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Sinje Gebauer war an 30 deutschen und internationalen Produktionen wie „Ballon“ oder „Black Panther“ als VFX Producer beteiligt. Anfang Oktober übernimmt sie an der Hff München die neue Professur für VFX Producing.

Sinje Gebauer übernimmt Anfang Oktober die Professur für VFX Producing an der Hff München (Credit: Hff München / Robert Pupeter)

Anfang Oktober übernimmt Sinje Gebauer an der Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film die neue Professur für Visual Effects Producing (VFX Producing). Das teilt die Hff München heute mit.

Jürgen Schopper, Leiter der Abteilung Bildgestaltung/VFX, in die das Fachgebiet VFX Producing integriert ist, betont: „Sinje Gebauer wird den Studienschwerpunkt ‚Digitale Bildgestaltung – Visual Effects‘ um das Lehrgebiet VFX Producing erweitern, so dass Studierende in diesem Bereich nun ihren Abschluss machen – und sich ab dem nächsten Jahr auch speziell dafür bewerben können. Ich freue mich sehr auf die Zusammenarbeit und bin mir sicher, sie wird sowohl durch ihre fachliche Expertise, als auch als Persönlichkeit,...

Six independent production companies from Germany, Austria and Switzerland are pooling their resources to set up a joint development and co-production group to help bankroll high-end drama series and feature films.

Germany’s Claussen + Putz, producers of Netflix series Biohackers and hit children’s film The Little Witch; Hamburg-based Wüste Film (Head-On, Alma & Oskar); Austria’s Die Film Ag (7500 with Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Vicky Krieps-starrer Corsage) and Lotus Film (Cold Feet, Cathedrals of Culture); and Hugofilm Features (When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit) and Zodiac Pictures (Heidi, The Divine Order) together have formed Das Dach to jointly develop German-language projects.

The move, unveiled Wednesday, is a reaction to a dramatic shift in the independent production market, brought about by the disruption of the global streaming giants.

“The market is undergoing a fundamental change,” the producers say in a statement. “Previous territorial boundaries and restrictions are being called into question in the...

Germany’s box-office earnings plummeted 16% to €839 million ($965 million) in 2018, in tandem with an alarming 15.5% drop in theater admissions to 95.8 million, according to figures provided Wednesday by Comscore.

The steep fall in what was once the world’s eighth-biggest movie-going territory comes after an uptick of 5.9% at the German in 2017. But that modest rise followed a 17.1% drop in 2016, making the current picture all the more worrisome for distributors and exhibitors.

On the bright side for the local industry, German movies performed relatively strongly, even though none cracked the top 10. They accounted for 22.9% of the market in 2018, equaling their share in 2017. But total 2018 grosses for German movies on home turf were down 17% to €166 million ($191 million).

The leading domestic title in Germany last year was children’s pic “Jim Button and Luke the Engine Driver,” directed by Dennis Gansel, which pulled in more than €11.8 million ($13.6 million) via Warner Bros. That was followed by Studiocanal’s “The Little Witch,...

A lack of strong German films, plus the heatwave and World Cup, impacted the German box office this year.

This year has not been an easy one for German exhibitors or distributors. Indeed, the Association of German Distributors (VdF) was uncharacteristically tight-lipped about making any upbeat forecasts about end-of-year results for overall box-office takings and admissions after its Agm in Berlin in late November.

While recent years have seen distributors confidently looking forward to turnover exceeding the €1bn mark and admissions passing 100 million for the year, film releases between January 1 and November 25 have generated $832m (€729.4m) — compared with $989.2m (€867.5m...

German films have continued to perform strongly at the box office this year despite record high temperatures over the summer, usually a death knell for local cinemas, and not to mention World Cup soccer, which kept many potential moviegoers at home or in sports bars across the country.

Local pics have benefitted from a strong mix of comedy, children’s fare and drama. German productions accounted for some 11.3 million admissions in the first half of the year, compared with 10.6 million in the first six months of 2017, resulting in a 22.4% market share, up from 18.2%.

“German films have been able to increase both their revenue and market share in a difficult market environment, which is already a special achievement,” Peter Dinges, CEO of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa), tells Variety. “And with some high-profile movie launches in the second half of the year, I am extremely confident that this trend will...

Breaking Glass has acquired Us rights from Studiocanal to the German live-action adaptation of Otfried Preussler’s children’s classic The Little Witch (Die Kleine Hexe).

Breaking Glass has acquired Us rights from Studiocanal to the German live-action adaptation of Otfried Preussler’s children’s classic The Little Witch (Die Kleine Hexe).

Student Academy Award-winner Michael Schaerer (Warmth) directed the film, which follows the 127-year-old protagonist as she embarks on a quest to discover what makes a good witch when she is punished for attempting to sneak into a dance.

The Little Witch stars Karoline Herfurth, best known for her...

However domestic market share climbed by 4.1%.

German cinemas posted overall a year-on-year fall of 16.9% in box-office takings and tickets sold in the first half of 2018, according to figures collated by ComScore for the period between 4 January and 4 July.

A total of 46m tickets were sold generating box office of €406.9m ($476m), compared to 55.37m tickets and €489.4m ($572.4m) for the first six months of 2017.

The most successful release of this year was Walt Disney’s Avengers: Infinity War (3.3m admissions), followed by Universal’s Fifty Shades Freed (2.8m), Fox’s Deadpool 2 (2m), Universal’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (1.8m...

Lisa Brühlmann’s debut film takes three prizes including Best Fiction Film

Blue My Mind, the debut film from Lisa Brühlmann, won three awards at the 21st Swiss Film Awards in Zurich tonight (March 23).

The film, a coming-of-age story imbued with elements of body horror, received best fiction film, best screenplay and best actress for Lena Wedler.

See below for the full list of winners

Brühlmann’s film world premiered in the New Directors section at the 2017 San Sebastian Film Festival, and won the Golden Eye and Critics’ Choice awards at Zurich Film Festival last year.

Best documentary was awarded...

Emily Atef’s film about actress Romy Schneider receives 10 nods including best film, best direction.

Emily Atef’s Berlinale Competition film 3 Days in Quiberon has dominated the nominations for this year’s German Film Awards (also known as the Lola Awards).

It scored ten nods, including best feature film, best direction, best lead actress (for Marie Bäumer), best supporting actor, best cinematography and best film score.

The Rohfilm Factory production will compete in the best feature film category with another of this year’s Berlinale competition films, Thomas Stuber’s In The Aisles, the Berlinale Special title The Silent Revolution,...