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Apple TV+ has revealed BAFTA Award nominee Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Jessica Wren, Zahra Newman and newcomer Chloe Geisker have joined the cast of the new six-episode thriller ‘The Dispatcher.’

The newly revealed cast joins previously announced Gotham Award winner Patrick Brammall in the lead role.

The story follows Police Detective Ian Hunt, whose life fell apart ten years ago when his young daughter Maggie disappeared without a trace. Now, working as a police dispatcher, the only thing that has kept him going is his implacable refusal to accept that she might be gone forever. When he receives a distress call from a young girl he is certain is Maggie, he will stop at nothing to find her and reunite his broken family, whatever the cost.

Also in news – Nick Frost in final negotiations to play Hagrid in ‘Harry Potter’ series

Directed and executive produced by Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Christian Schwochow,...

Danish actress Trine Dyrholm (Beginnings, The Girl With the Needle, The Celebration, Poison) has made a reputation for herself as someone who always gives her all and brings multiple layers to her portrayals.

To Series Mania in Lille, France, which kicks off on Friday, she is bringing her new series The Danish Woman, which is getting its world premiere in the festival’s International Panorama section on Sunday.

Dyrholm stars as Ditte Jensen, who retires from the Danish Secret Service to live a quiet life in Reykjavik, Iceland. But she can’t stop being the elite soldier and warrior she was trained to be. In her new surroundings, she therefore decides to help her neighbors.

International sales for the six-episode series from director Benedikt Erlingsson (Woman at War, Of Horses and Men) are being handled by The Party Film Sales.

Dyrholm tells THR that she is “so grateful that I...

Luxembourgish actress, director, producer and TV host Désirée Nosbusch’s (Bad Banks) first fiction feature film as a director, Poison, starring British actor Tim Roth and Denmark’s Trine Dyrholm, finally premiered in her homeland. The 15th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival this week screened the drama, adapted from the play Gif by the Dutch author Lot Vekemans, that explores the reunion of a couple who meet again 10 years after a tragedy.

The screening was held outside the festival’s competition lineup, which is being judged by a jury led by Iranian filmmaker Mohammad Rasoulof (The Seed of the Sacred Fig) and also includes Spanish auteur Albert Serra (Afternoons of Solitude), Dyrholm (The Girl With the Needle), VFX guru Jeff Desom (Everything Everywhere All at Once), Austrian actress Valerie Pachner (A Hidden Life), and screenwriter Paul Laverty (I, Daniel Blake). Instead, the movie unspooled in its Made in/With Luxembourg program.

Meetings of fascists, young skinheads, Elvis, experiences with such legendary directors as David Lynch, Quentin Tarantino and Werner Herzog, and the media circus around Oscar nominees — those were just some of the topics addressed by British actor Tim Roth (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Rob Roy, Lie to Me) during a master class at the 15th edition of the Luxembourg City Film Festival on Wednesday.

The crowded session followed Tuesday night’s Luxembourg premiere of independent movie Poison, directed by Désirée Nosbusch (Bad Banks), in which Roth stars opposite Danish actress Trine Dyrholm as a couple that meets again years after tragedy drove them apart. Roth also received a festival honor Tuesday evening.

In his wide-ranging master class, he also discussed working with the likes of Charlton Heston, and, to the surprise of some in the audience, Tupac Shakur.

And he shared insight into how he portrayed a 16-year-old racist skinhead...

An Irish crime drama, a Brazilian heist thriller and a Nigerian fantasy about a man reborn with the powers of Jesus Christ are among the projects at this year’s Seriesmakers, a pitching and mentoring session that runs as part of the international TV event Series Mania Forum, which runs March 25-27 in Lille.

10 international projects from director-producer and director-writer teams will take part in the event, pitching their series ideas, with the top project winning the Beta & Kirch Foundation Award, including a €50,000 ($55,000) grant that will help the winning team collaborate with European production and sales house Beta Group in developing a pilot script and a full project package for their show.

The selected projects span multiple genres and countries (see below), from the Finnish foodie comedy Le Bouton D’Or, from veteran arthouse director Mika Kaurismäki (L.A. Without a Map, Road North) to the Spanish political thriller The...

Tim Roth and Trine Dyrholm hit the festival circuit this month with Désirée Nosbusch’s emotionally raw drama Poison, in which they co-star as an ex-couple who meet up years after the death of their young son which drove them apart.

The feature, which world premieres at Germany’s Munich Film Festival on July 5 and then heads to Ireland’s Galway Film Festival, is adapted from Dutch writer Lot Vekemans’ award-winning 2010 play.

It unfolds against the backdrop of the cemetery where the son is buried, with the reunion sparked by a letter notifying the ex-partners that their son’s grave is being moved due to building work.

When Roth and Dyrholm agreed to take on the roles, neither had an inkling of the personal events that would lend an extra emotional layer to the shoot.

Having signed for the film, Roth learned of son Cormac Roth’s diagnosis with stage...

Starring “3o Coins’” Miguel Angel Silvestre and “The Palace’s” Katia Fellin, “Weiss & Morales” has gone into production in the Canary Islands, boasting the credentials of a textbook procedural appealing to current market appetites.

As co-production ramps up between free-to-air players in Europe, led very often by its state-backed networks, “Weiss & Morales” links two of the continents’ most powerful public broadcasters, Germany’s Zdf and Spain’s Rtve, which produce with Zdf Studios. The latter is also handling worldwide sales outside Spanish-speaking territories.

Also producing are Galicia-based Portocabo, which in the space of 10 years has pioneered co-productions between Spain’s Galicia and Portugal (“Dry Water”) and Spain and France (“Hierro), and Nadcon whose head, Peter Nadermann co-produced iconic Nordic Noir titles “The Killing” and “The Bridge” when at Zdf.

“A series rooted in the most classic elements of the genre and reformulated to meet the current standards of premium television drama,...

Constantin Film and Big Light Productions has tapped Christian Schwochow, whose credits include “The Crown,” “Munich: The Edge of War” and “Bad Banks,” to direct its upcoming high-profile drama series “Nuremberg,” based on the Nuremberg Trials. The show will be written by Frank Spotnitz, whose credits include “The Man in the High Castle,” “Ransom” and “Leonardo.”

The series follows young survivors of World War II who go to work for Allied prosecutors trying Nazi criminals in Nuremberg, only to find their quest for justice undermined by secret efforts to build a new world order based on power, not principle.

Schwochow said: “The Nuremberg Trials marked a pivotal moment in human history, ushering in a new age of responsibility and justice. This is a story of humanity grappling with its deepest shadows. Its relevance has never been greater, and I am filled with a humble sense of duty to tell this story faithfully.

Christian Schwochow has signed up to direct Nuremberg, the upcoming Constantin Film and Big Light Productions scripted series based on events surrounding the Nuremberg trials that took place in the wake of World War Two.

Schwochow directed hit German series Bad Banks and well as episodes of Netflix’s The Crown. Nuremberg will follow young survivors of the second world war who go to work for Allied prosecutors trying Nazi criminals, only to find their quest for justice undercut by secret efforts to build a new world order.

Constantin Film and Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions are producing. Spotnitz is penning the script.

“The Nuremberg Trials marked a pivotal moment in human history, ushering in a new age of responsibility and justice,” Schwochow said. “This is a story of humanity grappling with its deepest shadows. Its relevance has never been greater, and I am filled with a humble sense...

CAA has signed Deal Productions, a European film and TV banner co-founded by actor-turned-filmmaker Désirée Nosbusch (“Bad Banks”) and Alexandra Hoesdorff (“High Fantasy”).

Based in Luxembourg, the company handles development, financing, packaging and production of independently-produced films and TV worldwide. Nosbusch, a well-known actor whose recent credits include “Bad Banks” and “Sissi,” is now making her directorial feature debut with “Poison,” a drama starring Tim Roth and Trine Dyrholm.

Hoesdorff’s recent projects as a producer include “Souvenir” starring Isabelle Huppert; “High Fantasy,” which premiered at Toronto in 2017 and played at the Berlinale and Rotterdam; and “Flatland,” which competed at Toronto in 2019 after opening the Berlinale Panorama section. Hoesdorff has also produced several titles for streamers, including “Sawah” and “Girls With Balls,” released in 2020 on Amazon Prime Video and Netflix, respectively.

Deal Productions is currently in development and production on a slate of series and films supported by the lucrative Luxembourg Film Fund.

Director and author Christian Schwochow has signed with CAA for representation, Variety has learned.

Schwochow continues to be repped by Curtis Brown in the U.K. and Players Agentur Management in Germany.

The journalist turned auteur recently served as lead director and executive producer on the sixth and final season of “The Crown,” which starred Imelda Staunton, Dominic West and Elizabeth Debicki.

His episodes focused on Princess Diana’s final, tragic months in the lead-up to her fatal 1997 car crash alongside her sometime boyfriend Dodi Al Fayed. Last month Debicki won a Golden Globe award for best TV supporting actress for her portrayal of the princess.

Schwochow also directed multiple episodes of “The Crown” Season 3, which starred Olivia Coleman as Queen Elizabeth II, and Season 5 as well as Netflix series “Munich ’38 (The Edge of War),” produced by Turbine Films and starred Jeremy Irons, George MacKay, and Alex Jennings. Variety’s...

Italy’s Coccinelle Film has scored multiple sales on German director Veit Helmer’s gay love story “Gondola,” which world premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival.

“Gondola” is the dialogue-free tale of two female cable car attendants who fall in love as they face each other going up and down the remote mountains of Georgia. It has been sold by the Rome-based distributor to France (Destiny Distribution); Australia and New Zealand (Bonsai Films); Japan (Moviola); Spain (Reverso Films); and South Korea (Entermode Corp.)

“Gondola” – which will have its domestic theatrical release in Germany through Jip Film & Verleih in March – is having its market premiere at the upcoming European Film Market.

Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” which launched from Tokyo in 2018.

“There are...

Federation Studios, the Paris-based indie production and sales outfit behind popular French series “The Bureau,” is preparing to hit the sales block, Variety has confirmed.

Federation Studios has started discussions with investment banks in recent weeks for an advisor role, according to Reuters, which was first to report the news and said the banner could be valued at over €500 million ($535 million).

The company, which was founded by industry veteran Pascal Breton, indeed started these preliminary talks with financial advisors months ago and is looking sell to large chunk of the outfit, if not a majority stake, according to sources. The sales process could be launched during the first half of 2024. Federation Studios declined to comment on the reports.

Federation Studios previously ramped up its international business with the backing of Montefiore Investment, a French private equity firm which invested €50 million into the outfit in 2021. Several companies are already potentially interested in the asset.

Marco Chimenz, Co-CEO of Italy’s Cattleya the prominent ITV-owned outfit behind “Gomorrah” and “ZeroZeroZero,” will be leaving the company in January to join pan-European powerhouse Federation Studios.

At Federation Chimenz will serve as group co-managing director of the expanding production and distribution studio that currently comprises 35 production companies, working closely with founder and CEO Pascal Breton and Federation co-director Lionel Uzan.

Founded in 2013, Federation is a production, financing and distribution studio with subsidiaries and associate production companies based in Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Cologne, London, Brussels and Tel Aviv. The group’s best-known titles include “The Bureau,” “In Treatment,” “Baby,” “Hostages,” “Marseille,” “Bad Banks,” “Your Honor,” and “Around the World in 80 Days.”

Chimenz will continue to work with Cattleya’s Spanish affiliate on several productions until 2025. He will also continue to operate with longtime collaborator Joshua Berman, who is currently head of business affairs at Cattleya.

Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales has acquired world rights to German director Veit Helmer’s poetic love story “Gondola,” which will world premiere at the upcoming Tokyo International Film Festival.

Helmer is well known on the international festival circuit for funny, fable-like films with little or no dialogue such as “Tuvalu”; the Azerbaijan-set “Absurdistan,” which went to Sundance in 2008; and “The Bra,” that launched from Tokyo in 2018.

“Gondola,” the tale of two cable car attendants who fall in love as they face each other going up and down the remote mountains of Georgia, is also told without dialogue.

“There are a few places on earth where you don’t hop on the bus in the morning, but on the cable car [instead],” Helmer said in his director’s statement. He added that “such a place in Georgia inspired me to write a story about two cable car conductors who always meet...

The Paris-based media group is launching Federation Meac.

Paris-based media group Federation Studios and its French production house Empreinte Digitale are teaming to launch Federation Meac, a production subsidiary focused on the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean.

It will be run by Empreinte Digitale producer Joachim Landau, now co-founding chairman. The aim is to connect local talent to international projects via productions and co-productions, with 15 films and series already in the works. Manuela Cassuto is head of development.

Landau said the audiovisual market in the Federation Meac territories is “expanding fast with a plethora of excellent writers, directors, actors and producers.

"Bad Banks," "Unorthodox," and "Keep Breathing" star Jeff Wilbusch is trying his hand at the crime thriller, starring as hopeful NYPD detective Avraham "Avi" Avraham in David E. Kelley and Barry Levinson's new crime drama for Peacock, "The Calling." Originally announced under the title "The Missing," the new series is an adaptation of Israeli crime writer Dror A. Mishani's international bestselling novel "The Missing File" about an investigator whose deeply-held Jewish faith and belief in humanity are questioned when he is tasked with a harrowing missing person case of a woman's teenage son.

The series is written by prolific TV writer David E. Kelley who also serves as showrunner, with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson directing. The creative team rounds out an impressive hat trick with legendary composer Hans Zimmer serving as co-composer alongside frequent collaborator Steve Mazzaro. Upon the show's official trailer release, Kelley released the following statement,...

Starz has unveiled the trailer for the upcoming historical drama “The Serpent Queen” starring Samantha Morton as Catherine de Medici. The wicked new drama series will premiere on Sunday, September 11th.

A historical drama with an edge, “The Serpent Queen” puts a contemporary spin on conventional storytelling to tell the tale of Catherine de Medici’s (Morton) rise to power. In the series premiere, “Medici Bitch,” Catherine’s tale unfolds through flashbacks as she defends her actions and imparts the lessons she’s learned to her new servant confident, Rahima. At 14, the young, orphaned Catherine marries into the 16th-century French court. Despite her commoner status, her uncle Pope Clement, has negotiated a large dowry and a geopolitical alliance in return for the union, and with it comes the expectation of many heirs. However, on her wedding night, Catherine learns that her new husband is in love with Diane de Poitiers,...

Empreinte Digitale, the thriving Paris-based production company behind Disney +’s “Parallèles,” has hired Thomas Saignes, a well-established producer whose track record includes “Bad Banks” and “Parlement.”

Joining from Cinétévé, Saignes will be in charge of producing drama series and one-offs for streaming services and traditional TV channels, as well as spearheading Empreinte’s international co-productions.

Saignes, who is based in Paris and lived a number of years in Montreal, Canada, has been actively involved in the financing and co-productions of films and series with international and European partners, notably Benoit Jacquot’s period movie “Farewell, my Queen.” Prior to Cinétévé, Saignes worked at the Luxembourg-based company Iris where he was involved in the Zdf-Arte series “Bad Banks” which Federation sold around the world. During his tenure at Cinétévé, Saignes collaborated with veteran producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber and was a driving force behind several ambitious series, for instance Noé Debré’s political...

Gaumont, the powerhouse behind “Narcos,” “Lupin” and “Barbarians,” has boarded “Le Prince,” a period mystery thriller series written by Charles den Tex and Paul de Vrijer (“Hunter Street”).

Currently in development, “Le Prince” will be produced by Gaumont, as well as Stories By, a label launched by France TV Distribution, and Dutch producers Paradise Media.

The six-part series will be driven by a strong female character and will be inspired by the true story of the disappearance of Louis le Prince, the inventor of the first ever motion picture camera.

“Le Prince” unfolds in France, in the late 19th century, a few years before the invention of cinema. Le Prince was a French artist who is believed to have been the first person to shoot a moving picture sequence, years before the Lumière brothers and Thomas Edison. Le Prince mysteriously vanished in 1890 shortly before a planned public demonstration of his camera in the U.

Exclusive: In a rare double interview, Sidonie Dumas, CEO of France’s oldest film company Gaumont, and Vice CEO Christophe Riandee, tell us about transforming the storied theatrical business into a major TV player in Europe and beyond.

Gaumont, producer of international shows including Lupin (one of Netflix’s biggest ever hits), Narcos (the streamer’s first global foreign language success), Barbarians and El Presidente, currently has TV outposts in Paris, LA, London, Berlin, Cologne and Rome. The duo discuss corporate growth, their recently announced slate deal with Paramount+ and what is next for their hit franchises.

The company, which continues to produce and distribute movies, is working on four foreign-language series for Paramount+: horror-thriller The Signal led by showrunner François Uzan (Lupin); dystopian thriller Desolate Future from Argentinian filmmaker Lucia Puenzo; German dramedy Anywhere from creator Jana Burbach​ (Bad Banks); and French thriller Impact from Jean-Xavier de Lestrade...

Paramount Plus, which is the global streaming service of recently rebranded Paramount — formerly ViacomCBS — has forged a three-year partnership with Gaumont, the storied French studio behind Netflix’s “Lupin” and “Narcos,” to jointly produce a slate of high-end original shows for its growing subscribers around the world.

Under the partnership Gaumont will produce these series in association with Paramount’s international studio, Vis.

The shows will be part of Paramount Plus’s stated plans to green light 50 new non-u.S. scripted originals in 2022, as it expands its reach from Latin America, Australia, Canada and the Nordics –– where the service has already launched –– to the U.K., South Korea, France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy where it will launch this year.

Vis will gain access to Gaumont’s vast network of top talent and creatives in key Paramount Plus markets, including Latin America and Europe, the two companies said in a joint statement.

As the German series industry continues to change rapidly, young filmmakers who decided to leave the country are coming back, ready to tell their stories.

“I had to return and use my voice. That’s why my [production] company is called Third Culture Kids. That’s what I am and what many people around the world are,” said Perso German actor and writer Sara Fazilat during the Face to Face with German Filmmakers: Serious about Series event at Series Mania in Lille, France.

The session was powered by German Films, an institution dedicated to promoting German films abroad.

Currently, Fazilat is developing the show “Underdogs” about people who turn their supposed weaknesses into superpowers.

As pointed out by actor Jerry Hoffmann, who recently wrapped up Netflix’s original series “A Submarine Story” in Turkey, the concept of what counts as “German” continues to be questioned.

“Normally, when you have one German character in an international production,...

It is the directorial debut from Luxembourg’s Désirée Nosbusch.

Poison, the directorial debut of Luxembourg TV presenter and Bad Banks actress Désirée Nosbusch, starring Tim Roth and Trine Dyrhom, has wrapped and released a first-look image.

The English-language drama is about a middle-aged man who is reunited with his ex-wife in a waiting room after many years apart. They are preparing to exhume the body of their late son, owing to toxins seeping into the ground where he is buried.

It is an adaptation of a play of the same name by Dutch writer Lot Vekemans.

The shoot took...

International feature film and commercial content group Iconoclast and Berlin-based StickUp Films have established a new joint venture to produce feature films and series for the domestic and international markets.

Represented by Creative Artists Agency (CAA), the new shingle, Iconoclast Films Germany, is aiming to produce a minimum of three film or series projects annually within a five-year ramp-up period.

The company is headed by Luis Singer and Dennis Schanz of StickUp Films – the creators and co-producers of Netflix’s award-winning series “Skylines” — as well as Iconoclast executive producer Swantje Rummel.

Iconoclast sees the new venture as part of its international content strategy and a logical extension of its brand. In addition to producing recent works by the likes of Gus Van Sant, Julian Schnabel (“At Eternity’s Gate”), Harmony Korine (“The Beach Bum”) and Romain Gavras (“The World Is Yours”) through its companies in the U.S. and France, Iconoclast...

Global Screen has secured a presale of the female-led drama “Lost Transport” to Menemsha Films for the U.S. and Canada ahead of the European Film Market in Berlin.

Inspired by true events, the film tells the story of the final days of World War II when German soldiers abandon a deportation train, leaving the fate of its occupants in the hands of advancing Russian troops. The film centers on the chance encounter between three women, one German, one Dutch Jew and one Russian. Amid the ruins of war, these women must overcome their differences and work together in order to survive.

The film’s director, Saskia Diesing, “links real events with the fictional characters in the film to create a feminist and deeply human story about cohesion and friendship,” Global Screen said.

Diesing previously directed “Nena,” which earned a special mention at the 2015 Berlin Film Festival, where it played in the Generation 14plus section.

David E. Kelley‘s The Missing has found its lead female star as Succession‘s Juliana Canfield has joined the upcoming Peacock series. Canfield will play newly recruited NYPD detective Janine Harris in the eight-part drama, which is based on the international bestselling novel The Missing File by Israeli crime writer Dror A. Mishani. She will star opposite the previously announced Jeff Wilbusch (Bad Banks), who plays Detective Avraham. Kelley serves as showrunner and executive producer on the series, which centers around Avraham and his dogged determination to uncover the truth. With strict religious principles and a deep sense of spirituality, Avraham finds himself questioning his own humanity after what appears to be a routine investigation turns upside down. Canfield’s character is new to the job and in search of a mentor to guide her as she becomes accustomed to her role. She begs to be partnered with Avraham...

German banner Elsani & Neary Media and France’s Mediawan Rights are teaming up on “The Promise[/link],” a true-crime TV series revolving around the gruesome murders of Nancy and Derek Haysom in 1985.

“The Promise” will tell the story of Jens Soering, who spent more than three decades in prison for the double murder of Nancy and Derek Haysom, the parents of his girlfriend at the time, Elizabeth Haysom. The latter was convicted of orchestrating the murder and sentenced to 90 years in prison. Soering was recently deported to Germany and Haysom to Canada. To this day, the chilling double murder case has not been entirely solved as new DNA evidence pointed to the presence of two unidentified men at the crime scene.

Showrunners for “The Promise” are Anita Elsani (“55 Steps”) and Ron Markus (“Bad Banks”), who is also executive producer. Marcus Vetter, who previously directed “Killing for Love,” a critically acclaimed...

The upcoming David E. Kelley crime drama “The Missing” at Peacock has cast Jeff Wilbusch in the lead role.

The series, which Variety exclusively reported had been ordered at the streamer, is based on the Dror A. Mishani novel “The Missing File.” Wilbusch will play Avraham Avraham, an NYPD detective with the 77th precinct, whose belief in mankind is his superpower when it comes to uncovering the truth. He is left to question his own humanity when a seemingly routine investigation turns upside down.

“The Missing” is the latest American role for Wilbusch. The Israeli-German actor most recently starred in the HBO film “Oslo” and the critically-acclaimed Netflix series “Unorthodox.” He is also known for his roles in shows like AMC’s “The Little Drummer Girl” and the German-Luxembourgish series “Bad Banks.”

He is repped by Gersh and Echo Lake Entertainment.

“The Missing” has received an eight-episode order at Peacock.

European arms industry corruption, forbidden love in 1920s Berlin and the impact of public outrage on the justice system are some of the themes explored by upcoming Germans TV productions showcased on Aug. 30 on the opening day of the Series Mania Forum in Lille, France.

In collaboration with German Films, the presentation offered a sneak peek at five new high-end shows that look to continue the country’s impressive rollout of recent hit series like “Dark,” “Deutschland 83,” “Babylon Berlin,” “Bad Banks” and “Barbarians.”

The new titles included Zdf and Arte’s ambitious French-German thriller “Algiers Confidential”; Ard’s period drama “Eldorado KaDeWe”; the globetrotting melodrama “Paradiso” and dark comedy “The Wasp,” both from Sky Deutschland; and TVNow (soon to be Rtl Plus) and Vox’s legal drama “The Allegation.”

“Algiers Confidential,” based on Oliver Bottini’s novel, is a political thriller set in present-day Algiers and focuses on the...

Leonine Studios has picked up six-part event series “Herzogpark,” one of the first big-budget offerings commissioned by German broadcast giant Rtl’s streaming service Tvnow.

Leonine will handle worldwide sales, and is set to launch global distribution at next month’s Mipcom market in Cannes. The show, from “Bad Banks” producer Letterbox Filmproduktion, is directed by Jochen Alexander Freydank, who is best known for his Oscar-winning short film “Toyland.”

Billed as a scandalous society comedy-drama with strong female characters, the cast is led by Heike Makatsch (“Love Actually”), Lisa Maria Potthoff (“Kaiserschmarrndrama”), Antje Traue (“Dark”) and Felicitas Woll. Others include Heiner Lauterbach (“Welcome to Germany”), Jeanette Hain (“The Reader”), Trystan Pütter (“Babylon Berlin”) and Lukas Spisser (“What We Wanted”) and Francis Fulton-Smith (“Blackout”).

The show centers on Hannah, Elisabeth and Annabelle, who are beautiful, rich and want to stay in their home in Munich’s highly exclusive residential area of Herzogpark at all costs.

Helmer’s previous film was 2018 silent comedy The Bra.

German director Veit Helmer has returned to the Caucasus for the third time to shoot his latest feature film Gondola (working title) in the Georgian mountains, following his 2008 Azerbaijan-set Absurdistan and 2018 silent comedy The Bra, set in Azerbaijan and Georgia.

Principal photography started last week on a 36-day shoot which is set to run until the end of September. The film tells the story of two female cable car operators who fall in love as pass each other in their gondolas travelling between a mountain village and the town in the valley below.

Ahead of the film’s world premiere at Locarno Film Festival, Variety has been given exclusive access to the debut trailer for “Hinterland,” the crime thriller from Austrian filmmaker Stefan Ruzowitzky, who won the Foreign Language Film Oscar with “The Counterfeiters.”

The film is a center-piece of the festival with a prestigious first weekend primetime premiere on Friday, Aug. 6 in the event’s iconic open-air venue, Piazza Grande. Beta Cinema, the film’s sales agent, is looking to close further deals out of Locarno to follow up on Cannes Pre-Screenings deals soon to be announced.

“Hinterland,” starring Murathan Muslu (“Pelican Blood”) and Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”), is set in Vienna in 1920, following the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Peter Perg (Muslu) returns home from the Great War, after years of captivity, but the Vienna he comes home to is nothing like the place he once knew.

The new Austrian...

Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we’ll shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we take a deep dive into Federation Entertainment, the production-sales studio behind Canal Plus’ hit series The Bureau and Netflix Italian hit Baby. Founder Pascal Breton and CEO Lionel Uzan give us the lowdown on the company’s ambitions and why now is the perfect time to be in the game of creating pan-European content.

When French producer Pascal Breton launched Federation Entertainment in 2014, the veteran television executive had a hunch that the international production and distribution landscape was on the precipice of great change. The year before, he stepped down as CEO of Marathon Entertainment after 23 years, because the old model “was no longer exciting for producers.” Federation, he vowed, would anticipate market changes and respond accordingly with...

Exclusive: Beta Film has closed pre-sales with two leading European broadcasters, France’s TF1 and Austria’s Orf, on Rtl Group’s series about iconic Austrian Empress Sisi.

Shooting of the six-hour series has just started in the Baltics and will continue in Austria, Hungary and Germany. Today we can reveal a first look on set. Rtl Group’s streaming service Tvnow plans to release Sisi at the end of this year. Further negotiations with several international broadcasters are said to be underway.

Empress Elisabeth, nicknamed Sisi, whose fictional character was portrayed by Austrian actress Romy Schneider in the 1950s, was a pop star and influencer of her time at the end of the 19th century, and an icon in Europe and beyond.

The series circles around the tomboy and Bavarian princess, who, after her marriage with Franz Joseph I., Emperor of Austria, has to realize that life at the...

Berlin-based Flare Film is ramping up series production with two new high-concept projects in development while currently producing the eight-part “Paradiso” for Sky Deutschland, the first project from the company’s recently launched Flare Entertainment division.

Flare Entertainment is partnering with Beta Film and Deutsche Telekom streaming platform MagentaTV on “The Daughter,” created by Pola Beck and the writing trio known locally as the HaRiBos, Hanno Hackfort, Richard Kropf and Bob Konrad, with Beck and Kropf serving as showrunners.

The series tells the fact-based story of Tinka, a directionless teenager forced to grow up overnight when her wealthy parents are arrested for running the biggest cocaine ring in Berlin. As she works to free them from jail, she uncovers their secret lives and delves ever deeper into the family business.

Described as “Breaking Bad” meets French cinema, the eight-part family drama examines the shifting power dynamics between a daughter and...

Berlin-based Rise Pictures and Simonsays Pictures in Stuttgart are partnering on a new dark supernatural comedy series about a secretive, multinational corporation established by the Grim Reaper in an effort to more efficiently collect the souls of the dearly departed.

“Grim Inc.” revolves around the mysterious enterprise founded by Death some 70 years ago. At his limits following two world wars and facing the exponential population growth that reached unimaginable proportions in the 1950s, the industrious Grim Reaper decides to start the company and outsource his work.

“Grim Inc.” was created by Tali Barde, Claudio Franke, Dominik Hochwald and Katja Winke. Rise and Simonsays are producing in association with Barde’s Avalon Film in Cologne. Rise’s Ulrich Schwarz, Simonsays’ Simon Buchner and Barde will produce, with Tomy Wigand of Simonsays and Rise’s Sven Pannicke and Robert Pinnow executive producing.

The high-end German-language series combines a quirky, high-concept premise along...

The actor and director, who is also executive producer on the film, is working on an adaptation of the eponymous play by Lot Vekemans. A key figure of Luxembourg’s cultural scene and media world, 56-year-old actress Désirée Nosbusch is currently experiencing a second wave of notoriety. As she herself claims, Nosbusch who started out as a television presenter in Germany, France and Belgium in the 1980s, has never before been part of this many projects. Twenty years ago, Désirée Nosbusch was making her very well-received first steps as director with her short film Ice Cream Sundae (2001). In 2014, she directed the documentary Succès Fox, about the life of actor Fernand Fox and, through his story, about the evolution of Luxembourg theatre. But with Poison, which was initially set to...

The Match Factory is taking a strong slate to the European Film Market, including two world premieres: Anne Zohra Berrached’s “Copilot,” which is in the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section, and Christian Schwochow’s “Je Suis Karl,” which is in Berlinale Special. Also in the festival program is Dash Shaw’s “Cryptozoo,” the critically acclaimed adult animation awarded at Sundance, which is in the Generation lineup.

Berrached, whose “24 Weeks” played in Berlinale Competition in 2016, is back at the festival with “Copilot,” a bold feature set in the mid 90s, an era of optimism, when the conflicts of the old-world order seemed to dissolve, and long-lasting peace seemed achievable. Asli (Canan Kir) meets Saeed (Roger Azar), whose love at first changes her life, before shaking the world to the core.

The producers are Germany’s Razor Film, France’s Haut et Court and Germany’s Zero Films. Neue Visionen...

“Game of Thrones” star Iwan Rheon, Jack Wolfe (“The Witcher”), Asha Banks and Amir Wilson (“His Dark Materials”) have joined Roland Emmerich’s production of “The Magic Flute,” a modern retelling of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s popular opera.

The pic is set to begin principal photography on Feb. 8 at Bavaria Studios in Munich.

Starring alongside the young British actors will be some of the world’s most renowned opera stars, among them French soprano Sabine Devieilhe, Mexican-French tenor Rolando Villazón and U.S. bass Morris Robinson.

Directed by Florian Sigl, “The Magic Flute” is set in present-day Europe and follows 17-year-old singer Tim Walker as he travels from London to the Austrian Alps to attend the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a centuries-old forgotten passageway into the fantastic world of Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”

Wolfe, who began his career at London’s National Theatre and has appeared...

Each year it is a pleasure to introduce the ten actors who make up the European Film Promotion‘s Shooting Stars, and this year is no different. The initiative, to celebrate and promote the best in European acting talent, is dear to the heart of HeyUGuys, and we’ll be continuing our partnership this year with in-depth interviews with each of the 2021 cohort.

This year will, as expected, be slightly different from previous years. The ten emerging actors will be presented as part of a three-day online programme, a week before the 71st Berlinale commences. The digital event, held on the 23rd to the 25th of February, will be an online experience where we’ll be able to sit down and learn a little more about what makes these ten people the ones to watch.

Each of the actors were chosen by a carefully selected jury from a list of...

Talent showcase to move online due to ongoing virus restrictions.

The 10 rising actors selected for this year’s European Shooting Stars has been unveiled and will be showcased online for the first time as a result of the pandemic.

This year’s selection comprise: Seidi Haarla (Finland); Nicolas Maury (France); Albrecht Schuch (Germany); Natasa Stork (Hungary); Fionn O’Shea (Ireland); Zygimante Elena Jakstaite (Lithuania); Martijn Lakemeijer (Netherlands); Sara Klimoska (North Macedonia); Alba Baptista (Portugal); and Gustav Lindh (Sweden).

European Film Promotion (Efp) usually provides a high-profile platform for emerging talent at the Berlinale, introducing young actors to international casting directors, producers and filmmakers at the festival.

European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 actors who will take part in the 24th edition of European Shooting Stars. The program, which launches emerging European thespians onto the world stage, has boosted the careers of actors like Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Riz Ahmed and George MacKay.

For the first time, Efp will present the neophyte actors to the film industry, public and international press as part of a three-day online program. Efp’s oldest and most prestigious initiative will take place digitally from Feb. 23-25, one week before the industry events of this year’s 71st Berlinale (March 1-5). The Shooting Stars award ceremony will take place within the framework of the Berlinale screenings in the summer.

“Although this year we sadly cannot meet in person, we invite you to join, discover and celebrate the best in rising European acting talent, while staying safe at home,” Efp’s managing director Sonja Heinen said.

Creators and screenwriters from Europe discussed the importance of collaboration in filmmaking during a panel in the Variety Streaming Room.

Hosted by international features editor Leo Barraclough, the conversation, titled “Lost in Translation? Visual Story Development from Script to Screen,” included creators from the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s Black Room and writers from the Face to Face program. Prop maker and modeler Simon Weisse, production designer Jacqueline Abrahams, and writers Jana Burbach and Hanno Hackfort took part in the panel.

Collaborative endeavors have seen an increase in European filmmaking, said Hackfort, since teams have begun to see that different departments — writers, designers, directors — often have ideas that aren’t limited to just the part of the film or television project they’re working on.

“This concept of showrunner becomes more and more important in Germany,” he said. “Then you’re not just a writer, but you can also work together with the others.

Netflix has put together its ensemble cast for Munich, which will be led by Jeremy Irons. The World War II movie is set to be directed by Christian Schwochow and is based on the acclaimed novel of the same name by Robert Harris. The ensemble cast will feature a mix of British and German actors.

According to a new report, the cast also includes George MacKay (1917), Jannis Niehwohner (Mute), Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin), Erin Doherty (The Crown), Sandra Hüller (Toni Erdmann), August Diehl (A Hidden Life), Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey) and Marc Limpach (Bad Banks). Also of note, Martin Wuttke will be taking on the role of Adolf Hitler, Wuttke previously played the part in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. The movie takes place in 1938 as Europe was on the brink of WWII. A synopsis for the novel reads as follows.

"Hugh Legat is a rising star of the British diplomatic service,...

“Watchmen” actor Jeremy Irons is headlining Netflix original film “Munich,” an adaptation of the bestselling 2017 novel by Robert Harris (“Fatherland”).

The film is set in the fall of 1938 when Europe stands on the brink of war. Adolf Hitler is preparing to invade Czechoslovakia and Neville Chamberlain’s government desperately seeks a peaceful solution. With the pressure building, British civil servant Hugh Legat and Paul von Hartmann, a German diplomat, travel to Munich for the emergency conference. As negotiations begin, the two old friends find themselves at the centre of a web of political subterfuge and very real danger.

Irons plays Chamberlain, while “1917” actor George McKay portrays Legat. The cast also includes Jannis Niehwöhner (“The Turncoat”), Liv Lisa Fries (“Babylon Berlin”), Erin Doherty (“The Crown”), Sandra Hüller (“Toni Erdmann”), August Diehl (“A Hidden Life”), Robert Bathurst (“Downton Abbey”), and Marc Limpach (“Bad Banks”). Martin Wuttke, who played Hitler in “Inglourious Basterds,...

Letterbox Filmproduktion, producer of Zdf-Arte hit “Bad Banks” – and part of the Studio Hamburg Production Group that backed Netflix’s “Unorthodox” – has boarded “Davos,” a high-end drama series from Zurich-based film producer Contrast Film, producer of “Wonderland.”

“Davos,” a period espionage thriller, is being written by Switzerland’s Adrian Illien, a former producer at Swiss public broadcaster Srf of crime series “Tatort” and Germany’s Julia Penner, head writer on seasons 3, 4 and 5 of “Druck,” Germany’s adaptation of “Skam.”

Budgeted at $13 million, Contrast Film’s Ivan Madeo told Variety, “Davos” is a pioneering high-end drama series for Switzerland, for which Contrast has turned to one of the country’s biggest assets as an international content creators: Switzerland’s mystique as a setting for geo-political power play often tied to the extraordinary influence Switzerland is held to exert on the world’s financial systems.

The Swiss Alpine resort of Davos hosts...

Game of Thrones’ Rosabell Laurenti Sellers, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D’s Falk Hentschel, Black Panther’s Florence Kasumba and Bad Bank’s Désirée Nosbusch star in new alien invasion drama Spides. Rounding out the cast are Damian Hardung (Name Of The Rose), Susanne Wuest, Rory Fleck Byrne, Branko Tomovic, Angus McGruther (Bad Banks), Kimberly Leemans (The Walking Dead, The Fix) and Harvey Friedman (Sense8). Spides is set in modern day Berlin and follows Nora, a young woman who wakes from a coma without any memory of her previous life after taking a mysterious drug. Local police detective David Leonhart and his partner Nique Navar are hunting down that drug in relation to dozens of missing teens. When Nora sets out to discover...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Jeff Wilbusch has signed with Echo Lake Entertainment for mangement, Variety has learned exclusively.

Wilbusch most recently appeared in the Netflix limited series “Unorthodox,” inspired by the Deborah Feldman memoir of the same name. It tells the story of a young Jewish woman named Esty who runs away from her arranged marriage and ultra-Orthodox community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and moves to Berlin.

Willbusch played Moishe Lefkovitch, the boorish gambling addict cousin of Esty’s husband who travels to Berlin with him to find her. He previously starred opposite Michael Shannon, Alexander Skarsgård and Florence Pugh in the BBC/AMC miniseries “The Little Drummer Girl.” His other credits include the Hulu miniseries “Bad Banks.”

Wilbusch is repped by Peter McGrath at Echo Lake.

MipTV Online Plus ends on April 2. Series Mania’s Digital Forum on April 7. As virtual marketplace presentations foreseeably wind down, here area few first takes on the world’s first, and one hopes last, totally online business. More will be added shortly.

Series Mania, MipTV Newsflow Weakens in a Virtual Market

Yes, deals were announced during the Series Mania/Mip-TV virtual marketplace, which may now be beginning to wind down. Federation unveiled strong pre-sales on “The Bureau” S5 and “Bad Banks” S2, Beta Film deals on “Cryptid” (Germany’s Joyn), “La Unidad” (HBO Latin America) and “The Turncoat” (all Nordic state TVs); Fremantle announced Dr’s purchase of “Five Guys a Week,” and Globo sales on telenovelas in Latin America. Cineflix Rights tub-thumped a Spring/Summer slate, adding ITN docs; Brazil’s Encripta bought five dramas from Russia’s Ntv. Filmax announced a drama reversion of horror movie classic...