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UFA Hires ‘September 5’ Exec Producer Christoph Müller

Fremantle’s German production house UFA has hired Constantin Film’s Christoph Müller for its cinema division. The producer, who is an exec producer on the Golden Globe-nominated September 5, joins from Constantin Film and will begin at UFA Fiction on February 1, 2025. He also is known for productions including the Oscar-nomnated Sophie Scholl, box office hit Er Ist Wieder Da and Elyas M’Barek and Sönke Wortmann’s films Contra and Der Nachname. “We want to open up new business areas and continue to expand on already successful ones,” said Sascha Schwingel, CEO of UFA. “I am therefore very pleased that we are now strengthening our team with Christoph Müller, who is a renowned producer of cinema productions that delight audiences and critics alike. With him on the team, we will significantly increase the rate of our successful cinema productions.” Sebastian Werninger, Managing Director of UFA Fiction,...

They received the most automatic funding from the Ffa for German films at the German box office.

Constantin Film and Warner Bros Germany were the most successful local production companies and distributors for German films at the German box office in 2022, according to the German Federal Film Board (Ffa).

They have been dubbed ‘Industry Tigers’ by the Ffa and means both companies receive the most in the Ffa’s automatic ‘reference funding’ from the organisation, in line with the amount their German films grossed locally and were exposed at international film festivals in 2022.

Munich-based Constantin Film received €1.2m in production...

German films achieved their second biggest market share in five years.

Cinema-going in Germany in 2022 was down 33.1 to 73.5m compared to pre-pandemic attendance figures of 110m in 2019 - and 23.5 below 2018’s total of 96.1m.

The German box office grossed €694m in 2022, down 28.1 on pre-pandemic levels of €964m in 2019. This was up 92.5 on 2021.

The year’s top film - Disney’s Avatar: The Way Of Water - opened in Germany on December 14 and had been seen by over 5.3m cinema-goers by the end of the year, generating more than € 72m in box-office takings.

The first month of 2023 saw the film continue...

The 18th Zurich Film Festival kicks off Sept. 22 with a muscular lineup that includes some of the year’s most anticipated international pics while also putting the spotlight on Swiss and German-language cinema.

In addition to a strong selection of U.S. films, including Oscar-winning writer-director Florian Zeller’s “The Son” and Neil Jordan’s “Marlowe,” Zurich is also honoring Sony Pictures Classics’ Michael Barker and Tom Bernard for their contribution to cinema.

“We are very proud that this year about one-fourth of our program are world or European premieres, which – especially when it comes to American films – are quite hard to get because there’s a lot of competition,” says Zff artistic director Christian Jungen.

Other big titles unspooling in Zurich include Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “The Woman King,” with Viola Davis; Martin McDonagh’s “The Banshees of Inisherin,” starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan; and Tobias Lindholm’s “The Good Nurse,...

The Zurich Film Festival (Zff) has unveiled the seven titles in its Gala Premieres section showcasing auteur features with broad audience appeal and awards season potential.

The selection features Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh’s Ireland-set comedy-drama The Banshees Of Inisherin, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

The feature makes its world premiere in competition at Venice this year, followed by its North American premiere in Toronto.

Further Venice 2022 Golden Lion contenders in the mix include Argentine director Santiago Mitre’s Argentina, 1985, about a group of lawyers who take on the country’s military dictatorship.

The selection also features the European premiere of Netflix’s German adaptation of All Quiet On The Western Front by Edward Berger, which world premieres in Toronto.

The gala line-up will also showcase Cannes 2022 competition titles, Palme d’Or winner Triangle Of Sadness and Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s South Korea-set drama Broker,...

The Zurich Film Festival has unveiled the first seven titles from its Gala Premieres section, a showcase of some of the year’s hottest auteur films. The films include the star-studded drama “The Banshees of Inisherin” by Oscar-winning director Martin McDonagh, the European premiere of the German film adaptation “All Quiet on the Western Front,” directed by Edward Berger, and the world premieres of Sönke Wortmann’s “Der Nachname” and “Die Goldenen Jahre” by Barbara Kulcsar.

Artistic director Christian Jungen said: “In recent years, the Zurich Film Festival has established itself as a springboard into the awards season. Of the last 10 winners of the Oscar for Best Film, six screened at the festival. This year, we will again present international auteur films that will later play a role in the Oscar race to the more than 120,000 visitors and the 600 accredited media.”

The complete program of the festival will be published on Sept.

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Irish drama The Banshees of Inisherin, from Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri director Martin McDonagh; Edward Berger’s German-language adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front; and Cannes winners Triangle of Sadness and Broker are among the titles getting the gala treatment at this year’s Zurich International Film Festival, which runs Sept. 22 – Oct 2.

Zurich has unveiled the first seven of the gala premieres for the 2022 fest. Most will be heading to Zurich after their world premieres elsewhere. Banshees of Inisherin will first bow in competition in Venice, while All Quiet on the Western Front, a Netflix film, kicks off its festival run in Toronto. Another Venice title, Argentina, 1985 — from director Santiago Mitre and featuring The Secrets in Their Eyes star Ricardo Darín — will also hit the Zurich red carpet (which is actually green) this year.

Among the Zurich 2022 galas are two...