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Andreas Dresen’s favorite Berlinale memory, as you’d expect, involves Currywurst.

“I was on the jury one year, And it was clear I was the local guy among all these big names,” he recalls. “Now the festival had a vegan menu already then, and at the awards dinner, we had great food but they were quite small portions and [jury president] Wong Kar Wai turns to me and says ‘Andreas, can’t we get some real food?’ So I took them all, Susanne Bier, Shirin Neshat, Tim Robbins, everyone in tuxes and evening gowns, to [legendary Berlin snack bar] Curry 36 for a Currywurst. Even Tim Robbins, who actually is vegetarian, tucked in. I personally saw him gobble up three Currywursts. It was the most Berlin moment ever.”

Dresen has had a few. The 60-year-old director has been a regular at Germany’s top film festival since 1991 when his student film So schnell es geht nach...

‘Cut Off’ is based on Sebastian Fitzek and Michael Tsokos’ book.

Global Screen has announced a raft of sales on its new thriller Cut Off, directed by genre specialist Christian Alvart (Antibodies) and produced by Ziegler Film, Syrreal Entertainment and Warner Bros Film Productions Germany.

The film has gone to China (Shanghai Jushi Films), Japan (Culture Entertainment Co), South Korea (Jaye Entertainment), Taiwan (Swallow Wings Films), Ukraine (Ufd) and Russia (Cinema Prestige) with France and the Us in negotiation.

Screening this week at Efm, Cut Off is based on the bestselling book by Sebastian Fitzek and Michael Tsokos about a...

Bavaria Film’s powerhouse TV division boasts some of Germany’s hottest shows, and it is achieving worldwide success as it increases its focus on international co-productions.

Launched in 2007, Bavaria Fiction produces a wide range of scripted formats, from daily and weekly series to TV movies and lavish event productions, including Germany’s favorite cop show.

The company recently enjoyed a huge hit with “Das Boot,” which has sold to more than 100 territories around the world, including the U.S., where it streams on Hulu. Co-produced with Sky Deutschland and U.S. group Sonar Entertainment, the miniseries is a sequel to Wolfgang Petersen’s hit 1981 film and likewise based on the books of Lothar-Günther Buchheim.

“Das Boot” is the first major production to come out of Bavaria Fiction’s international TV unit. Launched three years ago, the department is headed by Moritz Polter.

Polter is overseeing a number of international co-productions,...

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...

German director Jochen Alexander Freydank, who won an Oscar for best short film in 2009 for Toyland, will premiere his debut feature  next month at the Busan International Film Festival. Kafka's The Burrow (Kafkas Der Bau) will debut at the South Korean fest, which will run Oct. 2-11. It will present 301 films from 70 countries. The film will then have its European bow at the Warsaw Film Festival later next month. Read more More Chinese, U.S. Companies to Exhibit at Busan Film Market Freydank wrote, directed and produced the film, which stars German actor Axel Prahl in

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Title: Berlin ’36 Director: Kaspar Heidelbach Starring: Karoline Herfurth, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Axel Prahl, August Zimer One needn’t be a fan of Mike Leigh to know that secrets and lies offer up rich narrative possibilities for filmmakers. So, too, do the allure of nonfiction tales. But not all true stories are created equal, as “Berlin ’36″ emply demonstrates. A German period piece embellishing of the nonfiction story of a transsexual Olympic athlete who stood the chance of greatly embarassing the Nazi regime during the country’s hosting of the quadrennial games, the movie unfolds with such a singular lack of dramatic heft as to almost defy logic. When high jumper Gretel Bergmann (Karoline...

Title: Berlin 36 Directed By: Kaspar Heidelbach Written By: Lothar Kurzawa, story by Eric Friedler Cast: Karoline Herfurth, Sebastian Urzendowsky, Axel Prahl, August Zimer, Maria Happel Screened at: Critics’ DVD, NYC, 8/27/11 Opens: September 16, 2011 at New York’s Quad Cinema If you’ve ever had a fight with your family in your one-tv home-you want to watch the Jets game and Mom insists on seeing the 6.30 news with Scott Pelley-you’d get the idea that sports and politics exist in two separate worlds. And they do for the most part, but sometimes they intersect. In one motion picture example, Tony Richardson’s “The Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner, a marathon...

COLOGNE, Germany -- Warner Bros. Germany has picked up Niki Muellerschoen's €18 million ($23 million) "The Red Baron", an English-language epic based on the life of the legendary World War I fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, for German release.

"The Red Baron", which HanWay Films is shopping to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin, stars Matthias Schweighoefer as the Baron and Joseph Fiennes as his nemesis Capt. Roy Brown.

The feature, currently wrapping postproduction, also features German stars Til Schweiger and Axel Prahl and Lena Headey, who appears in Zack Synder's "300", which has its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival on Feb. 14.

Warner Bros. plans to release "The Red Baron" in German theaters this fall.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Organizers of the Berlin International Film Festival said Thursday that the festival is boosting the profile of its newly launched Berlinale Talent Campus for young filmmakers by adding two prizes to Talent Campus participants: the Berlin Today Award for best short film and the Planet Documentary Film Prize for best nonfiction film. Organizers said they have selected three short films from participants of the 2003 Berlinale Talent Campus to compete for the inaugural Berlin Today Award, presented by the Berlin-Brandenburg film subsidy board. Best of the Wurst by American director Grace Lee looks at Berlin's culinary fascination with currywurst -- diced sausage mixed with ketchup and curry powder. Berlin & Beirut from Lebanese director Myrna Maakaron compares the two cities and their inhabitants. Berlin Backstage, from Swiss helmers Stephanie Chuat and Veronique Reymond is the story of a homeless man who passes himself off as a respected member of high society. It stars German actor Axel Prahl (Grill Point).

COLOGNE, Germany -- German commercial channels were all but shut out of this year's Adolf Grimme Prizes, one of the country's top television awards, with public stations sweeping the main categories. Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt (Hope Dies Last), a police thriller co-produced by pubcasters NDR and ARD, emerged as the big winner in Tuesday's announcements. The show took four gold prizes: for best actor (Axel Prahl), actress (Kim Sarnau) director (Marc Rothemund) and script (Fred Breinersdorfer). German comedy stars Anke Engelke and Olli Dittrich were honored with gold Grimme awards for their performances in the telefilm Blind Date: Taxi nach Schweinau (Blind Date: Taxi to Schweinau) for public channel ZDF. The awards will be presented at a ceremony March 21 in the western German city of Marl.