Can you imagine a world without prisons? In eight-episode series “A Better Place,” bowing at Mipcom, one city decides to do just that, closing down its correctional facilities and reintegrating prisoners into the society. Some support the idea – others are petrified.
“If you ask me, it’s a perfect moment to talk about this topic. The world is becoming more and more polarized, more and more black and white. We want to make people think and this series really takes time to examine the consequences of such experience,” says Nicolas Loock, managing director of Studiocanal TV and Studiocanal Series.
“We need to be able to forgive. Otherwise, what’s left? It’s supposed to be entertaining, but it would be great to launch a discussion as well, because there are similar experiments under way. Different countries look for other ways to rehabilitate people.”
A German-language series, “A Better Place” was produced by Komplizen Serien,...
“If you ask me, it’s a perfect moment to talk about this topic. The world is becoming more and more polarized, more and more black and white. We want to make people think and this series really takes time to examine the consequences of such experience,” says Nicolas Loock, managing director of Studiocanal TV and Studiocanal Series.
“We need to be able to forgive. Otherwise, what’s left? It’s supposed to be entertaining, but it would be great to launch a discussion as well, because there are similar experiments under way. Different countries look for other ways to rehabilitate people.”
A German-language series, “A Better Place” was produced by Komplizen Serien,...
- 10/22/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
Production has kicked off on “A Better Place,” which is produced by Komplizen Serien and Studiocanal Series in Germany.
Komplizen Serien, headed by David Keitsch, is the TV arm of leading movie production company Komplizen Film, whose credits include “Spencer,” for which Kristen Stewart was Oscar-nominated, and “Toni Erdmann,” which was Oscar-nominated in the foreign language film category.
“A Better Place” is the first German TV show to be produced by Studiocanal Series, the German TV arm of the French production powerhouse. Studiocanal Series is headed by Nicolas Loock.
The series will be shown on German streaming platform Ard Mediathek and broadcast channel Das Erste at the end of 2024. Studiocanal is handling international distribution.
It is shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from August to December. Alexander Lindh is the showrunner. Anne Zohra Berrached and Konstantin Bock (the editor on Oscar-nominated “Capernaum”) are directing.
The show poses the question: What if...
Komplizen Serien, headed by David Keitsch, is the TV arm of leading movie production company Komplizen Film, whose credits include “Spencer,” for which Kristen Stewart was Oscar-nominated, and “Toni Erdmann,” which was Oscar-nominated in the foreign language film category.
“A Better Place” is the first German TV show to be produced by Studiocanal Series, the German TV arm of the French production powerhouse. Studiocanal Series is headed by Nicolas Loock.
The series will be shown on German streaming platform Ard Mediathek and broadcast channel Das Erste at the end of 2024. Studiocanal is handling international distribution.
It is shooting in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany from August to December. Alexander Lindh is the showrunner. Anne Zohra Berrached and Konstantin Bock (the editor on Oscar-nominated “Capernaum”) are directing.
The show poses the question: What if...
- 8/8/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Kirsten Howard Joseph Baxter Jun 7, 2019
Netflix's first original German series, Dark, is returning for a second creepy season.
Dark Season 2 is coming to Netflix – and coming soon, no less!
The time-bending German mystery, which saw the streaming giant dip its toes into the water of original, non-English language live action projects, was a solid hit for the streaming giant, which premiered the inaugural season on December 1, 2017. Thus, Netflix’s green light for the second season of Dark arrived less than a fortnight after said premiere. (Check out our Dark Season 1 review!)
The creepy Kraut series, the creation of showrunners Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, proved to be a bellwether offering, with other non-English genre offerings having since manifested on the streaming platform.
Dark Season 2 Trailer
An intense, appropriately mind-bending teaser trailer has arrived for Netflix's Dark Season 2!
Video of Dark Season 2 | Mystery Teaser | Netflix Dark Season 2 Release Date...
Netflix's first original German series, Dark, is returning for a second creepy season.
Dark Season 2 is coming to Netflix – and coming soon, no less!
The time-bending German mystery, which saw the streaming giant dip its toes into the water of original, non-English language live action projects, was a solid hit for the streaming giant, which premiered the inaugural season on December 1, 2017. Thus, Netflix’s green light for the second season of Dark arrived less than a fortnight after said premiere. (Check out our Dark Season 1 review!)
The creepy Kraut series, the creation of showrunners Baran bo Odar and Jantje Friese, proved to be a bellwether offering, with other non-English genre offerings having since manifested on the streaming platform.
Dark Season 2 Trailer
An intense, appropriately mind-bending teaser trailer has arrived for Netflix's Dark Season 2!
Video of Dark Season 2 | Mystery Teaser | Netflix Dark Season 2 Release Date...
- 12/21/2017
- Den of Geek
The Lollipop Monster Teaser Trailer. Ziska Riemann‘s Lollipop Monster (2011) teaser trailer stars Ziska Riemann, Jella Haase, Sarah Horvath, Nicolette Krebitz, and Sandra Borgmann. Lollipop Monster‘s plot synopsis: “Meet Ari and Oona, the two 15 year olds at the centre of Lollipop Monster. They both hail from dysfunctional families though they deal with problems very differently: Ari acts out for attention, sleeping with older men while Oona bottles up her feelings choosing to take out her anger with cutting. The two are opposites who find some sense of normalcy in their friendship until “something happens that threatens their friendship at its very roots.”
It should be interesting to see how the psychological issues of the two girls are explored, especially since its root is the same for the both of them. How will Ziska Riemann deal with Oona’s cutting, keeping her age in mind?
Watch the Lollipop Monster teaser...
It should be interesting to see how the psychological issues of the two girls are explored, especially since its root is the same for the both of them. How will Ziska Riemann deal with Oona’s cutting, keeping her age in mind?
Watch the Lollipop Monster teaser...
- 7/16/2011
- by filmbook
- Film-Book
Ziska Riemann's new punk-rock teenage angst movie, called Lollipop Monster, is about two German girls, Ari and Oona, that rebel against their unhappy home lives and "hunt" through the "jungle" of the city.
Throughout the film, the girls listen to their favorite rock band, and its leader, the voodoo-ish "Baron," while the music acts as a backdrop to their imaginary hunting trips through the jungle.
I love this kind of post-trainspotting, rebel-girl, Ghost World kind of music-driven film, especially when (as in this one) there appears to be a violent and bloody ending. The director, Riemann, has a background in animation, so I'd expect some of that in the film, as well as lots of music - she makes her own and directs her own music videos. Check out the stunning photos which show the awesome colors and characters by which the girls are surrounded.
This film will be out in Germany August 25th,...
Throughout the film, the girls listen to their favorite rock band, and its leader, the voodoo-ish "Baron," while the music acts as a backdrop to their imaginary hunting trips through the jungle.
I love this kind of post-trainspotting, rebel-girl, Ghost World kind of music-driven film, especially when (as in this one) there appears to be a violent and bloody ending. The director, Riemann, has a background in animation, so I'd expect some of that in the film, as well as lots of music - she makes her own and directs her own music videos. Check out the stunning photos which show the awesome colors and characters by which the girls are surrounded.
This film will be out in Germany August 25th,...
- 6/30/2011
- by Superheidi
- Planet Fury
In the final analysis the 43rd edition of Hof is an important part of international film geography. It offers an intimate relaxed setting where recent German film school graduates can showcase their debut features and German film business vets can see who and what is coming up and can discuss their own issues among themselves. From the retrospective of Lou Castelwho was honored in person to the film which we honor here for its exemplary production value, casting choices and thoughtfulness depicting a beautiful young woman's possibilities for love and her simultaneous loneliness and to the final soccer match between the townies and the film folks, this festival was a great pleasure to attend.
A bit more on the 43 minute film we are discussing here. Streiflichter or Sidelights was financed by the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Br). It was scored by Moritz Schmittat, a Berlinale talent written about in my blog about music in September,...
A bit more on the 43 minute film we are discussing here. Streiflichter or Sidelights was financed by the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Br). It was scored by Moritz Schmittat, a Berlinale talent written about in my blog about music in September,...
- 11/2/2009
- by Sydney
- Sydney's Buzz
Film review: 'Oi! Warning,' Gazing Upon the Skinheads of Germany / Motives are missing in brothers' semidocu-style take on violent culture
"Oi! Warning," by remarkably talented twin brothers Dominik and Benjamin Reding, takes a dispassionate but by no means passionless look at the German skinhead scene.
Shot in moody, expressionistic black and white, the film is moving through the festival circuit and received its first U.S. showing at Sundance. Domestic distribution opportunities for a black-and-white German film aren't great, even with such an explosive topic. Certain to create controversy wherever it plays, "Oi! Warning" looks like a better bet for cable, where spirited indie films can do well.
The Redings exhibit a savvy filmmaking style where almost dreamy imagery contrasts smartly with rough, violent content. Their camera observes this subculture without editorializing. They realize that a steady gaze will be enough to help viewers come to their own conclusions about this nihilistic European youth movement.
The film follows the journey of 17-year-old Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) as he enters the skinhead world. Kicked out of school, he takes off from home, abandoning his mother and girlfriend, to hook up with Koma (Simon Goerts), an older chum, in Dortmund. Koma, a self-described "100% pure skinhead," goes in for kick-boxing, beer drinking and brawling. Even a pregnant girlfriend, Sandra (Sandra Borgmann), can't domesticate him.
Admiring Koma's masculine bravado, Janosch adopts much of the skinhead lifestyle. But his discontent continues. Then, while getting a tattoo from a punk named Zottel (Jens Veith), he immediately feels comfortable with Zottel's devil-may-care, stoned, homoerotic existence.
The word "Oi" describes a kind of party music and dancing, somewhat reminiscent of slam dancing, that is central to the skinhead lifestyle. These are lives built around considerable violence even in their merrymaking. But the component that is missing most glaringly from the Redings' portrait of skinhead culture is the skinheads' contempt for foreigners and Jews.
The brothers appear to have gone out of their way to show skinhead rituals in as sympathetic a light as possible. Before its final Sundance screening, the brothers said their film was about tolerance. But one wonders if this tolerance should extend to tolerating and ignoring intolerance.
The Redings take a semidocumentary approach to their subject and employ professional actors and non-pros who, in their words, "lived a life which was close to the life of our characters in the script." The result is a disturbing portrait of the angry fringes of German society. But what we don't fully understand are the reasons for that anger in the first place.
OI! WARNING
Schlammtaucher Film
Credits: Producer-director-writers: Dominik Reding, Benjamin Reding; Director of photography: Axel Henschel; Production designer: Sandra Linde; Music: Michael Herboldt; Costumes: Christine Splett; Editor: Margot Neubert-Maric. Cast: Janosch: Sascha Backhaus; Koma: Simon Goerts; Sandra: Sandra Borgmann; Zottel: Jens Veith; Blanca: Britta Dirks. No MPAA rating. Black and white/stereo. Running time -- 89 minutes.
Shot in moody, expressionistic black and white, the film is moving through the festival circuit and received its first U.S. showing at Sundance. Domestic distribution opportunities for a black-and-white German film aren't great, even with such an explosive topic. Certain to create controversy wherever it plays, "Oi! Warning" looks like a better bet for cable, where spirited indie films can do well.
The Redings exhibit a savvy filmmaking style where almost dreamy imagery contrasts smartly with rough, violent content. Their camera observes this subculture without editorializing. They realize that a steady gaze will be enough to help viewers come to their own conclusions about this nihilistic European youth movement.
The film follows the journey of 17-year-old Janosch (Sascha Backhaus) as he enters the skinhead world. Kicked out of school, he takes off from home, abandoning his mother and girlfriend, to hook up with Koma (Simon Goerts), an older chum, in Dortmund. Koma, a self-described "100% pure skinhead," goes in for kick-boxing, beer drinking and brawling. Even a pregnant girlfriend, Sandra (Sandra Borgmann), can't domesticate him.
Admiring Koma's masculine bravado, Janosch adopts much of the skinhead lifestyle. But his discontent continues. Then, while getting a tattoo from a punk named Zottel (Jens Veith), he immediately feels comfortable with Zottel's devil-may-care, stoned, homoerotic existence.
The word "Oi" describes a kind of party music and dancing, somewhat reminiscent of slam dancing, that is central to the skinhead lifestyle. These are lives built around considerable violence even in their merrymaking. But the component that is missing most glaringly from the Redings' portrait of skinhead culture is the skinheads' contempt for foreigners and Jews.
The brothers appear to have gone out of their way to show skinhead rituals in as sympathetic a light as possible. Before its final Sundance screening, the brothers said their film was about tolerance. But one wonders if this tolerance should extend to tolerating and ignoring intolerance.
The Redings take a semidocumentary approach to their subject and employ professional actors and non-pros who, in their words, "lived a life which was close to the life of our characters in the script." The result is a disturbing portrait of the angry fringes of German society. But what we don't fully understand are the reasons for that anger in the first place.
OI! WARNING
Schlammtaucher Film
Credits: Producer-director-writers: Dominik Reding, Benjamin Reding; Director of photography: Axel Henschel; Production designer: Sandra Linde; Music: Michael Herboldt; Costumes: Christine Splett; Editor: Margot Neubert-Maric. Cast: Janosch: Sascha Backhaus; Koma: Simon Goerts; Sandra: Sandra Borgmann; Zottel: Jens Veith; Blanca: Britta Dirks. No MPAA rating. Black and white/stereo. Running time -- 89 minutes.
- 2/8/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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