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Berlin / Potsdam – Hollywood temperatures have arrived! The sun shines 16 hours a day over Berlin-Brandenburg and transforms the capital region into a giant film studio. The shooting boom of cinema films and high-end series generates full employment throughout the film industry. Audiences can look forward to films and series that not only provide entertainment value but are also ideal “brand ambassadors” for Berlin and Brandenburg.

The Medienboard makes an essential contribution to this. In our current session we're supporting the development, production and evaluation of 21 new films and series with a total of 4.7 million euros.

Karoline Herfurth shoots her next film Wunderschön (“Gorgeous”) with Emilia Schüle, Nora Tschirner, Martina Gedeck, Joachim Król, Friedrich Mücke and Maximilian Brückner. In the high-end series sector, Philipp Kadelbach's Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo and Christian Alvart's & Adolfo Kolmerer's Slobørn with Laura Tonke, Lea van Acken, Marc Benjamin and Emily Kusche are about to begin shooting. The clapperboard also clicks for Marc Rothemund's new film Es ist zu deinem Besten  (“In Your Best Interest”) with Heiner Lauterbach, Jürgen Vogel and Inka Friedrich and for TKKG gegen den großen Mancini (“TKKG Against the Great Mancini”) with Trystan Pütter and Alexander Scheer.

All results from the 3rd film funding round for 2019 can be found here.

Welcome to the high shooting season!

Til Schweiger is already filming the sequel of his millionaire-audience hit “Klassentreffen” (“Class Reunion”): from the Altmark to Oder-Spree, Milan Peschel, Samuel Finzi and Lilli Schweiger are in front of the camera for Klassentreffen 2.0 – Die Hochzeit  (“Class Reunion 2.0 - The Wedding”). Meanwhile the directing duo Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado are mixing the Gunpowder Milkshake at Studio Babelsberg: in addition to “Game of Thrones” star Lena Headey, Karen Gillan, Angela Bassett and Paul Giamatti are also starring in the international women's action film.

For the new Wes Anderson film The French Dispatch, a co-production by Studio Babelsberg, “Isle of Dogs” scenographer Simon Weisse is once again constructing his impressive miniature sets in the Potsdam studio halls. A few metres further on at the same location the last tone of the clapperboard has also sounded in Morrowland for Henning Baum, Annette Frier and Uwe Ochsenknecht in Jim Knopf und die Wilde 13  (“Jim Button and the Wild 13”) by Dennis Gansel.

Meanwhile in Berlin, the notorious Nightlife of the city adopts the lead role: Simon Verhoeven gathers Elyas M'Barek, Palina Rojinski and Frederick Lau in front of the camera for his comedy. Elsewhere a collie takes over the title role: for Lassie Come Home by Hanno Olderdissen, Anna Maria Mühe, Justus von Dohnányi, Christoph Letkowski and Jana Pallaske propound their love of our canine friend. All #mbbgefördert – funded by MBB.

Shooting of the Netflix productions Betonrausch  (“Concrete Rush”) with David Kross, Frederick Lau and Janina Uhse and Isi & Ossi with Lisa Vicari and Dennis Mojen – made in Berlin-Brandenburg – has just been completed and they can soon be seen on screens across the globe! 

Just in time for the worldwide start of season 2, Dark has once again celebrated another shooting start in the capital region; Baran bo Odar is again director of Season 3 of this Netflix series. Filming has also commenced in Berlin for Anna Winger's and Maria Schrader's Netflix mini-series Unorthodox, based on the bestseller by Deborah Feldman. The successful director of the four feature films, Detlev Buck, is shooting the live action series Bibi & Tina in Berlin and environs until mid-August. The 3rd and final season of the Neukölln gangster saga 4 Blocks about Arab clan leader Toni Hamady alias Kida Khodr Ramadan under the direction of Özgür Yıldırım is also in the can, and filming has also been underway for the 9th season of Letzte Spur Berlin  (“Last Trace Berlin”) since May.

The high-temperature Berlin-Brandenburg shooting season extends far into autumn: the international success series Deutschland 89, created by Anna & Jörg Winger, is currently in preparation. Shooting of the haunted-house series Hausen by Thomas Stuber and Nikias Chryssos, with Charly Hübner, Alexander Scheer, Lilith Stangenberg and Tristan Göbel, is in the starting blocks for September. Palina Rojinski, Frederick Lau and Sam Riley are soon to come together again in front of the camera for Lars Kraume's Der amerikanische Star  (“The American Star”). The clapper board on Dominik Graf's Kästner film adaptation of Fabian with Tom Schilling, Albrecht Schuch and Saskia Rosendahl will take up duty at the end of August.

Traumfabrik  (“Dream Factory”) with young stars Emilia Schüle and Dennis Mojen is now starting in the picture palaces. The school comedy Abikalypse with Lea van Acken and the episodic film Berlin, I Love You with an international A-list cast including Keira Knightley, Helen Mirren and Jim Sturgess are rearing to go in the cinematic starting blocks. #mbbgefördert – funded by mbb.

Medienboard Managing Director Kirsten Niehuus: “The capital region has become the veritable epicentre of filmmaking in Germany. Whether cinema or series, there is a constant coming and going of both international and German film teams. Added to this are hundreds of employees working behind the cameras every day. Hotels and the trade sector are also benefiting from the film industry boom. For us, summer in the city means light just as in Hollywood: while some people are on vacation, others make films.”