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Wenn etwas passieren soll, muss man es selbst in die Hände nehmen: Marie-Lou Sellem, 58 Jahre alt und seit 1989 als Schauspielerin tätig, hat erstmals Regie geführt. Und bringt ihren Dokumentarfilm „Die Schule der Frauen“ jetzt nach der Premiere auf dem Filmfest München in Eigenregie ins Kino. Ihre Kinotour ist heute gestartet.

Marie-Lou Sellem (Credit: Maud Sellem)

Schauspielerin Marie-Lou Sellem hat mit „Die Schule der Frauen“ hinter die Kamera gewechselt. Der Dokumentarfilm, den Sebastian Schipper produzierte, ist ihr Regiedebüt. Weltpremiere feierte er in der Reihe Spotlight des 41. Filmfest München. Das Projekt ist eine echte Herzensangelegenheit, für das Sellem alles gibt. „Ich mache alles selbst. Sogar den Verleih und die Organisation einer Kinotour. Mir war wichtig, dass der Film in die Kinos kommt. Er soll gesehen werden und eine Chance beim Deutschen Filmpreis erhalten.“

„Die Schule der Frauen“ blickt auf das Thema der patriarchal geprägten Kulturlandschaft, auf das „Problem“, als Schauspielerin alt zu werden.

Das Filmfest München hat jetzt die Jurymitglieder für seine von 28. Juni bis 7. Juli stattfindende 41. Ausgabe bekannt gegeben.

Die Jurymitglieder des Filmfest München (Credit: Filmfest München)

Die Jurymitglieder für das 41. Filmfest München (28. Juni bis 7. Juli) stehen fest.

Wettbewerb CineCoPro für internationale Koproduktionen mit deutscher Beteiligung (dotiert mit 100.000 Euro)

• Baran bo Odar (Regisseur und Drehbuchautor)

• Leonie Benesch (Schauspielerin)

• Sol Bondy (Produzent)

Wettbewerb CineMasters für internationale Filme (dotiert mit 50.000 Euro)

• Marie-Lou Sellem (Schauspielerin)

• Moritz Peters

• Rajendra Roy (Chief Curator of Film, Museum of Modern Art, New York)

Wettbewerb CineVision für den besten internationalen Debütfilm (dotiert mit 15.000 Euro)

• Bob Byington (Regisseur und Drehbuchautor)

• Maksym Nakonechnyi (Regisseur)

• Sarah Blaßkiewitz(Regisseurin und Drehbuchautorin)

Wettbewerb CineRebels für „Formatsprenger und Filmabenteurer“ (dotiert mit 15.000 Euro)

• Mia Bays(Direktorin des Filmmaking Fund beim British Film Institute)

• Nicolas Wackerbarth (Filmemacher und Autor)

• Dale Dickey (Schauspielerin)

Wettbewerb CineKindl für eine herausragende Regiearbeit im CineKindl-Programm

• Barbara Kronenberg (Regisseurin und Drehbuchautorin)

• Philipp Budweg (Produzent)

• Jytte-Merle Böhrnsen (Schauspielerin,...

Matthias Glasner’s epic dysfunctional family drama Dying has won the top prize for best film at the 2024 German Film Awards, the Lolas.

Dying was one of the critical favorites at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where Glasner won the Silver Bear for best screenplay. The film stars Lars Eidinger as a classical conductor with an extremely dysfunctional family.

In addition to the top prize, Corinna Harfoch won the best actress Lola for her role in Dying, where she plays Eidinger’s sharp-tonged and cold-hearted mother. Her Dying co-star Hans-Uwe Bauer took best supporting actor, and the film also took the Lola for best film music for composer Lorenz Dangel.

Ayşe Polat took best director and best screenplay for In the Blind Spot, her twisty documentary-style conspiracy thriller set in modern-day Turkey. The film, which premiered in Berlin’s Encounters section last year, won the top prize at the Oldenburg Film Festival,...

The German Film Academy has announced the movies in competition this year for the German Film Awards, the local equivalent of the Oscars.

Matthias Glasner’s epic family drama Dying, Timm Kröger’s experimental sci-fi feature The Universal Theory, and In the Blind Spot, Ayşe Polat’s documentary-style conspiracy thriller set in modern-day Turkey, are among the favorites for this year’s awards, called the Lolas.

Dying, which stars Lars Eidinger as a classical conductor with an extremely dysfunctional family, picked up nominations in every major category, including best film, best director and best screenplay nominations for Glasner, a best actor nom for Eidinger and a best actress nomination for Corinna Harfoch, who plays Eidinger’s mother. In total, the film is up for nine Lolas.

The Universal Theory, a black-and-white drama about the multiverse, is also in the running for the best film Lola, and Kröger is up for best director.

Exclusive: New indie film financier Mizzel Media is launching in Cannes with what we understand to be a healthy six-figure investment in feature The Girl From Köln, the next film from Holy Spider and The Tale outfit One Two Films.

The movie, which is due to shoot later this year, will star Mala Emde (And Tomorrow The Entire World) and John Magaro (Past Lives) in the lead roles.

Bankside is handling world sales in Cannes on the project, which will tell the little-known backstory of how a maverick German teenager named Vera Brandes was instrumental in the creation of the best-selling solo piano record of all time, U.S. pianist Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln Concert. Ido Fluk (The Ticket) directs from his own script.

The investment is U.S. outfit Mizzel’s first to date. The New York-based company is run by producer and veteran manager Lillian Lasalle, whose clients...

I have been tracking producer Sol Bondy since 2016 when co-production The Happiest Day in the Life of Ölli Mäki won the Un Certain Regard Grand Prize and the European Film Award for Best Debut. He and Fred Burle have been developing The Girl from Köln (aka Köln 75) with writer-director Ido Fluk, the filmmaker behind 2016 Tribeca selection The Ticket since 2019. "This project has been very close to our hearts in the last few years and we're very excited with the way it's been shaped so far," said Bondy, a Variety Producer to Watch in 2018. "It's been such a joy working with Ido on this exciting story and we're thrilled to have put an amazing team together," added Burle, Brazilian born producer who was just made a partner in One Two Films, alongside co-founders Sol Bondy and Christoph Lange. Burle joined One Two in January 2017, having graduated from the German Film and Television Academy (dffb) the previous year. He has previously worked as a film critic, at The Match Factory, and as curator of the inaugural dffb film festival. One Two Films has produced and co-produced award-winning films such as Holy Spider (Read my blog about it here), Vadim Perelman's Persian Lessons (Read my blog about it here), Jennifer Fox's Sundance breakout The Tale, Isabel Coixet's The Bookshop and Juho Kuosmanen's The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki.Other titles in the pipeline include Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson's dark comedy Northern Comfort, which premieres in SXSW later this month, Annemarie Jacir's survival drama The Oblivion Theory, Sarah Arnold's debut feature Wild Encounters and Michiel ten Horn's romantic comedy Any Other Night. In Berlin this year it was announced that Bankside would be The Girl from Köln's international sales agent and was launching sales. Alamode Film already has German-speaking territories and is a coproducer, who have very recently secured funding through the Fff, the local fund in Bavaria. It is in early pre-production and will shoot this year in Poland and Germany. The Girl from Köln tells the little-known story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975, at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, which became the top-selling jazz solo album of all time. With Polish Film Institute backing, Oscar-winning Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska (Ida, Cold War) of Extreme Emotions is co-producing along with Annegret Weitkämper-Krug of Germany's Gretchenfilm (Seneca). Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Oren Moverman (Love & Mercy, Bad Education) serves as executive producer. Moverman also produced Fluk's previous feature, The Ticket. The Tale writer-director Jennifer Fox also serves as executive producer. Stephen Kelliher and Sophie Green executive produce for Bankside. It stars Mala Emde (Skin Deep, And Tomorrow the Entire World) in the lead role, alongside John Magaro (Past Lives) as Jarrett. Magaro was also in Cannes last year with Kelly Reichardt's competition title Showing Up.Other cast attached include Alexander Scheer (Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush), Ulrich Tukur (The Life of Others), Susanne Wolff (Sisi & I, Styx), Jördis Triebel (Dark), Jan Bülow (Lindenberg) and Marie-Lou Sellem (Tar, Exit Marrakesh). The NYU-graduate Fluk was dubbed "a talent to watch" by Variety following his feature debut Never Too Late, the first crowd-sourced Israeli film ever made. His American debut, the Tribeca competition selection, The Ticket, starred Dan Stevens and Malin Akerman. Upcoming projects include 24 Hours in June, a retelling of the final day in the life of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg who were convicted of spying on behalf of the Soviet Union, to be produced by Academy Award winner James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and Joe Pirro (Driveways). Fluk is repped by Amotz Zakai, Amy Schiffman, and Kegan Schell at Echo Lake Entertainment. He is also created the recently-announced HBO series Empty Mansions for Fremantle with director Joe Wright (Atonement, Darkest Hour) attached to direct the pilot. "From the moment I heard Vera's story, about how as a high school teenager she organized one of the greatest concerts in history, I knew her story had to be told," said Fluk. "We were immediately exhilarated by Vera Brandes' remarkable female empowerment story. Her strength, courage and sheer belief in herself and the music of Keith Jarrett will entertain and inspire audiences around the world," added Kelliher.

Berlin-based sales agent

Berlin-based Salzgeber is to handle international sales for actor Fabian Stumm’s feature directorial debut Bones And Names, which premieres in the Berlinale’s Perspektive Deutsches Kino section.

A sensitive and humorous reflection on relationships, the film has been nominated for the Teddy Award, Compass-Perspektibe Award and Heiner Carow Prize.

Stumm, whose acting credits include Cate Shortland’s Lore and Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom, directed the short Bruxelles in 2020 and the award-winning medium-length film Daniel a year later before developing Bones and Names as his feature debut.

“Everything happened in a very short period: I wrote...

Germany’s Mala Emde and US actor John Magaro are set to star.

UK sales outfit Bankside Films has boarded worldwide sales on director Ido Fluk’s feature Köln 75, that tells the little-known story of one of the best-selling jazz records of all time, US pianist Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln Concert, and how one maverick German teenager was instrumental in its creation.

The film meets teenager Vera Brandes while she is still in high school and starts producing and promoting music concerts in Cologne, and risks everything to put on what will become Jarrett’s legendary show.

German star of...

Berlin-based One Two Films, in Cannes this week with Ali Abbasi’s competition title “Holy Spider,” is prepping a new feature from writer-director Ido Fluk, the filmmaker behind 2016 Tribeca selection “The Ticket.”

“Köln 75” tells the true story of Vera Brandes, who, in 1975 and at the age of 17, staged the famous Köln Concert by jazz musician Keith Jarrett, which became the top-selling jazz solo album of all time. It stars Mala Emde (“And Tomorrow the Entire World”) in the lead role, alongside John Magaro (“First Cow”) as Jarrett. Magaro is also in Cannes with Kelly Reichardt’s competition title “Showing Up.”

Oscar-winning Polish producer Ewa Puszczynska of Extreme Emotions will co-produce, with Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Oren Moverman serving as executive producer. Moverman also produced Fluk’s previous feature, “The Ticket.”

Other cast attached include Alexander Scheer (“Rabiye Kurnaz vs. George W. Bush”), Ulrich Tukur (“The Life of Others”), Susanne Wolff...

Stars: Natalia Avelon, Matthias Bundschuh, Inka Friedrich, Lisa-Marie Koroll, Heiner Lauterbach, Junis Marlon, Jacob Matschenz, Andreas Pietschmann, Lisa Maria Potthoff, Marie-Lou Sellem | Written by Hans G. Raeth, Felix Starck | Directed by Marc Rothemund

Here in Germany, we headed back into what has been described as a “soft” lockdown on Monday. But before this, as it was my wedding anniversary, and as we had a babysitter for the first time since baby number 2 was delivered by the stork, we decided to get down our local cinema, while we could. My wife and I (and 4 other people) saw the German language film Es ist zu deinem Besten (It is For Your Own Good) and it was rather fun.

I appreciate this is going to be rather niche, given this is an English language site, but as I physically went to the cinema I feel this needs to be celebrated, given what is going on in the world.