News

In January 1990, a couple of months shy of his 41st birthday, Nick Lowe welcomed a BBC film crew into his suburban London row house for an interview. Lowe had a new album to promote, Party of One, but he’d been in the music business for two decades, first in the band Brinsley Schwarz, which wore its Americana influences on its sleeve but never made much of an impression outside the U.K. (or within, for that matter), and then as a house producer at a scrappy independent label called Stiff Records.

The star of Hampstead and Alone in Berlin on his Flann O’Brien obsession, the most thrilling piece of theatre he’s ever seen, and discovering Caravaggio

Born in Dublin in 1955, Brendan Gleeson worked as a secondary school teacher of Irish and English before turning to acting full-time in 1991. He is best known for his roles in Calvary, In Bruges and The Guard. He has also appeared in Braveheart, Cold Mountain, 28 Days Later, Gangs of New York, and the Harry Potter films. His portrayal of Winston Churchill in the television film Into the Storm won him an Emmy award in 2009, and he has been nominated for three Golden Globes. Two of his four sons, Domhnall and Brian Gleeson, are also actors. Gleeson stars opposite Emma Thompson in Alone in Berlin, based on Hans Fallada’s second world war novel, and in Hampstead, both out now.

Continue reading...

Author: Linda Marric

Actor & director Vincent Perez is every bit as European as his name would suggest. Born in Switzerland to a German mother and a Spanish father, Perez first cut his teeth playing classical roles in some of the most popular French movies of the 1990s, and went on to star in Cyrano de Bergerac (Jean-Paul Rappeneau, 1990), La Reine Margot (Patrice Chéreau, 1994) and Indochine (Régis Wargnier, 1992) to name but a few.

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of meeting Vincent for an interview and asked him about his new movie Alone In Berlin, which he co-wrote as well as directed. Adapted from Hans Fallada’s popular 1947 novel by the same name, the film tells the story of a law abiding German couple and their quiet resistance during Nazi rule in Berlin. Staring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson, Alone In Berlin has so far been met with mixed reviews,...

In this affecting drama, Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson play a grieving husband and wife who embark on dangerous acts of resistance

Here is a handsomely produced and solidly acted period drama set in Nazi Germany, based on the postwar novel by Hans Fallada and based on a true-life case.

Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson play Otto and Anna Quangel, a middle-aged couple in Berlin in 1940. Hating the Nazis and galvanised by grief and rage at the loss of their son in battle, they embark on tiny but very dangerous acts of resistance: leaving anonymous anti-Hitler postcards in stairwells and public places – a capital crime. Daniel Brühl plays the police inspector on their trail, using flags on a city map showing the whereabouts of cards handed in to the authorities to calculate where the culprit might live.

Continue reading...

Movies based on actual events tend to announce their historical bona fides at the outset, knowing that audiences are often more affected by a story when they know that it really happened (even if they may suspect that it didn’t happen quite as depicted on screen). Alone In Berlin features no such opening text, perhaps because it’s technically based on a novel: Hans Fallada’s Every Man Dies Alone, originally published in 1947 (but not translated into English until 2009). Fallada, however, was directly inspired by the lives of Otto and Elise Hampel, an ordinary German couple who jointly disseminated anti-Nazi literature (of a sort) during World War II, evading capture for two years. You should know that going in, because a lump in the throat inspired by real-life heroism is all that this dour, monotonous drama has to offer. Indeed, it’s easy to guess that the ...

Shockingly, this awards season there is only one World War II-set movie — Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge — but there will be no shortage of dramas set during the era come 2017. While Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk will certainly gain the most attention, early in the year, two dramas touring the festival circuit will make their way to U.S. theaters and new trailers have arrived for both.

First up, Alone in Berlin, starring Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson, and Daniel Brühl will hit theaters in just a few weeks. We said in our review from Berlinale earlier this year, “Director Vincent Perez sets the stage for what should be a compelling study of dissolution and grief, yet is never able to follow through with the skill or tenacity the material requires. Rendered in melodramatic and predictable images (a hand resting on a rail, a light going off in the window), Alone in Berlin...

The WWII movie genre has plenty of familiar tropes, but sometimes if they’re done respectfully enough, that’s all you need to create a gripping film. Certainly, Vincent Perez hasn’t tried to break any cinematic rules in his adaptation of the bestselling novel by Hans Fallada, but “Alone In Berlin” look to be a decent enough wartime thriller.

Read More: Blood Is A Brutal Bond In First Trailer For ‘Trespass Against Us’ With Brendan Gleeson And Michael Fassbender

Starring Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Bruhl, and Emma Thompson, the story takes place near the beginning of WWII, and follows a married couple who are beginning to see the true colors of Adolf Hitler.

Continue reading Brendan Gleeson Throws Sand In The Gears In New Trailer For WWII Film ‘Alone In Berlin’ With Daniel Bruhl & Emma Thompson at The Playlist.

★★☆☆☆ Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson star as unexpected Nazi resistors Anna and Otto Quangel in Vincent Perez's Alone in Berlin. Adapted from the 1947 novel Each Dies only for Himself by Hans Fallada, which wasn't translated into English until 2009 (and subsequently became a bestseller), Alone in Berlin tells the story of Anna and Otto's quiet act of rebellion at a time when any sign of disloyalty to the Nazis was punished without mercy. Upon hearing that their son has been killed in action, Anna and Otto, their marriage apparently one of coexistence rather than affection, grieve separately.

Alone in Berlin actor says she ‘feels European’, and that she would definitely vote to remain in Europe in the referendum

Emma Thompson called for Britain to stay in the European Union, saying the UK would be “mad not to”. Describing Britain as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island”, Thompson said she “just felt European” and would “of course” vote to remain in the EU in the upcoming referendum. “We should be taking down borders, not putting them up.”

Thompson was speaking at a press conference in Berlin for the world premiere of Alone in Berlin, the screen adaptation of Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel about a German act of resistance to the Nazis in wartime Berlin. She plays Anna Quangel who, with her husband Otto (played by Brendan Gleeson), distributes anonymous handwritten postcards containing anti-Nazi messages around the city. Based on...

Alone in Berlin actor says she ‘feels European’, and that she would definitely vote to remain in Europe in the referendum

Emma Thompson called for Britain to stay in the European Union, saying the UK would be “mad not to”. Describing Britain as “a tiny little cloud-bolted, rainy corner of sort-of Europe, a cake-filled misery-laden grey old island”, Thompson said she “just felt European” and would “of course” vote to remain in the EU in the upcoming referendum. “We should be taking down borders, not putting them up.”

Thompson was speaking at a press conference in Berlin for the world premiere of Alone in Berlin, the screen adaptation of Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel about a German act of resistance to the Nazis in wartime Berlin. She plays Anna Quangel who, with her husband Otto (played by Brendan Gleeson), distributes anonymous handwritten postcards containing anti-Nazi messages around the city. Based on...

Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson are the married couple who spread wartime subversion in this decently-intended adaptation of Hans Fallada’s novel

In 2009 a new English-language translation of Hans Fallada’s 1947 novel about small-scale, low-key resistance to the Nazi regime in wartime Berlin turned into an unexpected commercial success. And so here we have, inevitably, a handsome if not unduly demanding big-screen adaptation, directed by Vincent Pérez (still best known as an actor, although this is his third feature credit as director), and starring Brendan Gleeson and Emma Thompson as the Quangels, the dour, unhappy couple who channel their misery at the death of their son into their small acts of subversion.

Related: Letters: Alone in Berlin is morally compromised

Continue reading...

There is a way that you do World War II films. You adapt a well-known book. You pay a lot of attention to locations and period costuming. You send up the bat-signal for Daniel Brühl and/or Sebastian Koch to lend some genuine Germanness, get a respected Dp to lend texture to the mandatory brown/gray palette (with splashes of shocking Nazi red), and secure the services of an Oscar-winning composer known for his neo-classical/orchestral talents. And you cast notable, never-miss non-German thesps as your main leads and have them speak in accented English. "Alone in Berlin," adapted by French actor-turned-director Vincent Perez from the bestselling novel by Hans Fallada with cinematography from Christophe Beaucarne ("Coco Before Chanel," "Beauty and the Beast"), is an English-language film, scored by Alexandre Desplat, starring Brendan Gleeson, Emma Thompson and Brühl—one imagines Koch must have been indisposed. This film adheres...

A simple act of defiance against the Nazi regime inspired German author Hans Fallada to write the novel Every Man Dies Alone. The themes of Fallada’s novel resonated and adaptations of the book were made in the ’60s in West Germany, the ’70s in East Germany, and the Czech Republic in the early 2000s. The latest adaptation, this time a U.S. production, again seeks to translate the power of Fallada’s prose for modern audiences in several ways.

Alone in Berlin has enlisted the dynamic Brendan Gleeson and the formidable Emma Thompson to play Otto and Anna Quangel, respectively. The Quangels are good Germans for their respective time and place. Anna belongs to a women’s group which enlists females to partake in keeping up the homefront while Otto is a mechanic building Nazi equipment. As the film starts, the city of Berlin shares in the Quangels’ complacency and optimism,...

Exclusive: Altitude and Picturehouse strike deal for Second World War drama starring Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson.

Picturehouse Entertainment and Altitude Film Distribution have struck a deal for UK rights to Vincent Perez’s Alone In Berlin, ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival.

The deal was negotiated between Altitude Film Entertainment’s Will Clarke, Picturehouse’s Clare Binns, producers Paul Trijbits and Christian Grass and Alison Thompson from sales outfit Cornerstone Films, which handles international rights.

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks), Brendan Gleeson (The Guard) and Daniel Brühl (Rush) star in the Second World War drama-thriller based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime in Berlin.

Actor-director Perez’s feature is adapted from the classic novel Every Man Dies Alone by German writer Hans Fallada.

Producers are X Filme powerhouse duo Stefan Arndt (Amour) and Uwe Schott ([link...

Vincent Pérez’s film of Hans Fallada’s bestselling novel will premiere in Berlin

In 2009, Alone in Berlin was a little-known German novel describing an act of wartime defiance against the Nazi regime. But when its harrowing pages were translated into English six decades after it was written, Hans Fallada’s book became an international publishing phenomenon.

Now the rediscovered 1947 masterpiece – a chilling portrait of courage and fear – has inspired a film that will receive its world premiere on 15 February at the Berlin International Film Festival.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: First still from Berlin Competition drama based on the classic wartime novel.

ScreenDaily can reveal the first production still of anticipated Berlin Competition entry Alone In Berlin, actor-director Vincent Perez’s adaptation of the classic German novel of the same name.

Based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) star alongisde Daniel Brühl (Rush).

Producers are Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott for X-Filme, the German production outfit whose credits include Amour, The White Ribbon and Cloud Atlas, Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni (Bye Bye Blondie) together with James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and FilmWave’s Christian Grass (Sing Street) and Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre).

Cornerstone Films handles international sales.

Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel centres on Otto and Anna Quangel (Gleeson and Thompson), who live in a shabby apartment block during...

Exclusive: First still from Berlin Competition drama based on the classic wartime novel.

ScreenDaily can reveal the first production still of anticipated Berlin Competition entry Alone In Berlin, actor-director Vincent Perez’s adaptation of the classic German novel of the same name.

Based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime during the Second World War, Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) star alongisde Daniel Brühl (Rush).

Producers are Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott for X-Filme, the German production outfit whose credits include Amour, The White Ribbon and Cloud Atlas, Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni (Bye Bye Blondie) together with James Schamus (Brokeback Mountain) and FilmWave’s Christian Grass (Sing Street) and Paul Trijbits (Jane Eyre).

Cornerstone handles international sales.

Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel centres on Otto and Anna Quangel (Gleeson and Thompson), who live in a shabby apartment block during...

Michael Grandage’s Genius, starring Colin Firth, Jude Law and Nicole Kidman; Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special; new Alex Gibney doc to world premiere at festival.

The first nine films for the 66th Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 11-21) Competition and Berlinale Special programme have been revealed.

The Competition titles - all world premieres - include Genius, the debut feature of celebrated British theatre director Michael Grandage, which stars Colin Firth, Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Laura Linney, Guy Pearce and Dominic West.

Adapted by playwright and screenwriter John Logan (Skyfall) from A. Scott Berg’s book, Genius tells the true story of the complex relationship between literary giant Thomas Wolfe (Law) and Scribner’s iconic editor Max Perkins (Firth).

Also in Competition is Midnight Special, the anticipated new feature from Jeff Nichols, director of Mud and Take Shelter. The film centres on a father and son who go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses...

Films include Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, biopic Callas starring Noomi Rapace and Nick Park animation Early Man.

Swedish major Svensk Filmindustri has closed deals on nine films following discussions at Cannes’ Marché du Film for Scandinavian release.

From Cornerstone, head of acquisitions Robert Enmark signed for Swiss director Vincent Pérez’s Alone in Berlin, based on German author Hans Fallada’s 1947 classic, with Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson, Daniel Brühl and Swedish actor Mikael Persbrandt in the leads.

Set in 1940, the film follows a working class couple taking action against the Nazi regime, after their son is killed in the war.

From Lakeshore, Svensk picked up Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, American Pastoral, adapted from Us author Philip Roth’s Pulitzer-winning 1998 novel.

McGregor will also star alongside Jennifer Connelly and Dakota Fanning in the story of a successful businessman, married to a former beauty queen, whose life falls apart when his daughter becomes a revolutionary.

Svensk closed...

Emma Thompson, Brendan Gleeson and Daniel Bruhl star in "Alone in Berlin," an adaptation of Hans Fallada's novel about the true story of working class couple Otto and Anna Quangel who, after their son dies on the battlefield, stage a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime. Written by Achim von Borries, who cowrote the marvelous 2003 "Good Bye Lenin!" which also starred Bruhl, the film is directed by Swiss actor/filmmaker Vincent Perez. Former Focus Features head James Schamus is among the film's producers including X Filme’s Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott and Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni, and FilmWave’s Christian Grass and Paul Trijbits. Thompson also stars in the upcoming period piece "Effie Gray," and has "A Wak in the Woods," "Survivor" and "Adam Jones" coming up. Gleeson will be seen in Ron Howard's December adventure "In the Heart of the Sea" opposite Chris Hemsworth and Cillian.

Second World War drama will shoot on location in Berlin, Cologne and Görlitz.

The English-language adaptation of Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel Alone In Berlin is set to begin shooting in Germany.

Based on the true story of a working class couple who conducted a series of anonymous protests against the Nazi regime during the Second World War, principal photography will begin tomorrow (March 27) on location in Berlin, Cologne and Görlitz.

Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks) and Brendan Gleeson (Calvary) star as Anna and Otto Quangel, with Daniel Brühl (Rush) playing Gestapo inspector Escherich.

Producers are Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott for X-Filme, the German production outfit whose credits include Amour, The White Ribbon and Cloud Atlas.

Co-producers are Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni together with James Schamus and FilmWave’s Christian Grass and Paul Trijbits.

French actor Vincent Perez will direct.

The screenplay was written by Achim von Borries (Good Bye Lenin!) and Vincent...

During her keynote at Film London’s Production Finance Market, Alison Thompson remarks on the glut of films made today, but also sees some bright spots like the arrival of Netflix.

British sales veteran Alison Thompson said market conditions for sellers are as tough now as they have ever been.

“As we all know, the situation now is just about as bad as it can be,” Thompson said during her keynote speech at the Film London Production Finance Market.

“The television business, which was frankly driving the boom in film for 20 years, suddenly came a cropper so that independent distributors were losing their TV output deals, which were essentially underpinning the business they were doing.

“That, combined with the change to the DVD market - we’ve had a double hit. It has been really, really challenging. In fact, we are working in the most difficult time I have worked in in my entire career.”

Even so, Thompson...

Few things gave greater pleasure last year than the reemergence of Emma Thompson on the film scene, shoe chucking, Annie-scripting, Mary Poppins writing, and all. I'm not sure who or what convinced Emma that it was time to reclaim her place in the cinema but I thank them profusely and ever so much.

While she didn't receive the expected Oscar nomination for Saving Mr Banks, despite carrying it on her very capable film-elevating shoulders, her next project looks super promising so we hope it picks up interest in the Cannes market.

If all goes according to plan she'll play one half of a married couple who defy Nazis in Alone in Berlin. The true story is based on the book "Alone in Berlin" by Hans Fallada. The plot premise goes like so...

Berlin, 1940, and the city is filled with fear. At the house on 55 Jablonski Strasse, its various occupants...

Among the many embryonic films jostling for buyers’ attention at the film market of this year’s Cannes festival, Vincent Perez’ new film Alone In Berlin is attracting plenty of interest thanks to a cast that now includes Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl and Mark Rylance.Good Bye Lenin’s Achim von Borries has adapted Hans Fallada’s novel, itself based on a true story. The plot finds a couple living in Berlin, with the city in the grip of Nazi rule. They try to keep a low profile and avoid trouble, but when their only child is killed on the front line, the loss prompts them to a stunning act of resistance.Perez, still probably best known to British audiences for his acting work in Cyrano de Bergerac or La Reine Margot, and producer Marco Pacchioni secured the rights to the book seven years ago and have been trying to...

Academy Award-winner Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks, the Harry Potter series), and actors Daniel Brühl (Rush, Inglourious Basterds), and Mark Rylance (The Other Boelyn Girl) have been confirmed to star in Vincent Pérez’s Alone In Berlin.

Based on a true story, Hans Fallada’s powerful and redemptive novel, written shortly after the Second World War describes a city paralyzed by fear. Otto and Anna Quangel are an ordinary couple living in a shabby apartment block in Berlin trying, like everyone else, to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when their only child is killed fighting at the front, their loss propels them into an extraordinary act of resistance. They start to drop anonymous postcards all over the city attacking Hitler and his regime. If caught, it means certain execution. Soon their campaign comes to the attention of the Gestapo inspector, Escherich, and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins.

Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl and Mark Rylance are all set to star in Vincent Perez's adaptation of Hans Fallada's classic novel "Alone in Berlin". Filming begins in the winter in Germany.

The story follows an ordinary couple living in Berlin trying to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. Soon, their only child is killed fighting at the front.

Their loss propels them into an extraordinary act of resistance - dropping anonymous postcards all over the city attacking Hitler's regime.

Their campaign comes to the attention of a Gestapo inspector and a murderous game of cat-and-mouse begins, but it's a game that give the couple's drab lives and marriage a sense of purpose.

Stefan Arndt, Uwe Schott,Marco Pacchioni and James Schamus will produce. Peres and Achim von Borries penned the script.

Source: X-Filme...

We’ve got a few more casting stories to attend to this afternoon. Briefly: Edgar Ramirez (Carlos) is in talks to replace Gerard Butler in the Point Break remake. Nicolas Cage and Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire) will star in the crime thriller The Trust. Emma Thompson, Daniel Brühl (Rush), and Mark Rylance (The Other Boelyn Girl) will star in the Hans Fallada adaptation Alone in Berlin. Hit the jump for more on this casting news. After losing Gerard Butler, Alcon Entertainment has tapped the very talented Edgar Ramirez to play Bodhi in director Ericson Core’s (Invincible) Point Break remake. The character was previously played by Patrick Swayze in the original film, but this version is set in the world of international heists and extreme sports. Ramirez first broke onto the scene with his stellar performance in the miniseries Carlos and has had memorable turns in films like Zero Dark Thirty...

Daniel Bruhl is joining Emma Thompson and Mark Rylance in World War II set drama “Alone in Berlin,” with Sunray Films selling the project at the Cannes Film Market this week. Based on Hans Fallada’s novel, which is in turn based on real events, the film will follow Otto and Anna Quangel, a couple living in Berlin just trying to live quietly and stay out of trouble with the Nazis, until they receive news that their son has been killed in combat on the front lines. This devastating turn of events lead them to stand up against the Nazi regime, [...]

The post Daniel Bruhl Joins WWII Drama ‘Alone in Berlin’ appeared first on Up and Comers.

Cast rounds on Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin, shopped by Sunray Films.

Emma Thompson, Daniel Bruhl and Mark Rylance are to star in Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin, based on the acclaimed novel by Hans Fallada.

Also joining the production team are cinematographer Stéphan Fontaine (Rust and Bone, A Prophet), editor Francois Gédigier (On The Road) and production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos (Amour).

X-Filme’s Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott and Master Movie’s Marco Pacchioni are producing together with James Schamus with a screenplay written by Achim von Borries and Vincent Pérez.

The film will be co-produced by FilmWave’s Christian Grass and Paul Trijbits who are also handling the UK rights.

X-Filme retains the German rights and Master Movie the French rights, with Alison Thompsons’ Sunray Films handling international sales and distribution for all other territories.

X Verleih, the distribution arm of X-Filme, will distribute in Germany while Pathe will release in France.

The...

Oscar-winner Emma Thompson (Saving Mr. Banks), Daniel Bruhl (Rush) and Mark Rylance (The Other Boelyn Girl) have signed to star in Vincent Perez’s Alone in Berlin. Based on a true story, Hans Fallada’s novel, written shortly after WWII, describes the German city paralyzed by fear and details the story of an ordinary couple living in a shabby apartment block in Berlin trying, like everyone else, to stay out of trouble under Nazi rule. But when their only child is killed fighting at the front, their loss propels them into an extraordinary act of resistance. X-Filme’s Stefan Arndt and

read more...

A strangely lost and not yet found film (Reel finds, G2, 2 May) is Fritz Wendhausen's Little Man What Now (1933), with Hertha Thiele and art direction by Caspar Neher. This film co-scripted by the author of the novel, Hans Fallada was originally to be directed by Berthold Viertel, with music by Kurt Weill, prominent Jews who had to leave Germany. The novel was an international bestseller and was filmed in Hollywood by Frank Borzage a year later, in a sentimentalised version rejected by Fallada. A poster exists for the 1933 version, but the film itself seems to have been wiped off the face off the earth. Fallada was dubbed "undesirable", by the Nazis. Was the film perhaps too intolerable for them? It it followed the book, it does contain a comically stupid Nazi oaf. There will be a prize for anyone who can track down a copy of this film.

Nicholas Jacobs

London

Continue reading.

Former Focus International highflier Alison Thompson will launch her new sales and production banner Sunray Films with a big-screen adaptation of Hans Fallada's Alone in Berlin during Cannes. Photos: 25 of the Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2014 The novel, which sold more than 350,000 copies worldwide, has been billed as the greatest book about German resistance to the Nazis ever. Inspired by a true story, it details the story of a working-class husband and wife who, acting alone, became part of the German Resistance movement. Thompson, a familiar face on the international distribution scene and former co-

read more...

James Schamus, X-Filme, Alison Thompson bring hot title to market.

The English-language adaptation of Hans Fallada’s classic 1947 novel Alone in Berlin is heading to the Cannes marche with a stellar team behind it, including former Focus Features CEO James Schamus and X-Filme and Alison Thompson’s fledgling sales outfit Sunray Films.

French actor Vincent Perez will direct the script from Good Bye, Lenin! writer Achim von Borries.

Inspired by a true story, Fallada’s bestseller charts the remarkable story of a working class husband and wife who, acting alone, became part of the German Resistance during Nazi rule.

Cast is expected to be announced during the Cannes marche, with the production targeting British and German actors for the lead roles.

Sunray Films, the new London-based outfit of former Focus Features International co-president Alison Thompson, will handle worldwide sales. Pathe will distribute in France and Benelux.

Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott produce for X-Filme, the German...

New films by Rafi Pitts [pictured], Alexander Sokurov, Benoit Jacquot and Volker Schlöndorff are among 12 projects backed by the German-French “Mini-Traité” Co-production Fund in 2013 with a total of over €3m.

At the fund’s last sitting during the German-French Film Rendez-Vous in Nancy, representatives of Germany’s German Federal Film Board (Ffa) and France’s Cnc decided to award €1.02m to three projects:

British-Iranian director Rafi Pitts’ first Stateside-project Soy Negro, which reunites him with the German co-producer of his last feature The Hunter, Thanassis Karathanos and Ute Ganschow’s Berlin-based Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion, and will be produced with Paris’ Senorita Films.Philippe Harel’s adaptation of the 2010 Michel Houellebecq novel La Carte et Le Territoire, a double murder thriller with Lars Eidinger in the lead role, to be produced by Adora Films with Berlin-based Arden Film. andStephane Robélin’s comedy #FLORA63, with Pierre Richard as a 75-year-old who falls head over heels in love with a...

Exclusive: German director Tom Tykwer is to direct his first TV series, Babylon Berlin, as an internationally financed, German-language production.

The 12-part series is based on a series of books by German writer Volker Kutscher and centre on the figure of Inspector Gereon Rath who hails from Cologne and arrives in the Berlin of 1920s, the epicentre of politicial and social changes of those years.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily, series producer Stefan Arndt of Berlin production powerhouse X Filme Creative Pool explained that Tykwer is working with screenwriters Achim von Borries (4 Tage im Mai) and Hendrik Handloegten (Fenster zum Sommer) on the adaptation of Kutscher’s novels for the small screen.

Last year, X Filme acquired the rights to the four existing Gereon Rath novels and any future books in the books series from publisher Kiepenheuer & Witsch against rival bids from other production houses.

Two of the novels - The Wet Fish and The Silent Death - have...

Director Tobe Hooper made quite a name for himself in the 70′s and 80′s with horror films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Funhouse, Salem’s Lot and Poltergeist. I’m sure he surprised many fans following up a “family friendly” blockbuster like Poltergeist with a sci-fi film that was anything but. Based on the novel The Space Vampires by Colin Wilson, Lifeforce is a strange tale of intergalactic visitors who seduce and destroy everything in their path.

On a voyage to study Haley’s Comet, a space crew headed by Colonel Tom Carlsen (Steve Railsback) discover a space vessel inhabited by giant bat-like creatures and decide to take a specimen back to Earth. When a shuttle is sent from Earth to retrieve the team, they discover the crew is missing and the shuttle they were in is burned to a crisp. The rescue team stumbles upon the source...

The new novel by Sheri Holman, Witches on the Road Tonight, is the first literary novel to feature a television horror host as a central character, and it makes an emotional impact as a story of “lonely horror.” That’s the kind of horror that haunts Eddie Alley. Alley works as “Captain Casket”, a monster movie host for an independent television station. He has devoted fans but is deeply afraid of never being understood by his family. He describes his life as “a real ghost story,” which he sees as “colliding” with the lives of those close to him.

The first collision in the book is a literal one which happens early in the novel. Tucker Hayes, a writer driving through Depression-era rural Virginia as part of the Federal Writer’s Project, striking an eight year old Eddie Alley with his car. The boy is only bruised, and Hayes takes...