Spencers double digger
There wasn’t a majority German film in the Cannes official lineup, but there were 21 minority co-productions there, including 50% German productions like Sebastian Meise’s “The Great Freedom” and Kornél Mundruczó’s “Evolution.” In Venice, there was “Spencer,” which – as previously mentioned – Baumann counts as a German film. Some claim that German cinema punches below its weight on the festival circuit, but Baumann feels that given the competitive environment they have not done that badly this year. It’s a different type of film,” she says.
“This is a different subject it has humor and it’s really, really well executed.
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“I’m Your Man” – in which an archaeologist dates an android – exemplifies this shift. This is affecting “the choice of stories, and the choice of subjects,” she adds.
“We got more global, I think,” Baumann says.
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One reason for the increasing diversity of German production – both films and series – is the rising influence of the streamers and pay TV platforms, whose international outlook is broadening the mindset of producers, Baumann says, as well as the declining influence of Germany’s free-TV channels, which are cutting back on their investment in cinema. Nicole Kaufmann, who’s in charge of German Films’ efforts in North America, is leading the organization’s work on the Oscar campaign, supported by Sara Stevenson at the German films office at the Goethe-Institut in New York.ĭaniel Brühl and Peter Kurth in “Next Door” Courtesy of Reiner Bajo German Films is supporting the Oscar campaign, together with Bleecker Street, Letterbox, the film’s producer, and Beta Cinema, its world sales company. The film has a strong cast, led by Dan Stevens and Maren Eggert, and in Schrader it has one of the world’s “most wanted and talented directors,” Baumann says, following the success of “Unorthodox.” “It’s a really good combination of talent, and a very good film, so we hope to make it at least to the short-list,” she says. by Bleecker Street in late September, earning $261,500 in theaters so far.
This year’s crop of German films demonstrate the diversity of genres being produced, including the country’s entry for the international feature film Oscar, Maria Schrader’s sci-fi romantic comedy “I’m Your Man.” The film has been sold to more than 80 countries, making it Germany’s most successful film this year in terms of international sales, and was also one of the best received critically. Dominik Graf’s Berlinale title “Fabian – Going to the Dogs,” for example, is set in Berlin in the early 1930s, during the pre-Hitler, Weimar Republic era. Films set during the Nazi era are becoming less common, while other periods are being explored. Even among the German-language films, what is being produced is far from predictable. It is hard to define what a German film is nowadays, says Baumann, whose organization promotes German films outside the country. The Match Factory, for example, represents the Oscar entries of six countries: Austria (“Great Freedom”), Colombia (“Memoria”), Greece (“Digger”), Israel (“Let It Be Morning”), Japan (“Drive My Car”), and Mexico (“Prayers for the Stolen”). German sales companies represent films drawn from a wide range of countries. At AFM, there are 31 German productions and co-productions screening, represented by nine German sales companies, gathered under the German Films umbrella.