in the making and I’m looking forward to realizing them...
Tykwer will head up X Filme together with Uwe Schott, a producer who has been at the Berlin-based outfit since 2009 and has worked on many of the company’s biggest productions, from Cloud Atlas to the TV series Babylon Berlin.
Arndt, whose cinematic resume includes Run Lola Run, The White Ribbon, and Oscar winner Amour, will continue to produce for X Filme and, as a co-founder, remains a shareholder in the company.
In a statement, he said he wanted to withdraw from the daily business of managing X Filme “so that I can concentrate more on producing again. Some exciting projects are already in the making and I’m looking forward to realizing them...
- 5/8/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“Interview with the Vampire” Season 2 is headed to AMC and AMC+ on Sunday, May 12, and AMC has unleashed an extended look sneak peek at the new season today.
The new video is essentially a 3-minute trailer for “Interview with the Vampire” Season 2. Sink your teeth into the trailer below and read on for everything you need to know.
In the upcoming second season…
“The vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World Vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman).
“Their courtship and love...
The new video is essentially a 3-minute trailer for “Interview with the Vampire” Season 2. Sink your teeth into the trailer below and read on for everything you need to know.
In the upcoming second season…
“The vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World Vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman).
“Their courtship and love...
- 3/19/2024
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Exclusive: Coming off his breakout role in Zone of Interest, Christian Friedel has signed with UTA for representation.
Friedel stars as the lead in Jonathan Glazer’s critically acclaimed feature The Zone of Interest, based on the book of the same name by Martin Amis. The film made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 to remarkable reviews, where it was awarded the coveted Grand Prix and has since received a number of accolades including two Oscars for best sound and best international feature film.
Friedel was recently cast in a significant role in season 3 of the Emmy-winning global phenomenon anthology series The White Lotus. He is set to star alongside Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and Leslie Bibb, among others. Production is currently underway in Thailand.
Friedel’s first theater engagements took him to the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich, the Munich Kammerspiele,...
Friedel stars as the lead in Jonathan Glazer’s critically acclaimed feature The Zone of Interest, based on the book of the same name by Martin Amis. The film made its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 to remarkable reviews, where it was awarded the coveted Grand Prix and has since received a number of accolades including two Oscars for best sound and best international feature film.
Friedel was recently cast in a significant role in season 3 of the Emmy-winning global phenomenon anthology series The White Lotus. He is set to star alongside Michelle Monaghan, Carrie Coon, Aimee Lou Wood, Jason Isaacs, Parker Posey and Leslie Bibb, among others. Production is currently underway in Thailand.
Friedel’s first theater engagements took him to the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich, the Munich Kammerspiele,...
- 3/18/2024
- by Justin Kroll
- Deadline Film + TV
Sandra Hüller (a Best Actress nominee) and Christian Friedel, stars of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest — nominated for Best Picture, Best International Picture, Director, Sound, and Adapted Screenplay — are familiar with Shakespeare’s famous verse from Hamlet: ”All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women are merely players …” That’s because both thespians have been playing the Danish prince on stages around Germany for years.
Due to Germany’s repertory system in city and state theaters, an actor can revisit an assortment of plays time after time over a number of years.
Friedel tells me that he first played the Dane in 2012. It’s a sort of rock star Hamlet performed with his band, Woods of Birnam. “It can take years until the piece is really finished,” he explains.
He adds that “It changes as you’re getting older,” an experience he feels with movies as well.
Due to Germany’s repertory system in city and state theaters, an actor can revisit an assortment of plays time after time over a number of years.
Friedel tells me that he first played the Dane in 2012. It’s a sort of rock star Hamlet performed with his band, Woods of Birnam. “It can take years until the piece is really finished,” he explains.
He adds that “It changes as you’re getting older,” an experience he feels with movies as well.
- 3/9/2024
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
Few actors have embodied the full range of modern German history on screen as has Christian Friedel.
In Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest — a dark horse candidate for the best picture Oscar this Sunday (where it is also nominated in four other categories, including best international feature), Friedel plays Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of Auschwitz who, together with his wife Hedwig (played by Sandra Hüller), built an idyllic villa with a pretty garden for their five children right next to the death camp.
But before Zone, the 45-year-old German actor was best known for playing famed anti-Nazi resistance fighter Georg Elser in 13 Minutes, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2015 drama about Elsner’s attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1939, before World War II and before the Holocaust. In 2012’s Closed Season, Friedel plays a young Jewish refugee hiding from the Nazis. And in his film debut, in...
In Jonathan Glazer’s Holocaust drama The Zone of Interest — a dark horse candidate for the best picture Oscar this Sunday (where it is also nominated in four other categories, including best international feature), Friedel plays Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of Auschwitz who, together with his wife Hedwig (played by Sandra Hüller), built an idyllic villa with a pretty garden for their five children right next to the death camp.
But before Zone, the 45-year-old German actor was best known for playing famed anti-Nazi resistance fighter Georg Elser in 13 Minutes, Oliver Hirschbiegel’s 2015 drama about Elsner’s attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler in 1939, before World War II and before the Holocaust. In 2012’s Closed Season, Friedel plays a young Jewish refugee hiding from the Nazis. And in his film debut, in...
- 3/8/2024
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Seriesmakers, a joint initiative of Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, and European film-tv powerhouse Beta Group, has revealed the 10 top-notch project lineup of the second edition of its novel and high-powered mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut.
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald (“George Blake”), behind “The Last King Of Scotland,” and from Finnish director Mikko Myllylahti, who burst onto the scene co-writing with Juho Kuosmanen the latter’s “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Makki,” a 2016 Cannes Un Certain Regard winner.
Also in the mix is the highly courted Kaouther Ben Hania, a double Oscar nominee for the “compelling, ambitious hybrid” “Four Daughters,” said Variety, in the doc category and the “The Man Who Sold His Skin” (2020), Tunisia’s entry in international feature.
In all, however, nine of the ten directors winning berths this...
- 3/4/2024
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Get ready to visit the Théâtre des Vampires soon. At the Television Critics Association winter press tour, AMC announced that season two of “Interview with the Vampire” will arrive this May.
The new season premieres on Sunday, May 12 on AMC and AMC+.
Season two will pick up in the year 2022…
“The vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World Vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman).
“Their courtship and love affair will prove to have devastating consequences both in the past and in the future,...
The new season premieres on Sunday, May 12 on AMC and AMC+.
Season two will pick up in the year 2022…
“The vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired to kill the Vampire Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), Louis tells of his adventures in Europe, a quest to discover Old World Vampires and the Theatre Des Vampires in Paris, with Claudia. It is in Paris that Louis first meets the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman).
“Their courtship and love affair will prove to have devastating consequences both in the past and in the future,...
- 2/6/2024
- by Meagan Navarro
- bloody-disgusting.com
Hit vampire drama “Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire” will return for Season 2 on Sunday, May 12, on AMC and AMC+, the network announced at their Television Critics Association press tour panel on Tuesday.
Additionally, David Costabile has joined the cast as a guest star. Known for his performances as Mike “Wags” Wagner in “Billions” and Gale Boetticher in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” Costabile will play the role of “Leonard,” “a seasoned TV personality who has a run-in with Molloy.”
Production on the eight-episode “Interview With the Vampire” Season 2 wrapped in 2023 after filming around the globe in Prague, Paris and New Orleans. See the Season 2 synopsis below:
“In the year 2022, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired...
Additionally, David Costabile has joined the cast as a guest star. Known for his performances as Mike “Wags” Wagner in “Billions” and Gale Boetticher in “Breaking Bad” and “Better Call Saul,” Costabile will play the role of “Leonard,” “a seasoned TV personality who has a run-in with Molloy.”
Production on the eight-episode “Interview With the Vampire” Season 2 wrapped in 2023 after filming around the globe in Prague, Paris and New Orleans. See the Season 2 synopsis below:
“In the year 2022, the vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson) recounts his life story to journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Picking up from the bloody events in New Orleans in 1940 when Louis and teen fledgling Claudia (Delainey Hayles) conspired...
- 2/6/2024
- by Haleigh Foutch
- The Wrap
AMC Networks is sharing updates on Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe, including casting notes, premiere date and a production update for hits Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, as well as development news for a potential third series.
As revealed on Tuesday during the network’s TCA presentation, AMC is currently developing a potential third series in the franchise, written and executive produced by Oscar-nominated John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), based on the secret society, The Talamasca, featured in several of Rice’s novels.
Interview with the Vampire will premiere its second season on Sunday, May 12 on AMC and AMC+ with David Costabile joining as a guest star. He will portray Leonard, a seasoned TV personality who has a run-in with Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Additionally, recurring guest stars this season include Roxane Duran as Madeleine and Bally Gill as Real Rashid.
As revealed on Tuesday during the network’s TCA presentation, AMC is currently developing a potential third series in the franchise, written and executive produced by Oscar-nominated John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), based on the secret society, The Talamasca, featured in several of Rice’s novels.
Interview with the Vampire will premiere its second season on Sunday, May 12 on AMC and AMC+ with David Costabile joining as a guest star. He will portray Leonard, a seasoned TV personality who has a run-in with Molloy (Eric Bogosian). Additionally, recurring guest stars this season include Roxane Duran as Madeleine and Bally Gill as Real Rashid.
- 2/6/2024
- by Rosy Cordero
- Deadline Film + TV
Christian Friedel was overcome with shame. Days before playing Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, in Jonathan Glazer’s film The Zone of Interest, the German actor chose to visit Auschwitz for the first time. And since he’d already been given an undercut, Friedel had to tuck his Nazi hairdo underneath a baseball cap whilst touring the site where his character oversaw the extermination of 1.1 million Jews.
“I was ashamed with this haircut,” Friedel tells Rolling Stone. “It was schizophrenic, in a way, because I was visiting...
“I was ashamed with this haircut,” Friedel tells Rolling Stone. “It was schizophrenic, in a way, because I was visiting...
- 1/14/2024
- by Marlow Stern
- Rollingstone.com
German actor Christian Friedel melts into his roles, most recently as the commandant of Auschwitz in Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.”
The Dresden, Germany-based actor and musician fashioned Rudolf Höss as an executive on the rise: he’s a snappy dresser who’s efficient and knows how to get the most out of his employees and equipment —and how to suck up to his bosses. Except that he’s running a death camp and overseeing the murder of thousands of Jews and whoever else the Nazis didn’t like. He also oversees a large family run by his equally striving and efficient wife, Hedwig.
It’s a tough role, but on one Saturday at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, Friedel is dressed in casual chic clothes while his curly hair borders on rebellion, unlike the severe cut Höss sports.
“It’s really precise. It’s like a second skin in a way,...
The Dresden, Germany-based actor and musician fashioned Rudolf Höss as an executive on the rise: he’s a snappy dresser who’s efficient and knows how to get the most out of his employees and equipment —and how to suck up to his bosses. Except that he’s running a death camp and overseeing the murder of thousands of Jews and whoever else the Nazis didn’t like. He also oversees a large family run by his equally striving and efficient wife, Hedwig.
It’s a tough role, but on one Saturday at the London Hotel in West Hollywood, Friedel is dressed in casual chic clothes while his curly hair borders on rebellion, unlike the severe cut Höss sports.
“It’s really precise. It’s like a second skin in a way,...
- 1/10/2024
- by Carole Horst
- Variety Film + TV
llker Çatak, the director of Germany’s Oscar shortlisted The Teachers’ Lounge with Anne-Katrin Titze on Wim Wenders, the director of Japan’s Oscar shortlisted Perfect Days: “Wim is such a nice guy! He’s not my competitor, he’s one of my teachers.”
Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs), Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure Of A Man, starring the unforgettable Vincent Lindon, and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant are four of the films that inspired llker Çatak’s outstanding The Teachers’ Lounge. Shot by Judith Kaufmann, edited by Gesa Jäger (Jakob Lass’s Love Steaks with Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski; Anna Winger's Transatlantic and Maria Schrader's Unorthodox series with Shira Haas), stars a terrific Leonie Benesch (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon).
Ms Nowak (Leonie Benesch) in the classroom with her students...
Luc Dardenne and Jean-Pierre Dardenne’s Young Ahmed (Le Jeune Ahmed), Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Entre Les Murs), Stéphane Brizé’s The Measure Of A Man, starring the unforgettable Vincent Lindon, and Gus Van Sant’s Elephant are four of the films that inspired llker Çatak’s outstanding The Teachers’ Lounge. Shot by Judith Kaufmann, edited by Gesa Jäger (Jakob Lass’s Love Steaks with Lana Cooper and Franz Rogowski; Anna Winger's Transatlantic and Maria Schrader's Unorthodox series with Shira Haas), stars a terrific Leonie Benesch (Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon).
Ms Nowak (Leonie Benesch) in the classroom with her students...
- 12/31/2023
- by Anne-Katrin Titze
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
For many German performers, the decision about whether or not to play a Nazi proves a fraught one. To depict the history isn’t to endorse it, of course, but to delve into how humans can fall in line behind such barbarism opens the door to finding justifications for that behavior. After playing a Jewish refugee and an attempted assassin of Hitler, actor Christian Friedel now examines this dark period in his country’s history from the other side as Auschwitz commandant Rudolph Höss in The Zone of Interest.
Writer-director Jonathan Glazer, though, dispenses with traditional lines of inquiry to understand and contextualize Höss’s atrocities. The Zone of Interest finds an all-encompassing aesthetic language to show not how Nazis rationalized their genocidal actions, but how they compartmentalized them. It’s an experience better to viscerally feel than to have intellectualized in description, but Friedel’s startlingly naturalistic portrayal of...
Writer-director Jonathan Glazer, though, dispenses with traditional lines of inquiry to understand and contextualize Höss’s atrocities. The Zone of Interest finds an all-encompassing aesthetic language to show not how Nazis rationalized their genocidal actions, but how they compartmentalized them. It’s an experience better to viscerally feel than to have intellectualized in description, but Friedel’s startlingly naturalistic portrayal of...
- 12/15/2023
- by Marshall Shaffer
- Slant Magazine
Christian Friedel and Sandra Hüller bravely take on the terrible challenge of being German actors playing Nazis in Jonathan Glazer’s unsparing Holocaust film “The Zone of Interest.” It’s a task each turned over quite a lot in their minds before agreeing to play Nazi commandant Rudolf Höss and his sociopathic wife Hedwig, who lived with their children in a hardly oblivious bucolic bubble next to the Auschwitz concentration camp at the start of World War II.
“We talked about, in a very intense way, the subject matter, about the fact that, to play these two characters documentary-style, is this right? Is this good? How can you do that?,” Friedel told IndieWire in a Zoom interview from the New York offices of A24, which releases the film this week in select theaters.
Friedel, who is warm and chipper in conversation but totally devoid of emotion onscreen as Höss, is...
“We talked about, in a very intense way, the subject matter, about the fact that, to play these two characters documentary-style, is this right? Is this good? How can you do that?,” Friedel told IndieWire in a Zoom interview from the New York offices of A24, which releases the film this week in select theaters.
Friedel, who is warm and chipper in conversation but totally devoid of emotion onscreen as Höss, is...
- 12/13/2023
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
Magnify, which was formally known as Magnolia Pictures International, has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to “Veni Vedi Vici,” an Australian social satire from directors’ Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann. Written by Hoesl, the film will debut in the World Dramatic Competition section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It marks the first title acquired for sales under the newly rebranded Magnify label.
In “Veni Vedi Vici,” the Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire that delves into the dynamics of privilege. Fuelled with dark humor, psychotic absurdity, and hyper-realistic violence, ‘Veni Vedi Vici’ promises a captivating watch in Park City, that we are thrilled to launch under the freshly rebranded Magnify label,...
In “Veni Vedi Vici,” the Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire that delves into the dynamics of privilege. Fuelled with dark humor, psychotic absurdity, and hyper-realistic violence, ‘Veni Vedi Vici’ promises a captivating watch in Park City, that we are thrilled to launch under the freshly rebranded Magnify label,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Ilker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge world premiered to acclaim in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section in February, then swept the board three month later at the German Film Awards, scooping best film, director, screenplay, editing and actress for Leonie Benesch.
The actress plays a rookie teacher whose career and sanity unravels after she becomes embroiled in a heavy-handed investigation into a series of petty thefts at her school.
Çatak, who was born in Berlin to Turkish parents, says the premise for the film was sparked by a school experience he shared with co-writer and lifelong friend Johannes Duncker.
“Three teachers came into the class and frisked us,” Çatak said discussing the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International. “We thought it’s a good kick-off for a story where prejudice and assumptions poison a community.”
A crucial decision in the writing process was to confine the action to the school.
The actress plays a rookie teacher whose career and sanity unravels after she becomes embroiled in a heavy-handed investigation into a series of petty thefts at her school.
Çatak, who was born in Berlin to Turkish parents, says the premise for the film was sparked by a school experience he shared with co-writer and lifelong friend Johannes Duncker.
“Three teachers came into the class and frisked us,” Çatak said discussing the film at Deadline’s Contenders Film: International. “We thought it’s a good kick-off for a story where prejudice and assumptions poison a community.”
A crucial decision in the writing process was to confine the action to the school.
- 12/9/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
The project stars American actress/model Devon Ross.
The production of director Dominik Sedlar’s Second World War feature Vindicta is underway in Croatia.
The film stars Devon Ross (HBO’s Irma Vep), Jack Bandeira, Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders), Pip Torrens, Suzanne Bertish and Anna Madeley.
Austrian producer Veit Heiduschka, who has produced several of Michael Haneke’s films including Happy End, Amour, The White Ribbon and Hidden, is producing alongside Croatia Film’s creative director Zeljko Zima, Stephen Ollendorff, Alan Green, Wendy Benge and Sedlar.
It is Croatian-born US filmmaker Sedlar’s third successive feature with a Second World...
The production of director Dominik Sedlar’s Second World War feature Vindicta is underway in Croatia.
The film stars Devon Ross (HBO’s Irma Vep), Jack Bandeira, Sam Hazeldine (Peaky Blinders), Pip Torrens, Suzanne Bertish and Anna Madeley.
Austrian producer Veit Heiduschka, who has produced several of Michael Haneke’s films including Happy End, Amour, The White Ribbon and Hidden, is producing alongside Croatia Film’s creative director Zeljko Zima, Stephen Ollendorff, Alan Green, Wendy Benge and Sedlar.
It is Croatian-born US filmmaker Sedlar’s third successive feature with a Second World...
- 10/16/2023
- by Priyanca Rajput
- ScreenDaily
At the large, modern school where the contentious events of The Teachers’ Lounge unfurl, Carla Nowak is the newbie instructor, fresh-faced and eager. By the end of the film, she’s more chastened and anxious than bursting with gung-ho spirit — which is not to say she’s been defeated by the insanity around her. But she has learned a thing or two about the absurdity of organizational politics in the digital age of the antisocial socials, laid bare in İlker Çatak’s pointed yet never simplistic drama.
The outside world is barely glimpsed in the movie, and the microcosmic significance of the school premises, somewhere in Germany, couldn’t be clearer. As a smaller version of a contemporary tinderbox, the community of teachers, students, administrators and office workers that Çatak and his cast inhabit never feels overly weighted with symbolism. Its powder-keg dynamics are fully alive and infuriating, even as they transparently replicate,...
The outside world is barely glimpsed in the movie, and the microcosmic significance of the school premises, somewhere in Germany, couldn’t be clearer. As a smaller version of a contemporary tinderbox, the community of teachers, students, administrators and office workers that Çatak and his cast inhabit never feels overly weighted with symbolism. Its powder-keg dynamics are fully alive and infuriating, even as they transparently replicate,...
- 10/4/2023
- by Sheri Linden
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Maura Delpero’s second feature “Vermiglio, the Mountain Bride” – which is being presented at the Venice Production Bridge, the industry program of the Venice Film Festival, this week – has tapped Giuseppe De Domenico as its lead.
The Italian actor, known for “Zero Zero Zero” and Prime Video’s “Bang Bang Baby,” will play Pietro, a young soldier who in 1944 arrives in a small mountain village in Trentino, northern Italy.
As declared by the film’s tagline, change is around the corner: “Last year of World War II. In the Italian Alps, a single rifle shot ends a young woman’s innocence.”
“Maura saw many young actors and some of them were very good, but Giuseppe was able to stand out thanks to his subtle acting style. He understood what it meant to come back from a war,” says Francesca Andreoli, who produces for Italy’s Cinedora.
Roberta Rovelli in Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio,...
The Italian actor, known for “Zero Zero Zero” and Prime Video’s “Bang Bang Baby,” will play Pietro, a young soldier who in 1944 arrives in a small mountain village in Trentino, northern Italy.
As declared by the film’s tagline, change is around the corner: “Last year of World War II. In the Italian Alps, a single rifle shot ends a young woman’s innocence.”
“Maura saw many young actors and some of them were very good, but Giuseppe was able to stand out thanks to his subtle acting style. He understood what it meant to come back from a war,” says Francesca Andreoli, who produces for Italy’s Cinedora.
Roberta Rovelli in Maura Delpero’s “Vermiglio,...
- 9/1/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Berlin-based sales agency Picture Tree Intl. has picked up “Woodland” (“Wald”), written and directed by Elisabeth Scharang, which has its world premiere in the Centrepiece section at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film’s trailer has also just been launched.
Picture Tree Intl. also handled world sales on Scharang’s sophomore feature film, “Jack,” which also played at Toronto.
“Woodland” is inspired by the novel “Wald” from bestselling author Doris Knecht, and the personal experience of Scharang, who witnessed the attack of a terrorist shooter in Vienna in 2020 in which four people were killed and 23 others were injured. The film marks Scharang’s second collaboration with Dop Jörg Widmer, who is a frequent collaborator with Terrence Malick.
Brigitte Hobmeier as Marian Malin in “Woodland”
In “Woodland,” Marian Malin (Brigitte Hobmeier) has everything she could wish for — a passion, a job and love — until she and her husband (Bogdan Dumitrache...
Picture Tree Intl. also handled world sales on Scharang’s sophomore feature film, “Jack,” which also played at Toronto.
“Woodland” is inspired by the novel “Wald” from bestselling author Doris Knecht, and the personal experience of Scharang, who witnessed the attack of a terrorist shooter in Vienna in 2020 in which four people were killed and 23 others were injured. The film marks Scharang’s second collaboration with Dop Jörg Widmer, who is a frequent collaborator with Terrence Malick.
Brigitte Hobmeier as Marian Malin in “Woodland”
In “Woodland,” Marian Malin (Brigitte Hobmeier) has everything she could wish for — a passion, a job and love — until she and her husband (Bogdan Dumitrache...
- 8/10/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
The 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival came to a close on Saturday, May 27 after two weeks of films, celebrities, parties and interviews in the small city on the French Riviera. Now that the prizes have been given out, we can start looking at what could be top contenders for next year’s Oscars. Let’s analyze the results from this year’s festival and see this history that each category has when it comes to the Academy Awards.
Over the past several years the festival has been a springboard for major players in the Oscar derby. We’ve really seen it be an influence in the International Feature category where in-competition films have been nominated a regular basis. Recent Cannes films that ended up being top awards contenders in above the line categories include “Triangle of Sadness,” “Drive My Car,” “Parasite,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “BlacKkKlansman.
Over the past several years the festival has been a springboard for major players in the Oscar derby. We’ve really seen it be an influence in the International Feature category where in-competition films have been nominated a regular basis. Recent Cannes films that ended up being top awards contenders in above the line categories include “Triangle of Sadness,” “Drive My Car,” “Parasite,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “BlacKkKlansman.
- 5/28/2023
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
“The film is trying to talk to the capacity within each of us for violence.”
Jonathan Glazer said his Auschwitz drama ‘The Zone Of Interest’ is “trying to talk to the capacity within each of us for violence.”
Speaking at the press conference for the Cannes Competition title, Glazer responded to a question about the film’s relevance in the light of modern far-right movements.
“To try and show these people as people and not monsters was a very important thing to do,” said Glazer. “The great crime and tragedy is that human beings did this to other human beings.
Jonathan Glazer said his Auschwitz drama ‘The Zone Of Interest’ is “trying to talk to the capacity within each of us for violence.”
Speaking at the press conference for the Cannes Competition title, Glazer responded to a question about the film’s relevance in the light of modern far-right movements.
“To try and show these people as people and not monsters was a very important thing to do,” said Glazer. “The great crime and tragedy is that human beings did this to other human beings.
- 5/20/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
The words of Hannah Arendt have rarely seen more disturbing on-screen embodiment than in Jonathan Glazer’s “The Zone of Interest.” An austere and incandescent Holocaust drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, Glazer’s disquieting essay-film takes place almost entirely in and around the comfortable, middle-class home of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, tackling both the banality and quiet domesticity of evil with eerie formal rigor.
Viewed from afar, Rodolf (Christian Friedel) and Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) live an idyllic and unexceptional life. They’re happily married, upwardly mobile strivers, with faith in their government and hope for the future. They follow sports, tend gardens and participate in collective projects for patriotic renewal. And they’re professionally satisfied — her as a stay-at-home mom raising a family of five, and him working right next door, overseeing the most macabre site of mass-genocide mankind has ever devised.
In fact, Glazer...
Viewed from afar, Rodolf (Christian Friedel) and Hedwig (Sandra Hüller) live an idyllic and unexceptional life. They’re happily married, upwardly mobile strivers, with faith in their government and hope for the future. They follow sports, tend gardens and participate in collective projects for patriotic renewal. And they’re professionally satisfied — her as a stay-at-home mom raising a family of five, and him working right next door, overseeing the most macabre site of mass-genocide mankind has ever devised.
In fact, Glazer...
- 5/19/2023
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
It’s been nearly ten years since Jonathan Glazer debuted Under the Skin at Telluride Film Festival and now the English director has finally put the finishing touches on his follow-up. Once again backed by A24, The Zone of Interest will premiere in competition at Cannes Film Festival and now the first look has arrived.
Based on Martin Amis’s Auschwitz-set novel, the film features Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel. Here’s the synopsis: “The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.”
Above, via the official Cannes site, one can see the first image for the film, which clocks in at 106 minutes and was shot by Łukasz Żal with Mica Levi reuniting to score.
The post First Look at The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s...
Based on Martin Amis’s Auschwitz-set novel, the film features Toni Erdmann star Sandra Hüller and Christian Friedel. Here’s the synopsis: “The commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss, and his wife Hedwig, strive to build a dream life for their family in a house and garden next to the camp.”
Above, via the official Cannes site, one can see the first image for the film, which clocks in at 106 minutes and was shot by Łukasz Żal with Mica Levi reuniting to score.
The post First Look at The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s...
- 5/7/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a Béla Tarr double bill, with new 4K restorations of Damnation and Sátántangó, Léa Mysius’ The Five Devils, Radu Jude’s short The Potemkinists, and Kira Kovalenko’s Unclenching the Fists.
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
They will also present a series on past Cannes Film Festival selections with films by Abderrahmane Sissako, Alice Rohrwacher, Djibril Diop Mambéty, Jeremy Saulnier, and more. Ana Vaz’s The Age of Stone and most recent work It is Night in America will arrive on the service, plus a Merchant Ivory series.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
May 1 – Blind Spot, directed by Claudia von Alemann | What Sets Us Free? German Feminist Cinema
May 2 – Heat and Dust, directed by James Ivory | Gilded Passions: Films by Merchant Ivory
May 3 – Damnation, directed by Béla Tarr | Béla Tarr: A Double Bill
May 4 – The Bostonians, directed by...
- 4/21/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Mubi is adding over 50 features from the Sony Pictures’ library to its U.S. streaming service. The mix of studio and arthouse fare includes Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence, The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich and films from Wes Anderson, Pedro Almodovar and Guillermo Del Toro.
The company’s growing and global streaming service currently offers over 900 titles in the U.S., where it adds one new film to the platform daily. The Sony deal is a significant haul, especially since studios have become more aggressive in retaining content for their own services. Sony, uniquely, doesn’t have a streaming platform in-house.
Each Sony film has its own window, with some available already and all cycling onto the service at some point through the end of 2024. Others titles in the deal include 2046 by Wong Kar-wai; Volver by...
The company’s growing and global streaming service currently offers over 900 titles in the U.S., where it adds one new film to the platform daily. The Sony deal is a significant haul, especially since studios have become more aggressive in retaining content for their own services. Sony, uniquely, doesn’t have a streaming platform in-house.
Each Sony film has its own window, with some available already and all cycling onto the service at some point through the end of 2024. Others titles in the deal include 2046 by Wong Kar-wai; Volver by...
- 3/30/2023
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts.
Curzon FIlm has acquired UK and Ireland rights to İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge from Brussels-based sales company Be For Films.
The Berlin Panorama title has also sold to King Records for Japan, Nonstop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Alambique for Portugal, Lighthouse Film Distribution for Singapore and Light Year Images for Taiwan.
The film stars Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts at the high school where she works.
Curzon FIlm has acquired UK and Ireland rights to İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge from Brussels-based sales company Be For Films.
The Berlin Panorama title has also sold to King Records for Japan, Nonstop Entertainment for Scandinavia, Alambique for Portugal, Lighthouse Film Distribution for Singapore and Light Year Images for Taiwan.
The film stars Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts at the high school where she works.
- 3/10/2023
- by Louise Tutt
- ScreenDaily
Swiss distributor and producer Ascot Elite has sold German rights to its comedy remake The Neighbours From Upstairs (Die Nachbarn Von Oben) to Wild Bunch, which will release the film from June 1, 2023.
Ascot Elite has drawn 55,000 spectators to the film in German-speaking Switzerland where it is still on release and has become the most popular local production of the year to date.
Based on the Spanish hit from 2020, the film sees a couple who spend most of their time arguing decide to invite their upstairs neighbors for dinner despite their differences. As the night goes on, various secrets about the couple come to light.
Sabine Boss (I Am The Keeper) directs Sarah Spale (Needle Park Baby), Max Simonischek (Zwingli), Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon) and Roeland Wiesnekker (Heart Of Stone).
Ascot Elite’s Ralph S. Dietrich said: “We’re very pleased with the ongoing strong performance and the word of...
Ascot Elite has drawn 55,000 spectators to the film in German-speaking Switzerland where it is still on release and has become the most popular local production of the year to date.
Based on the Spanish hit from 2020, the film sees a couple who spend most of their time arguing decide to invite their upstairs neighbors for dinner despite their differences. As the night goes on, various secrets about the couple come to light.
Sabine Boss (I Am The Keeper) directs Sarah Spale (Needle Park Baby), Max Simonischek (Zwingli), Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon) and Roeland Wiesnekker (Heart Of Stone).
Ascot Elite’s Ralph S. Dietrich said: “We’re very pleased with the ongoing strong performance and the word of...
- 3/9/2023
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Continuing our look at the below-the-line crafts categories at this year’s Oscars, we get to film editing. The editor(s) on a movie are frequently the most important collaborators with a director. The director and editor will frequently sit in an edit bay for hours, days, and even months to craft the pace and feel of a movie until it’s just right, as is the case with the five movies nominated this year.
SEECan ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ win the Oscar categories the 1930 film failed to claim?
This is a particularly invigorating year for the category. We only have one previous Oscar winner from just a few years ago, so we could see a new Oscar champ this year. The variety in this year’s category is also pretty exciting, with all five editors having worked on Oscar-nominated Best Pictures, and not all the nominees are for quick-edited,...
SEECan ‘All Quiet on the Western Front’ win the Oscar categories the 1930 film failed to claim?
This is a particularly invigorating year for the category. We only have one previous Oscar winner from just a few years ago, so we could see a new Oscar champ this year. The variety in this year’s category is also pretty exciting, with all five editors having worked on Oscar-nominated Best Pictures, and not all the nominees are for quick-edited,...
- 3/2/2023
- by Edward Douglas
- Gold Derby
Leonie Benesch stars as idealistic teacher in Ilker Çatak’s fourth feature.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all media rights in North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe excluding Hungary to Ilker Çatak’s Berlin Panorama award winner The Teachers’ Lounge.
Çatak’s fourth feature won the Europa Cinemas Label award for Best European film in the Panorama as well as the Cicae Arthouse Cinema Award and stars Leonie Benesch stars as an idealistic sports and maths teacher.
When one of her students is suspected of being behind a series of thefts the teacher investigates and comes under intense pressure from all sides.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all media rights in North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe excluding Hungary to Ilker Çatak’s Berlin Panorama award winner The Teachers’ Lounge.
Çatak’s fourth feature won the Europa Cinemas Label award for Best European film in the Panorama as well as the Cicae Arthouse Cinema Award and stars Leonie Benesch stars as an idealistic sports and maths teacher.
When one of her students is suspected of being behind a series of thefts the teacher investigates and comes under intense pressure from all sides.
- 3/2/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Sony Pictures Classics has picked up all rights in North America, Latin America and European Europe (excluding Hungary) to the Ilker Çatak drama The Teachers’ Lounge, which won both the Europa Cinemas Label award and the Cicae Arthouse Cinema award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival.
The news comes just a day after the SPC acquisition announcement for The Miracle Club, a Dublin-shot feature starring Laura Linney, Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates.
Related Story 2023 Independent Spirits’ Best Feature Contender ‘Our Father, The Devil’ Acquired By Cinedigm Related Story Laura Linney Comedy 'The Miracle Club' Acquired By Sony Pictures Classics Related Story Sony Pictures Classics Sets Yogi Berra Doc 'It Ain't Over' For Theatrical Release
Çatak’s fourth feature The Teachers’ Lounge watches as dedicated sports and math teacher Carla Nowak (The White Ribbon‘s Leonie Benesch) starts her first job at a school. She stands...
The news comes just a day after the SPC acquisition announcement for The Miracle Club, a Dublin-shot feature starring Laura Linney, Maggie Smith and Kathy Bates.
Related Story 2023 Independent Spirits’ Best Feature Contender ‘Our Father, The Devil’ Acquired By Cinedigm Related Story Laura Linney Comedy 'The Miracle Club' Acquired By Sony Pictures Classics Related Story Sony Pictures Classics Sets Yogi Berra Doc 'It Ain't Over' For Theatrical Release
Çatak’s fourth feature The Teachers’ Lounge watches as dedicated sports and math teacher Carla Nowak (The White Ribbon‘s Leonie Benesch) starts her first job at a school. She stands...
- 3/2/2023
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Leonie Benesch stars as idealistic teacher in Ilker Çatak’s fourth feature.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all media rights in North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe excluding Hungary to Ilker Çatak’s Berlin Panorama award winner The Teachers’ Lounge.
Çatak’s fourth feature won the Europa Cinemas Label award for Best European film in the Panorama as well as the Cicae Arthouse Cinema Award and stars Leonie Benesch stars as an idealistic sports and maths teacher.
When one of her students is suspected of being behind a series of thefts the teacher investigates and comes under intense pressure from all sides.
Sony Pictures Classics has acquired all media rights in North America, Latin America and Eastern Europe excluding Hungary to Ilker Çatak’s Berlin Panorama award winner The Teachers’ Lounge.
Çatak’s fourth feature won the Europa Cinemas Label award for Best European film in the Panorama as well as the Cicae Arthouse Cinema Award and stars Leonie Benesch stars as an idealistic sports and maths teacher.
When one of her students is suspected of being behind a series of thefts the teacher investigates and comes under intense pressure from all sides.
- 3/2/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Ruben Östlund has been named president of the jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Tuesday morning in Paris.
Östlund is a two-time winner of Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, which he won in 2017 for “The Square” and last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” which is currently an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. He is one of only nine directors to have won the Palme twice, and one of only three to win the award for consecutive films. (The others were Michael Haneke for “The White Ribbon” and “Amour” and Bille August for “Pelle the Conqueror” and “The Best Intentions.”)
Two other two-time winners, Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, have previously served as jury presidents, but Östlund is the first to do it the year after winning the Palme. He will become the first jury president from Sweden since Ingmar Bergman served in the position...
Östlund is a two-time winner of Cannes’ highest honor, the Palme d’Or, which he won in 2017 for “The Square” and last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” which is currently an Oscar nominee for Best Picture. He is one of only nine directors to have won the Palme twice, and one of only three to win the award for consecutive films. (The others were Michael Haneke for “The White Ribbon” and “Amour” and Bille August for “Pelle the Conqueror” and “The Best Intentions.”)
Two other two-time winners, Francis Ford Coppola and Emir Kusturica, have previously served as jury presidents, but Östlund is the first to do it the year after winning the Palme. He will become the first jury president from Sweden since Ingmar Bergman served in the position...
- 2/28/2023
- by Steve Pond
- The Wrap
Film has secured multiple deals in Europe and beyond.
Brussels-based sales company Be For Films has agreed multiple deals for İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which recently world premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale.
The film, which stars Leonie Benesch, has sold in Europe to France (Tandem), Benelux (Cineart), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Mozinet) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi).
It has also sold to Madman for Australia and New Zealand, New Cinema in Israel, Bir Film in Turkey, Moving Turtle for Mena and Dhl Studio in South Korea.
Be For Films says discussions are ongoing for the USA,...
Brussels-based sales company Be For Films has agreed multiple deals for İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which recently world premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale.
The film, which stars Leonie Benesch, has sold in Europe to France (Tandem), Benelux (Cineart), Italy (Lucky Red), Spain (A Contracorriente), Greece (Cinobo), Hungary (Mozinet) and Switzerland (Filmcoopi).
It has also sold to Madman for Australia and New Zealand, New Cinema in Israel, Bir Film in Turkey, Moving Turtle for Mena and Dhl Studio in South Korea.
Be For Films says discussions are ongoing for the USA,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
Dangerous Finds: Catak Mines the Impossibility of Idealism in Departmental Dilemma
Sometimes maintaining the semblance of a ‘safe space’ means sublimating self-righteousness, a lesson learned too late by the hyper-idealistic protagonist in The Teachers’ Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer), the compelling third feature from German director İlker Çatak. A contemporary portrait of how a catch-22 situation decimates the ability for a well-intentioned teacher’s ability to do the right thing, it’s also a sly portrait of displacement, navigating the experience of adhering to a host culture as an outsider.
Compelling, especially in its ability to remain anxiety laden throughout the entirety of its running time, the film allows lead actor Leonie Benesch (who appeared in Haneke’s The White Ribbon and played Princess Cecile in “The Crown”) a breakout performance as a young educator both frustrating and refreshing to behold.…...
Sometimes maintaining the semblance of a ‘safe space’ means sublimating self-righteousness, a lesson learned too late by the hyper-idealistic protagonist in The Teachers’ Lounge (Das Lehrerzimmer), the compelling third feature from German director İlker Çatak. A contemporary portrait of how a catch-22 situation decimates the ability for a well-intentioned teacher’s ability to do the right thing, it’s also a sly portrait of displacement, navigating the experience of adhering to a host culture as an outsider.
Compelling, especially in its ability to remain anxiety laden throughout the entirety of its running time, the film allows lead actor Leonie Benesch (who appeared in Haneke’s The White Ribbon and played Princess Cecile in “The Crown”) a breakout performance as a young educator both frustrating and refreshing to behold.…...
- 2/18/2023
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
İlker Çatak’s fourth feature stars Leonie Benesch.
Brussels-based sales company Be For Films has boarded İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which world premieres in the Panorama section at next month’s Berlinale.
The film stars Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts at the high school where she works. But she reaches breaking point as she finds herself mediating between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students. Benesch made her name in Michael Haneke’s award-winning drama The White Ribbon, and has since gone on to star in The Crown,...
Brussels-based sales company Be For Films has boarded İlker Çatak’s The Teachers’ Lounge, which world premieres in the Panorama section at next month’s Berlinale.
The film stars Leonie Benesch as an idealistic young teacher who tries to get to the bottom of a series of thefts at the high school where she works. But she reaches breaking point as she finds herself mediating between outraged parents, opinionated colleagues and aggressive students. Benesch made her name in Michael Haneke’s award-winning drama The White Ribbon, and has since gone on to star in The Crown,...
- 1/27/2023
- by Tim Dams
- ScreenDaily
After two years of cancellations and delays, the Cannes Film Festival finally returned to the south of France during the month of May. The winners of this year’s festivities were announced on Saturday, May 25. How many of these will become major players in this year’s Oscar derby? Below let’s review the results from the 75th installment of the international festival and examine the history each serves as a forecaster for the Academy Awards.
In recent years, Cannes has served as a launching pad for films that have become major contenders in awards season. This is particularly true in the International Feature category which, for the past several years, has had several nominees that were screened in competition. It’s also been true in other categories, including several above the line races, with films like “Drive My Car,” “Parasite,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “BlacKkKlansman” having their premieres on the Croissette.
In recent years, Cannes has served as a launching pad for films that have become major contenders in awards season. This is particularly true in the International Feature category which, for the past several years, has had several nominees that were screened in competition. It’s also been true in other categories, including several above the line races, with films like “Drive My Car,” “Parasite,” “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “BlacKkKlansman” having their premieres on the Croissette.
- 6/6/2022
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
After the Oscars, the Palme d’Or is the most prestigious film award in the business, and it’s a lot less predictable. Coming from a jury usually comprised of actors and directors, it arrives as the outcome of furious debate and often conflicting values about the nature of the art form. There is no mathematical formula for predicting the Palme d’Or, and educated guesswork can be misleading, but it’s still worth a shot.
Handed out at the festival since 1955, the golden prize represents the pinnacle of prestige for the filmmaker who receives it. As Cannes presents itself as the nexus of the greatest cinema on the planet, the prize is an extension of that mentality, and it invites winners into an exclusive club that spans film history. Recipients of the Palme d’Or have ranged from “Black Orpheus” and “La Dolce Vita” to “Apocalypse Now.” In some cases,...
Handed out at the festival since 1955, the golden prize represents the pinnacle of prestige for the filmmaker who receives it. As Cannes presents itself as the nexus of the greatest cinema on the planet, the prize is an extension of that mentality, and it invites winners into an exclusive club that spans film history. Recipients of the Palme d’Or have ranged from “Black Orpheus” and “La Dolce Vita” to “Apocalypse Now.” In some cases,...
- 5/27/2022
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
Past is present, and nailing those specifics turns James Gray’s heartfelt 1980 Queens family drama into something universal. Gray’s fifth Cannes entry and best film to date, “Armageddon Time” is carried by Anne Hathaway, Jeremy Strong, and Sir Anthony Hopkins as the parents and grandfather, respectively, of sixth-grade rebel Paul Graff as the younger filmmaker.
At a sunset dinner in Antibes ahead of the Thursday night premiere, Focus chairman Peter Kujawski told the “Armageddon Time” team, “This is the last night the movie is yours.” The movie played like gangbusters at the Palais and is generating upbeat reviews. Filmgoers beyond Cannes could embrace this likely Focus fall release (it’s a natural for the New York Film Festival), which like most Universal movies these days, from “The Northman” to “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” will hit PVOD three weeks after theaters, followed by Peacock. With the right handling, it...
At a sunset dinner in Antibes ahead of the Thursday night premiere, Focus chairman Peter Kujawski told the “Armageddon Time” team, “This is the last night the movie is yours.” The movie played like gangbusters at the Palais and is generating upbeat reviews. Filmgoers beyond Cannes could embrace this likely Focus fall release (it’s a natural for the New York Film Festival), which like most Universal movies these days, from “The Northman” to “Downton Abbey: A New Era,” will hit PVOD three weeks after theaters, followed by Peacock. With the right handling, it...
- 5/20/2022
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Euro distributor and producer Ascot Elite Entertainment has secured remake rights to successful Spanish comedy Sentimental for Switzerland and all German-speaking parts of Europe from Filmax and is producing a Swiss remake called The People Upstairs (Die Nachbarn Von Oben).
In the 2020 Spanish original, which was nominated for five Goyas, a couple who spend most of their time arguing decide to invite their upstairs neighbors for dinner despite their differences. As the night goes on, various secrets about the couple come to light.
The company has set Sabine Boss (I Am The Keeper) as director and cast will comprise Swiss stars Sarah Spale (Needle Park Baby), Max Simonischek (Zwingli), Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon) and Roeland Wiesnekker (Heart Of Stone).
Pic will be produced by Ascot Elite’s Karin G. Dietrich (CEO), Ralph S. Dietrich (CEO), Stephan Giger (CEO) and Roger Kaufmann (producer). Ascot Elite plans a theatrical release...
In the 2020 Spanish original, which was nominated for five Goyas, a couple who spend most of their time arguing decide to invite their upstairs neighbors for dinner despite their differences. As the night goes on, various secrets about the couple come to light.
The company has set Sabine Boss (I Am The Keeper) as director and cast will comprise Swiss stars Sarah Spale (Needle Park Baby), Max Simonischek (Zwingli), Ursina Lardi (The White Ribbon) and Roeland Wiesnekker (Heart Of Stone).
Pic will be produced by Ascot Elite’s Karin G. Dietrich (CEO), Ralph S. Dietrich (CEO), Stephan Giger (CEO) and Roger Kaufmann (producer). Ascot Elite plans a theatrical release...
- 3/2/2022
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Charles Gillibert, the thriving French producer behind Leos Carax’s Cannes prizewinning “Annette,” spoke to Variety about his recent acquisition of Les Films du Losange, one of France’s oldest and most revered auteur-driven production and distribution companies.
Gillibert teamed up with French financier Alexis Dantec, former managing director of the film financing group Cofinova, to complete the acquisition deal for Les Films du Losange, which is at Venice with Kavich Neang’s “White Building” playing in the Horizons section.
Les Films du Losange was founded by Barbet Schroeder and Eric Rohmer in 1962 and was under the leadership of Margaret Menegoz since 1975. The award-winning banner, which is also involved in international sales, has been producing cult movies by some of Europe’s best known filmmakers, notably Rohmer, Schroeder, Roger Planchon, Jacques Rivette, Michael Haneke, Jacques Doillon, Mia Hansen-Love.
In total, the company has a library of about 100 prestige films many...
Gillibert teamed up with French financier Alexis Dantec, former managing director of the film financing group Cofinova, to complete the acquisition deal for Les Films du Losange, which is at Venice with Kavich Neang’s “White Building” playing in the Horizons section.
Les Films du Losange was founded by Barbet Schroeder and Eric Rohmer in 1962 and was under the leadership of Margaret Menegoz since 1975. The award-winning banner, which is also involved in international sales, has been producing cult movies by some of Europe’s best known filmmakers, notably Rohmer, Schroeder, Roger Planchon, Jacques Rivette, Michael Haneke, Jacques Doillon, Mia Hansen-Love.
In total, the company has a library of about 100 prestige films many...
- 9/3/2021
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
After going virtual last year and not handing out any prizes due to the Covid pandemic, the 2021 Cannes Film Festival returned to form by announcing its winners on July 17. How many of these will figure in the upcoming Oscar race? We recap the results from the 74th edition of this foremost of film festivals and review its history as a forecaster of the Academy Awards.
The top award at Cannes is the Palme d’Or. Over the years, 40 winners of this prize have amassed 135 Academy Award nominations. Seventeen of these have claimed a combined 32 Oscars. This year, the Palme d’Or went to French filmmaker Julia Ducournau‘s “Titane.” Her dramatic thriller centers on a father reunited with his son who was missing for a decade during which several unexplained crimes were committed. Ducournau is the second woman to take this top prize following Jane Campion‘s breakthrough in 1993 with “The Piano.
The top award at Cannes is the Palme d’Or. Over the years, 40 winners of this prize have amassed 135 Academy Award nominations. Seventeen of these have claimed a combined 32 Oscars. This year, the Palme d’Or went to French filmmaker Julia Ducournau‘s “Titane.” Her dramatic thriller centers on a father reunited with his son who was missing for a decade during which several unexplained crimes were committed. Ducournau is the second woman to take this top prize following Jane Campion‘s breakthrough in 1993 with “The Piano.
- 7/18/2021
- by Charles Bright
- Gold Derby
Tahar Rahim earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination for playing the eponymous character in “The Mauritanian.” Rahim lost 22 pounds to portray the real-life Mohamedou Ould Salahi, who was detained from 2002 to 2014 at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp without charge. STX released Kevin Macdonald‘s docudrama on February 12.
Rahim is nominated for Best Drama Actor while Jodie Foster contends in Best Film Supporting Actress for portraying his American lawyer Nancy Hollander. Rahim, who is the heart and soul of the film, is up against two Globe winners (Anthony Hopkins as “The Father” and Gary Oldman as “Mank”) and two other first-time nominees (Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal” and the late Chadwick Boseman for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”).
SEEour interview with Tahar Rahim.
It has been 11 years since Rahim’s introduction to the Golden Globes as the star of “A Prophet” from his home country of France. That prison drama...
Rahim is nominated for Best Drama Actor while Jodie Foster contends in Best Film Supporting Actress for portraying his American lawyer Nancy Hollander. Rahim, who is the heart and soul of the film, is up against two Globe winners (Anthony Hopkins as “The Father” and Gary Oldman as “Mank”) and two other first-time nominees (Riz Ahmed for “Sound of Metal” and the late Chadwick Boseman for “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”).
SEEour interview with Tahar Rahim.
It has been 11 years since Rahim’s introduction to the Golden Globes as the star of “A Prophet” from his home country of France. That prison drama...
- 2/12/2021
- by Riley Chow
- Gold Derby
“Mank” is the early Oscar front-runner to win Best Cinematography, according to the combined predictions of Gold Derby users, and it’s no wonder why. Black-and-white films stand out visually in an era when the vast majority of movies are shot in color. But monochromatic movies aren’t the slam dunk you might think. In fact, only two such movies have won that award in the past 30 years, which could be good news for “Mank’s” closest challenger in our odds, “Nomadland.”
Erik Messerschmidt is the cinematographer for “Mank,” which tells the true story of the title screenwriter who clashed with the wealthy Hollywood establishment and wrote the classic film “Citizen Kane.” The David Fincher-directed biopic is stylized to resemble the films of the 1940s era it depicts, which might especially appeal to the industry insiders who vote for the Oscars. And Messerschmidt just recently broke through with his...
Erik Messerschmidt is the cinematographer for “Mank,” which tells the true story of the title screenwriter who clashed with the wealthy Hollywood establishment and wrote the classic film “Citizen Kane.” The David Fincher-directed biopic is stylized to resemble the films of the 1940s era it depicts, which might especially appeal to the industry insiders who vote for the Oscars. And Messerschmidt just recently broke through with his...
- 1/5/2021
- by Daniel Montgomery
- Gold Derby
Exclusive: Here’s a positive one for the Euro film industry – shooting has resumed on Tochter (English translation Daughter), a co-production between significant producers from Germany, Greece and Italy.
The project is being heralded as the first post-covid international co-pro to get back underway in Europe, a fact confirmed by two major bodies Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and Ace (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes).
Pic is based on German author Lucy Fricke’s best-selling novel of the same title and is being directed by Nana Neul (To Faro). Producers include Bettina Brokemper of Heimatfilm, whose credits span Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built and Eran Riklis’ Dancing Arabs. Warner Bros Germany is a co-producer and will handle the local release.
Also onboard are Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis of Greek outfit Heretic, who won the European Film Academy prize for co-production in 2018 and have produced pics including festival hit Son Of Sofia.
The project is being heralded as the first post-covid international co-pro to get back underway in Europe, a fact confirmed by two major bodies Eave (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) and Ace (Association des Cinémathèques Européennes).
Pic is based on German author Lucy Fricke’s best-selling novel of the same title and is being directed by Nana Neul (To Faro). Producers include Bettina Brokemper of Heimatfilm, whose credits span Lars Von Trier’s The House That Jack Built and Eran Riklis’ Dancing Arabs. Warner Bros Germany is a co-producer and will handle the local release.
Also onboard are Giorgos Karnavas and Konstantinos Kontovrakis of Greek outfit Heretic, who won the European Film Academy prize for co-production in 2018 and have produced pics including festival hit Son Of Sofia.
- 6/23/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.