News

As Germany shifts to the right, will its movies and TV series become less diverse?

After making major strides to promote diversity in film and TV productions in recent years, the German film industry could now be facing a setback in this effort. The country, which is home to the Berlin Film Festival and European conglomerates such as Rtl Group, recently passed a film funding law that removed a clause requiring all local productions to meet specific diversity, gender equality and inclusion criteria.

The German parliament — before being dissolved in December — ushered in a watered-down version of the country’s planned new film law that will create a more centralized funding system for production, distribution and exhibition. In the rush to get this crucial piece of legislation passed, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth “had to make some compromises in order to get the majority in parliament to vote for it,...

Exclusive: Filming is underway on long-gestating European thriller series The Kollective (6 x 60′), which we can reveal will star Natascha McElhone (Californication), Celine Buckens (Showtrial), Felix Mayr (Unorthodox), Gregg Sulkin (Marvel’s Runaways), Grégory Montel (Call My Agent), Karel Roden (A Spy Amongst Friends), Cassiopée Mayance (The Clearstream Affair), Martha Canga Antonio (Lupin) and Ralph Amoussou (Transatlantic).

Produced by Submarine (Apollo 10 ½) and created by Leonardo Fasoli (Gomorrah), Maddalena Ravagli (Gomorrah) and Submarine’s Femke Wolting, the series was commissioned by The European Alliance and will be distributed worldwide by A+E Media Group, with Hulu coming aboard for U.S. distribution.

Inspired by the investigative journalist group Bellingcat, the series will span Europe from Budapest and St. Petersburg in the East to London in the West. It will follow a group of intrepid young citizen journalists who, after a sudden tragedy, find themselves sucked into a web of government lies and corruption.

European Film Promotion has revealed the 10 emerging actors who will take part in the 27th edition of European Shooting Stars program, which promotes European acting talent. Past Shooting Stars have included Carey Mulligan, Alicia Vikander, Maisie Williams and Riz Ahmed.

From Feb. 16-19, the actors will be presented to the international press and industry, and the German public at the Berlin Film Festival. One of the highlights will be the Shooting Stars Awards Ceremony on Feb. 19 at the Berlinale Palast.

The Shooting Stars for 2024 are Belgium’s Thibaud Dooms, Bulgaria’s Margarita Stoykova, France’s Suzy Bemba, Georgia’s Salome Demuria, Germany’s Katharina Stark, Ireland’s Éanna Hardwicke, Italy’s Valentina Bellè, Lithuania’s Džiugas Grinys, Poland’s Kamila Urzędowska and Sweden’s Asta Kamma August.

The jury that selected the actors comprised of Austrian director, screenwriter and producer Barbara Albert, Lithuanian producer Živilė Gallego, Irish actor Moe Dunford,...

Also world premiering is HBO Max series ‘Spy/Master’ and Indian drama ‘Roar’

Italian crime drama The Good Mothers is among the seven titles selected for Berlinale (February 16-26) Series strand.

Scroll down for full list of titles

The Disney+ series is directed by the UK’s Julian Jarrold, whose credits include Kinky Boots, Becoming Jane and Brideshead Revisted, and Italian filmmaker Elisa Amoruso. The Good Mothers is a UK-Italy co-production and follows three women trying to bring down the Italian mafia.

The first two episodes of the six-part series is one of five series world premiering at Berlinale.

These...

Disney+ has set “German House,” a drama about a young interpreter who is confronted with the shocking truth of the Holocaust during her work at the first Auschwitz trial in 1963, as its next German original.

The five-part miniseries is an adaptation of the best-selling novel of the same name by author Annette Hess, who also wrote the screenplay and serves as showrunner.

Shooting on “German House” has been underway in Poland since late August and will continue until mid-December. Isa Prahl (“Westwall”) and Randa Chahoud (“Deutschland 89”) serve as directors.

Produced by Gaumont Germany, the series sees the protagonist uncover horrible crimes, suffering and guilt that had been suppressed during the German economic miracle as she also discovers her own family entanglements in the dark side of German history.

The cast comprises Katharina Stark (“Tatort”), Anke Engelke, Iris Berben, (“Krupp”), Hans-Jochen Wagner her father Ludwig and Ricarda Seifried (“A Winter’s...

Spanish Horror

Two of Spain’s highest-profile upcoming horror titles got release dates and trailers today, David Casademunt’s “El páramo” (formerly “La bestia”) at Netflix and Amazon Prime Video’s horror anthology “Historias para no dormir.”

“El páramo” is the highly anticipated feature debut of award-winning short filmmaker Casademunt, and boasts a small yet star-filled cast including Inma Cuesta (“The Bride”), Roberto Álamo (“The Skin I Live In”) and Asier Flores (“Pain and Glory”). The film is set in an isolated cabin where a family of three are visited by a terrible monster which threatens the ties that bind them. It will world premiere on Oct. 11 at the Sitges Film Festival and hit Netflix worldwide on Jan. 26, 2022. Rodar y Rodar produces.

Amazon Prime Video and Spanish broadcaster Rtve’s reboot of Chicho Ibáñez Serrador’s legendary Spanish horror anthology series “Historias para no dormir” will hit the streaming platform on Nov.

Indie titles hoping to capitalise on blockbuster absence.

UK-Ireland, opening Friday August 14

Picturehouse Entertainment heads the new titles this weekend with Shannon Murphy’s Australian comedy-drama Babyteeth in 140 locations.

The debut feature of theatre and TV drama director Murphy played in Competition at Venice last year, where Toby Wallace won the Marcello Mastroianni award for emerging actor/actress. It most recently won the top prize at the 19th Transylvania International Film Festival last weekend.

Adapted by Rita Kalnejais from her stage play of the same name, the film centres on Milla (Eliza Scanlen), a seriously ill teenager, who falls in...