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Stars, filmmakers and industry reps gathered at Soho House for Studio Babelsberg’s annual Berlinale bash on Friday, celebrating the renowned company’s cinematic legacy and its central role in Germany’s bustling film and TV sector.

Recent productions shot at the storied studio, part of the Cinespace Studios group, include Tom Tykwer’s Berlinale opener “The Light” as well as Wes Anderson’s upcoming “The Phoenician Scheme” and Robert Schwentke’s thriller “Control,” starring James McAvoy and Julianne Moore.

Ken Duken, Volker Schlöndorff and Detlev Buck

Among this year’s high-profile guests at the Cinespace x Studio Babelsberg Night were Lana Wachowski, Toby Onwumere, Aaron Altaras, Anika Decker, Volker Schlöndorff, Julia von Heinz, Jeanne Goursaud, David Schütter, Lars Kraume, Detlev Buck, Heiner Lauterbach, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Malick Bauer, Florence Kasumba, Hannah Herzsprung, Marie Mouroum, Klara Lange, Dani Levy, Oliver Masucci, Lea van Acken, Sabin Tambrea and Pheline Roggan.

Lana Wachowski

Speaking to Variety,...

Tom Tykwer, whose cinematic resume includes innovative projects that once spun the dizzying thrill of “Run Lola Run” and the intense chronicles of “Babylon Berlin,” reenters the German-language scene with a film that mirrors the modern malaise of society. Here, his return is marked by a refreshing, if occasionally puzzling, pursuit of intellectual questions. Tykwer’s work has often sparked conversation about the interplay between kinetic storytelling and the weight of historical memory—a curiosity that finds new expression in this film.

Berlin itself is cast not merely as a backdrop but as a character of its own; the city’s relentless drizzle and angular urban spaces provoke thoughts on isolation and collective fatigue. In this setting, the narrative orbits around a family unraveling under the strain of internal conflicts and unspoken disappointments—a microcosm of a society grappling with its past and present. A figure arrives unexpectedly, an emblematic...

German auteur Tom Tykwer and producer Uwe Schott decried the limited funding opportunities available to make German-language films, ahead of the world premiere of their film The Light opening this year’s Berlinale.

“It’s always too costly, too expensive if you try and come up with really juicy cinema,” said Tykwer, who holds the record for having directed the most films to open the Berlinale. The Light is his third, after Heaven in 2002 and The International in 2009.

“At least in my life, the public broadcasters are real heroes,” he continued. “There are always these discussions about their role in society…...

After a decade spent exploring the lives “of my grandparents’ generation” in the 1930-set period series Babylon Berlin, Tom Tykwer has returned his focus to modern-day Germany with the cinematic opus The Light, the opening night film of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival.

Tykwer, along with The Light stars Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz, and first-timer Tala Al Deen discussed the inspiration behind the feature at the Berlinale press conference ahead of the movie’s world premiere on Thursday.

Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz play Tim and Milena Engels, a late-40s couple juggling privilege and discontent: He’s a trend-chasing ad exec, holding onto his left-wing progressive views while assisting major corporations in their greenwashing; she’s wrestling with a doomed arts project in Kenya. Their teenage twins spiral in opposite directions — one lost in Berlin’s club scene, the other in a VR fantasy — while their eight-year-old drifts alongside unnoticed.

Lars Eidinger, the star of Tom Tykwer’s latest film “The Light,” said during a Berlin Film Festival press conference that the drama exposes “the reason the world is on the brink”: narcissism.

The German-language film, which is set to open the fest on Thursday night, stars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz as Milena and Tim, the 40-something parents of irate 17-year-old twins. Tala Al-Deen (“Tatort”) portrays Farrah, their housekeeper, who challenges the family in unexpected ways but turns out to have her own agenda.

When asked about the hot-button topics the film addresses, Tykwer said that the generational divide between the parents and the children “is an abyss … You’ve missed the train! That’s what the other generation tells us.”

Eidinger added that “The Light’s” main statement is that “we are the reason the world is on the brink,” he said, referring to the generation of the parents in the film.

Todd Haynes, who is serving as Berlin Film Festival jury president, spoke out against Donald Trump’s administration as the fest kicked off on Thursday.

When asked his thoughts on Trump’s second term at the jury press conference, the “May December” director said bluntly: “We’re in a state of particular crisis right now in the United States, but also globally.”

He continued, “Everyone I know in the United States and friends abroad are witnessing this barrage of actions in the first three weeks of the Trump administration with tremendous concern, shock. I think that’s been part of the strategy, to create a sense of destabilization and shock among the people. So how we proceed toward coalescing different forms of resistance are still in the works and are still being figured out among Democrats. I have no doubt that there will be many people who did in fact...

A much-needed film funding reform in Germany has become critical for the local industry and for Berlin’s Studio Babelsberg in particular, as it welcomes new management and bids farewell to longtime head of production Henning Molfenter, who has launched a new company.

Studio Babelsberg appointed former Warner Bros. exec Joerg Bachmaier as new CEO in November and in December brought in industry veteran and producer Marcus Loges to succeed Molfenter as managing director of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures.

The studio has remained active with such recent productions as Tom Tykwer’s Berlin Film Festival opener “The Light,” Wes Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme” and Robert Schwentke’s thriller “Control,” starring James McAvoy and Julianne Moore. It’s starting the new year with three series productions on its backlot: Season 2 of Hulu’s “Nine Perfect Strangers,” “Ten Percent” for Disney+ Germany and Season 5 of local hit “Babylon Berlin.”

Yet it...

Tom Tykwer opens the Berlin Film Festival for a third time on Thursday with his dazzling snapshot of life in contemporary Berlin, taking stock of German society as the first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close.

It is his first feature-length film since 2016’s Saudi Arabia-set drama A Hologram for the King starring Tom Hanks.

Tykwer, who has spent the past decade immersed in the final years of Germany’s 1918-1933 Weimer Republic with hit series Babylon Berlin, has returned to the present with gusto.

He plunges his protagonists into a reality marked by digitization, globalization, climate change, job insecurity, global migration, conflict-driven displacement and rising political extremism, and watches them navigate this age of disruption.

Lars Eidinger and Nicolette Krebitz play chaotic, comfortably-off, late 40s couple Tim and Milena Engels, who are parents to 17-year-twins Frieda (Elke Biesendorfer) and John (Julius Gause), and 8-year-old Dio (Elyas Eldridge...

Starring Elsa Pataky and “Money Heist’s” Enrique Arce and Hovik Keuchkerian, SkyShowtime Original “Shades” (“Matices”) and Bulgarian drama “Shattered Bonds” will head Beta Film’s slate at the Berlin Festival’s European Film Market.

“Shades” is one of the two titles featured at a Berlinale Series Market Spanish Thrillers showcase on Feb. 17. Toplining “The White Lotus’” Julian Kostov, “Shattered Bonds” will center the EFM showcase “Narratives Against Rising Youth Violence” on Feb 18.

“Shades” and “Shattered Bonds” join official Berlinale TV entry “Other People’s Money,” inspired by the true story of Europe’s biggest known tax fraud, which screens as the sole TV series in the festival’s Panorama Section.

Beta Cinema represents Berlinale opening title “The Light” by Tom Tykwer and the Panorama entry “Cicadas” by Ina Weisse (“The Audition”).

Produced by Secuoya Studios and Stellarmedia for SkyShowtime, “Shades” marks SkyShowtime’s second locally commissioned original in Spain.

The...

The Serpent star Tahar Rahim and Boiling Point’s Izuka Hoyle are leading Prisoner, the Sky thriller series from Matt Charman.

The pair are joined by Eddie Marsan (Back to Black, The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe), Catherine McCormack (Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, 28 Weeks Later), Leonie Benesch (September 5, Babylon Berlin), Finn Bennett (Black Doves, True Detective), Sam Troughton (Lockerbie: A Search for Truth, Black Doves), Laurie Davidson (The Girlfriend, Mary & George), Ken Nwosu (Black Doves, Sticks and Stones), Brían F. O’Byrne (Conclave, The Wonder) and Youssef Kerkour (Lockerbie: A Search For Truth).

Prisoner follows a principled young prison officer escorting a dangerous, high-value prisoner to court to testify against his elite crime syndicate. Throughout the journey, their relationship twists and turns, with the stakes escalating as the crime syndicate stops at nothing to track them down. Deadline revealed the project several weeks back from Charman, the...

The Berlin Film Festival has unveiled the competition jury of its 75th edition, including Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Moroccan filmmaker Nabil Ayouch (“Everybody Loves Touda”), German costume designer Bina Daigeler (Tár), Argentinian director Rodrigo Moreno (“The Delinquents”), film critic Amy Nicholson and actress-director Maria Schrader (“She Said”).

As previously announced, the jury will be presided over by “May December” filmmaker Todd Haynes.

Earlier this month, the festival announced an exciting lineup, including Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” starring Ethan Hawke and Margaret Qualley, and Michel Franco’s “Dreams” with Jessica Chastain. Other notable titles on the competition roster include “Hot Milk,” the feature debut of acclaimed screenwriter Rebecca Lenkiewicz (“She Said”) starring Emma Mackey, Fiona Shaw and Vicky Krieps; and “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” Mary Bronstein’s film starring Rose Byrne, A$AP Rocky and Conan O’Brien.

A pair of Chinese movies, “Girls on Wire” (“Xiang fei...

Drug boss series, biopics, a Kiwi skateboarding drama and a smorgasbord of period pieces are set for the upcoming Berlinale Co-Production Market.

The line-up for this year’s Co-Pro Series pitch event, held during the Berlin Film Festival, features projects from Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, the U.S. and from across Europe.

The realities of financing premium drama mean co-production is in vogue and the shows pitched in Berlin will be scouting for partners.

Danish project The Best of Families will be on show, hailing from Piv Bernth’s ITV Studios backed banner Apple Tree. The series traces the impact of a chemical factory on the lives of various families and nature in the 1950s and comes from Maja Jul Larsen (Borgen) and director Charlotte Sieling (Homeland).

Two narco stories have made the grade. Wildlife comes from Brazil and the U.S. and is billed as a series about an unusual drug lord.

Bong Joon Ho‘s hotly anticipated sci-fi film “Mickey 17,” starring Robert Pattinson, will have its international premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Variety has learned.

The $118 million movie marks Bong’s first directorial effort since “Parasite,” which won Cannes’ Palme d’Or and made Oscar history, becoming the first foreign-language film to win the Academy Award for best picture.

“Mickey 17” will debut in South Korean theaters on Feb. 28, and will be globally released a week later by Warner Bros. There could also be a premiere of the movie in South Korea slated for before the Berlinale unspooling.

Securing the movie’s international premiere is a major coup for the Berlinale’s new artistic director Tricia Tuttle — a progressive American film journalist and curator — who will celebrate her first edition at the festival this year, succeeding Carlo Chatrian. Tuttle previously led the BFI London Film Festival during a fast-growing five-year chapter.

We’ve had elections, high-minded dramas, down-and-dirty comedies and more filling our screens in 2024, but somehow when a Christmas tree-transfixed Otis Heiss (Klaus Tange) uttered “we’re all in the Night Country now” in the fourth episode of the HBO series True Detective, he spoke for almost all of us.

Fans of the fourth installment of HBO’s anthology series will recall the line, the mix of pathos and mystique. The party trick is how applicable it is around the all-encompassing nature of the best new TV shows of this year. Perhaps you could say it was the throughline, on and off screen.

After all, 2024 saw the fabled Doomsday Clock stay at the 90 seconds-to-midnight spot for a second year in a row. That’s the closest it has been to the end of the day and humankind since its inception in 1947.

Closer to home in Hollywood, in this year where...

"We are the reason why the world is on the brink of disaster..." The truth right there. Whoa! X Verleih has revealed the full German trailer for the film titled The Light, also known as Das Licht in German. It's the latest feature film from acclaimed German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, his first feature since A Hologram for the King in 2016, because he's also been working on the "Babylon Berlin" series for the last 8 years. The film has a March 2025 release date in Germany and will premiere at the upcoming 2025 Berlin Film Festival in February as the big Opening Night film. A family faces collapse as they deal with modern issues, searching for new beginnings in a troubled world. Their life is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious Syrian woman, who "puts the Engels' emotional world to an unexpectedly wild test." Filming took place in Berlin and North Rhine-Westphalia and Kenya.

The Belin Film Festival has unveiled its Panorama lineup, including new works by Denis Côté, Ira Sachs, Michel Gondry and Shatara Michelle Ford, among others.

Sachs’ movie, “Peter Hujar’s Day,” stars Ben Wishaw and Rebecca Hall. Set for an international premiere in Berlin, the film portrays a 1974 conversation between photographer Peter Hujar and his friend Linda Rosenkrantz, set against the backdrop of the New York art scene of the time.

Côté’s film, “Paul,” is a documentary about a man struggling with depression and social anxiety who found refuge in serving women who invite him to clean their homes.

Gondry’s “Maya, Give Me a Title” is described by the festival as a “stop-motion love letter to his daughter Maya brings to life a poetic and amusing journey that invites you to dream and laugh.” It features the voice of “The Count of Monte-Cristo” star Pierre Niney.

Ford’s “Dreams in Nightmares,...

The German film community is mourning the unexpected death of Good Bye, Lenin! director Wolfgang Becker at the age of 70 after a serious illness.

He had just completed principal photography on his sixth feature,The Hero Of Friedrichstrasse Station, based on Maxim Leo’s novel of the same name.

Becker graduated from the German Film & Television Academy in Berlin (dffb) in 1987 with his directorial debut Butterflies (Schmetterlinge). Adapted from a short story by Ian McEwan, the film won the Saarland Prime-Minister’s Award at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, a student Academy Award and the Golden Leopard in Locarno...

The world premiere of “Das Licht (The Light),” the latest feature film from Tom Tykwer, will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival on February 13, 2025. The German-French production will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala out of competition in the Berlinale Palast.

“We knew as soon as we saw ‘Das Licht (The Light)’ that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale,” the festival’s director Tricia Tuttle said in making the announcement. “Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with ‘Das Licht (The Light).'”

Tykwer has already opened the Berlinale — twice, as a matter of fact. In 2022 it was his first international production, “Heaven,” that had the honor. The director and screenwriter most recently opened the festival...

Tom Tykwer’s “The Light” will open the 75th Berlin International Film Festival. The German-French production, Das Licht (“The Light”) will be presented as a Berlinale Special Gala out of competition in the Berlinale Palast.

The film marks Tykwer’s return to the big screen after seven years and four seasons as writer and director of the hit series “Babylon Berlin.”

“We knew as soon as we saw ‘Das Licht’ (‘The Light’) that we wanted to have it open the 75th Berlinale,” said festival director Tricia Tuttle. “Tom Tykwer finds beauty and joy in our often fractured and challenging world, and magically captures the essence of our modern life on screen. It is our great pleasure to welcome Tom back to the Berlinale with ‘Das Licht’ (‘The Light’),” she continued.

“The Light” stars Lars Eidinger, Nicolette Krebitz, Elke Biesendorfer, Julius Gause and Elyas Eldridge.

Set in present day in Berlin,...

Marcus Loges has been named the new head of production at storied German backlot Studio Babelsberg, the studio unveiled on Wednesday. On Jan. 1, he will take over from Henning Molfenter, who has run Babelsberg’s production operations for the past 20 years.

Loges has production credits on multiple features that shot at Babelberg, including on sci-fi epic Cloud Atlas, co-directed by the Wachowski siblings and German helmer Tom Tykwer, and on the Netflix series The Queen’s Gambit. He worked on several Wachowskis-produced projects that shot in Germany, including as a producer on the Wachowskis’ Netflix show Sense8 and as a production manager on James McTeigue’s V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin.

More recently, Loges worked as a line producer on the hit German series Babylon Berlin, co-created by Tykwer, Henk Handloegten, and Achim von Borries.

“It is a great honor and pleasure for me to return to Babelsberg – to a...

Stream unedited international mysteries, dramas, and comedies with English subtitles anytime you want.

I’m a sucker for a great murder mystery, and sometimes Europe just does it better. Sure, there are subtitles, but if “Squid Game” taught us anything, it’s that a great story matters far more than what language the characters are speaking. So, if you’re a fan of international movies and TV and haven’t heard of MHz Choice, consider this a sign to check it out. As one of the premiere streamers for exclusive international mysteries, dramas, and comedies, MHz Choice gives you over 2,500 hours of content – all unedited with easy-to-read English subtitles. From quirky French mysteries like “Alexandra Ehle” to darker tales from Finland like “Arctic Circle,” there’s a gripping story waiting to be discovered. Here’s everything you need to know about MHz Choice.

7-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month MHz Choice via...

When Leonie Benesch‘s German agent called the actress about “September 5,” she knew what she was going to say. The script came from casting director Simone Bär, who died in January 2023 and had cast Benesch in several projects, including “The White Ribbon,” “The Teachers’ Lounge,” and the series “Babylon Berlin.”

“She said, ‘Apparently it’s about Munich ’72. I know what you’re going to say: It’s been done before. I agree with you, but Simona said it is a really thrilling read,'” Benesch tells Gold Derby. “And that’s what it was. Because it takes this stance.”

Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, who co-wrote the script Moritz Binder, “September 5” chronicles the hostage crisis at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian militant organization Black September killed two members of the Israel Olympic team in the Olympic Village and held nine others hostage who were later murdered as well. The stance it...

Look who's back! X Verleih debuted a quick 30-second teaser for a new film called The Light, also known as Das Licht in German. It's the latest feature film from acclaimed German filmmaker Tom Tykwer, his first feature since A Hologram for the King in 2016, because he's also been working on the "Babylon Berlin" series for the last 8 years. The film has a March 2025 release date in Germany, but no festival premieres yet - it's expected to show up at Sundance and/or Berlinale early next year. A family faces collapse as they deal with modern issues, searching for new beginnings in a troubled world. Their life is disrupted by the arrival of a mysterious Syrian woman, who "puts the Engels' emotional world to an unexpectedly wild test." I'm guessing the modern issues it's dealing with are about how xenophobic many Germans still are and how they don't really know how to accept immigrants.

Emmy-winning “The White Lotus” executive producer David Bernad has teamed with German production company UFA to develop series “Hotel Neptun.” The move comes as UFA, which is part of Fremantle, ramps up its international ambitions. A year after Sascha Schwingel took over as CEO of UFA, he spoke to Variety about the company’s priorities.

Journalists Joshua Davis (“Little America”) and Joshuah Bearman (“Argo”) are attached to “Hotel Neptun,” which is about a hotel in the former East Germany, where spies from all over the world met.

Nataly Kudiabor, a producer on UFA’s dark comedy “Where’s Wanda?” for Apple TV+ and managing director of UFA Fiction, is also attached to “Hotel Neptun.”

Bernad is also known for the Amazon Freevee mockumentary “Jury Duty” and the HBO limited series “White House Plumbers” with Woody Harrelson and Justin Theroux.

“Maxton Hall”

Schwingel tells Variety: “Our strategy is quite simple. It’s...

Having hit new highs in 2023 and 2024, staging world premieres of Apple TV+’s “Silo” and “Franklin,” Amazon’s “Dead Ringers” and Disney+’s “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” Canneseries, one of Europe’s most prominent festivals, is looking to build its industry heft for its 2025 eighth edition but only second standalone event without a MipTV or Mipcom running aside the TV festival.

Season 8 of Canneseries, as its organizers call the 2025 eighth edition, runs April 24-29 on the Croisette.

In its biggest move, Canneseries will power up its program for professionals launched in 2020 and featuring both its already established Canneseries Writers Club and a Producers Club, targeting commissioners, program managers, producers, distributors, directors of private or public TV channels and platform directors.

Canneseries will now develop a bouquet of clubs – networking and discussion forums – under an Canneseries Industry umbrella, Benoît Louvet, Canneseries managing director, told Variety.

First up are new composers, technicians, casting directors and students clubs.

Beta Film has released a swashbuckling, pulse-pounding trailer for “Rise of the Raven,” its epic 10-part drama series based on the bloody 15th-century battle that changed the course of Europe. The show will world premiere at Mipcom in the Grand Auditorium of Cannes’ Palais des Festivals on Oct. 22.

Adapted from author Bán Mór’s bestselling novels, the series tells the story of the Hungarian warrior Janos Hunyadi, who defeated the Ottoman army in 1456 at the Battle of Belgrade, halting its march across Europe and marking a turning point in the history of the continent.

The series is produced by veteran Canadian producer Robert Lantos’ Serendipity Point Films and Beta Film, the production and distribution powerhouse behind series including “Gomorrah” and “Babylon Berlin.” The Munich-based company is also repping the show internationally as part of a packed Mipcom slate.

In a trailer shared exclusively with Variety, Hunyadi (Kádár L. Gellért) delivers...

Exclusive: Kino Lorber Media Group has promoted Monica Bloom to Chief Marketing Officer.

The exec held the same title for a division of the company, MHz Choice, since June 2023. Her portfolio will now expand to include all marketing and communications for Kino Lorber, including Kino Film Collection’s streaming service and home entertainment operation.

Bloom joined the company in June 2023, shortly after it formed a joint venture with First Look Media to operate the Topic streaming service. It then integrated Topic into MHz Choice, a specialist in international series it had acquired in 2022. In announcing Bloom’s promotion, Kino Lorber called her “instrumental” in MHz Choice’s subscriber acquisition and retention efforts, and noted her orchestrations of campaigns like the one for German series Babylon Berlin, a signature title.

In her new role, Bloom will oversee brand, digital, and title marketing for Kino Lorber across streaming and home entertainment, along with subscriber acquisition and retention,...

Season 4 of the gripping German series Babylon Berlin wastes no time diving headlong into its convoluted yet captivating plot. Set in Berlin in 1931 amid growing political and economic turmoil, this season follows multiple interweaving storylines with detective Gereon Rath and ambitious police assistant Charlotte at the center.

Gereon goes undercover within the Nazi party’s paramilitary wing, the Sa, to investigate from within. Charlotte works cases around Berlin, from street crimes to threats against journalists. The introduction of Charlotte’s long-lost sister Toni adds another layer of intrigue.

Viewers soon see these narratives collide and intersect in fascinating ways. In one packed opening scene, Gereon, dressed as an Sa officer, literally bumps into Charlotte at a nationalist riot, witnessing her photograph a crime scene—unknowingly connected to Toni.

Elsewhere politicians jockey for power, criminal groups maneuver, and ordinary Berliners struggle to get by as unemployment and homelessness swell the ranks of the disenchanted.

One of Northern Europe’s leading festivals, the A-listed Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (also known as PÖFF) unspooling Nov. 8-24 in the Estonian capital, has unveiled its first features and inaugural documentary competition programs, each boasting an enticingly curated slate of 11 titles.

Among the seven world premieres selected for the First Feature strand are Germany’s “No Dogs Allowed” by student Academy Award nominated Steve Bache tackling the taboo subject of paedophilia in teen years; “Two of Me”, the humorous meta story of twin brothers dreaming to make it big in movies, helmed by Estonian twins “the Eskobros”; and “A Yard of Jackals”, Chilean thriller set during Pinochet’s dictatorship toplining Néstor Cantillana and Blanca Lewin from HBO’s “Fugitives” (“Prófugo”).

Programmer Triin Tramberg said the First Feature selection committee watched 250 films from 66 countries, picking those with the biggest sales and distribution potential.

“We don’t have industry people...

Beta Film, one of Europe’s biggest and most ambitious independents, has unveiled its Mipcom sales slate, led by 10-part epic “Rise of the Raven,” plus a new pick-up, “Last to Brake,” based on the true story of Finnish motorcycle racing great Jarno Saarinen, and now 288 episodes of Greek daily series smash hit “The Beach.”

Also brought to market are two Eagle Eye Drama shows: singular PBS and Channel 4 procedural “Patience,” starring Laura Fraser (“Breaking Bad”); and “Bookish,” created and starring Emmy Award winner Mark Gatiss, as well as Internet troll redemption’s tale “A Better Man,” from public broadcast powerhouses Nrk and Zdf.

Promising one of Mipcom’s biggest world premieres and billed by Beta Film as one of the most epic European TV productions of all time – which is something coming from Beta, the producers of “Babylon Berlin” and “Swarm” – “Rise of the Raven,” produced by the...

Three German regional film funds - Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw, Fff Bayern and Hessen Film & Medien - have allocated more than €12m to new film and TV series projects in their latest funding sessions.

The fifth and final season of Babylon Berlin, scheduled to start production this autumn, received the largest sum of €2m from the funding committee of Düsseldorf-based Film- und Medienstiftung Nrw.

In total, the fund distributed €5.3m to 12 projects including Coin Film’s production of writer-director Jutta Brückner’s drama The Assistant, starring Corinna Harfouch and Sandra Hüller; Heimatfilm and Amour Fou’s co-production of Ulrike Ottinger...

This weekly feature is in addition to TVLine’s daily What to Watch listings and our monthly breakdown of What’s on Streaming.

With over 500 scripted shows now airing across broadcast, cable and streaming, it’s easy to forget that a favorite comedy is returning, or that the new “prestige drama” you anticipated is about to debut. So consider this our reminder to set your DVR, order a Season Pass, pop a fresh Memorex into the Vcr… however it is you roll.

More from TVLineWho’s In? Who’s Out? TV’s Major Casting Moves for Fall (and Beyond!)Olympics...

Sarah Duve-Schmid, the deputy CEO of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa) will succeed Kirsten Niehuus as managing director of film funding for Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg from mid-2025.

Niehuus, who was also deputy CEO at the Ffa from 1999 to 2004, has been at the helm of the regional fund’s film funding operations since November 2004.

Like Niehuus, Duve-Schmid is a trained lawyer who has been head of film funding at the Ffa since 2019.

In line with Duve- Schmid’s arrival, film funding decisions will now be taking by committee rather than by the managing director alone for the first time in the Medienboard’s 30-year history.

Nico Hofmann and Jan Mojto, two leading figures in the German TV industry, on Friday unveiled the upcoming slate for their new joint venture, announced earlier this year. Their company plans to make big-budget, high-end series out of Germany for the international market.

The first slate of projects includes several novel and nonfiction adaptations. They include: Tilmann Lahme’s Die Manns – Geschichte einer Familie, a biography of the legendary Mann family, including noble prize winner Thomas Mann and his brother Heinrich Mann, which is to be produced as a six-part television series set in the 1920s and told through the eyes of the younger generation, particularly the kindred spirits and eldest siblings Klaus and Erika Mann.

The group plans to adapt European Book Prize winner Maxim Leo’s best-selling novel Wo wir zu Hause sind and his latest book, Wir werden jung sein, as a limited series. The first is...

Here we are Insiders, the sun is shining and Max Goldbart is present to guide you through the week’s headlines. Read on, and sign up here.

German Deep Dive

From ‘CSI: Berlin’ to nothing at all: The Munich Film Festival kicks off this morning, almost a year to the day that it emerged Sky Deutschland would be exiting the scripted original game in Germany, a decision that rocked the local production community. The tide has barely turned since, with Paramount+ and Starzplay (aka Lionsgate+) following suit and exiting drama and comedy production. “Paramount+ went from wanting CSI: Berlin to flatlined communications,” a well-known drama producer mused to Jesse and Stewart, who have spent plenty of time in Germany this past month. They’ve pieced together a comprehensive investigation spotlighting how the market has reacted to myriad setbacks, with potentially hundreds of projects back on the market and stuck at...

As Brazil rebuilds as Latin America’s major production force, German film-tv giant Beta Film has made its first move outside Europe, backing Janeiro Studios, based in Rio and led by former Beta Film top exec Koby Gal Raday and Rio Fest head Ilda Santiago.

A fourth partner will be Brazilian producer Mayra Faour Auad’s MyMama Entertainment.

Gal Raday will serve as CEO, Santiago as MD.

The Studios’ launch catches Brazil’s film and TV in the first full flush of growth, sluiced by public funding with more quite possibly on the way.

Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva unveiled plans at Rio’s Quanta Studios last week to invest R$1.6 billion ($295 million) in Brazilian films and series in 2025. The sector is already receiving $516 million in Paul Gustavo Law funding, in a measure greenlit before Lula came into power.

Janeiro Studios tackles head-on Brazil’s biggest challenge as a film-tv power.

For U.S. fans of Babylon Berlin the wait is finally over. The epic, ground-breaking German series, a noirish crime drama set during the Weimar Republic, was unceremoniously dropped by Netflix, which had been streaming the show stateside, after three seasons. Season 4 premiered in Europe in late 2022 but American viewers had to wait until specialist streamer MHz Choice finally picked up the show earlier this year. Season 4 launched on Tuesday, June 25.

For the uninitiated, Babylon Berlin is the story of Gereon Rath (Volker Bruch), a police detective traumatized by his experience in the trenches of World War I, who joins the Berlin force. The German capital is at the cutting edge of social and artistic experimentation — with a giddy, hedonistic nightlife — but is also a political tinderbox as sky-high inflation and rampant poverty meet a rising movement of far-right nationalists. At Rath’s side is Charlotte Ritter (Liv Lisa Fries...

Babylon Berlin, a critically acclaimed German television series set during the Weimar Republic in late 1920s Berlin, has taken the world by storm.

The show follows Gereon Rath, a troubled police inspector transferred from Cologne to Berlin, as he navigates the capital's chaotic and decadent world.

The series masterfully intertwines historical events with fictional narratives, presenting a vivid picture of a society on the brink of upheaval.

In the fourth season, Gereon faces his greatest fears and personal challenges yet, including the complex dynamics of love and loyalty.

The season promises more intense political intrigue, personal turmoil, and the captivating blend of historical and fictional storytelling that has made Babylon Berlin a standout series.

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We recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Volker Bruch, the series' leading man, to discuss his experience and insights into playing Gereon Rath, the show's complex protagonist.

Liv Lisa Fries as Charlotte Ritter, in the German historical fiction TV series “Babylon Berlin.” Courtesy of MHzChoice

“Babylon Berlin,” the most expensive series in the history of German television, continues in Season 4 to take us through 1930s Germany, including all its glory juxtaposed with the foreboding of horrors to come. Production quality of the first three seasons is not only maintained but expanded in a number of impressive scenes. Below is the link to last month’s review of the earlier years, bringing you up to speed: https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2024/05/babylon-berlin-seasons-2-3-tv-series-review.

Much of the cast returns, with the primary focus remaining on Rath and Charlotte, imposing more dramatic ups and downs on them than before. The action starts on 1930’s New Years Eve and runs through much of 1931. The Nazi honchos are dripping with even more evil – some via political manipulations; others, including many of the cops,...

It’s official: After more than a year of negotiations and financial wrangling, the producers of Babylon Berlin have received the green light for a fifth and final season of the ground-breaking award-winning German period drama.

Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries will return to reprise their lead roles as police detective Gereon Rath and assistant Charlotte Ritter for a final eight-episode arc set in February 1933 as the Nazis finally seize power in Germany. The season will be based on Volker Kutscher’s fifth Gereon Rath novel, The March Fallen. Series co-creators and showrunners Henk Handlogten, Achim von Borries and Tom Tykwer will return for the finale season, producing via X-Filme Creative Pool and directing all eight episodes.

“In the final season of Babylon Berlin we put February 1933 under the magnifying glass: Rarely has a society been torn apart more radically in such a short period of time than Germany in this chaotic month,...

The fifth and final season of the global hit series “Babylon Berlin” has received an official green light, and eight new episodes will be shot this fall.

“Babylon Berlin” is produced by X-Filme Creative Pool in co-production with Ard Degeto, Swr, Wdr, Radio Bremen and Beta Film. When former producer-distributor Sky Deutschland announced last year that it was pulling out of scripted originals, there was a concern that “Babylon Berlin” could be a casualty of that change. However, Beta Film assured Variety it was talking with partners at German broadcaster Ard’s production company Ard Degeto and X Filme to continue the show, and the groups have found a way to do just that.

Based on Volker Kutscher’s fifth novel, “The March Fallen,” Season 5’s synopsis reads: “Set in the darkest period of German history, the new season dives deep into the dreadful February 1933 and its consequences, the take-over of power of the Nsdap.

When Comcast-owned Sky Deutschland cancelled its usual drama event at the Munich Film Festival at short notice last summer, it came as a surprise. That surprise quickly turned to shock and bitter disappointment when the pay-tv giant revealed it wasn’t simply nixing a networking bash, it was exiting the original drama business full stop.

More bad news followed as the local impact of Paramount Global reining in spend on original international drama kicked in – German shows were yanked off the streamer and projects in the works canned. This wasn’t that long after HBO Max had pulled out and Starz Play closing simply added to a stream of bad news. Apple, Disney+ and Prime Video remain in the German drama business, but commission in such low volume that it is the thinnest of silver linings for the vast majority of local scripted prodcos. The strategy at Netflix, easily...

The wait for news is over… Babylon Berlin is officially coming back for a fifth and final season.

The hit period drama’s future has been a topic of discussion since Sky Deutschland pulled out of original commissioning, leaving a funding gap in the series it shares with German pubcaster Ard Degeto.

It was still expected to move forwards, with producers saying they expected it to film a final season and star Liv Lisa Fries recently telling us of plans to shoot later in 2024. Today, the news became official, with X-Filme Creative Pool producing season 5 in co-production with Beta Film and local pubcasters Ard Degeto, Swr, Wdr and Radio Bremen.

Set in the darkest period of German history, the new season will be set in the dark times of February 1933, when the Nazi Party took power. The director/writer trio of Henk Handlogten, Achim von Borries and Tom Tykwer will return for the finale,...

The recent Cabaret Broadway revival is far from the only buzz-worthy production depicting the rise of fascism as the Weimar Republic era continues to split at the seams. German historical drama Babylon Berlin throws more kindling on its razzle-dazzle bonfire with its audacious mix of grounded plotting and stylized surrealism. After becoming the most expensive non-English language TV series when it debuted in 2017, there has been no slowing down. The number of jaw-dropping intricate sets expands beyond the familiar nightclubs, the police HQ known as the Red Palace, and Alexanderplatz. But fans will be happy to know that the Paternoster elevator is back to provide the backdrop for more flirting.

The head of Sky Studios’ Italian fare has spotlighted the challenges behind making a Gomorrah prequel in the highly competitive streaming era.

Emanuele Marchesi delved deep into the highly-anticipated next chapter of the hit gang thriller series during an AVPSummit spotlight session this morning.

He said “the world around us has changed” since the first Gomorrah movie was released in 2008, followed by Roberto Saviano’s smash hit series, which premiered in 2014 and ran for five seasons.

“The competitive frameworks are very different now,” said Marchesi. “We didn’t have streamers back then – Netflix arrived in Italy around 2014 – and now there is huge and numerous drama production.”

Produced by Cattleya, the prequel will enter production next year along with another prequel of a popular Sky Italia series, Romanzo Criminale – La serie.

Marchesi, who was promoted late last year to Head of Editorial Content when Sonia Rovai left for Wildside, said...

Seriesmakers, twinning Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest, and European film-tv powerhouse Beta Group, is opening up its selection criteria to embrace directors of box office smashes or hits at festivals beyond “A” list events.

Launching 2022 as a project-based mentorship program for film directors aiming to become TV series creators, Seriesmakers has fast consolidated as one of Europe’s top-notch training facilities.

“Game of Thrones” producer-director Frank Doelger, “Babylon Berlin” producer Stefan Arndt, Ron Leshem and “Narcos” creator Chris Brancato featured as speakers at its 2023-24 edition.

Led by Cannes Grand Prix winner Juho Kuosmanen (“Compartment No. 6”), seven of the 10 TV projects showcased at its first 2022-23 edition were from directors who had been selected for the Cannes Film Festival.

Now, as it prepares its third edition whose call for applications closes June 20, Seriesmakers is aiming for a larger inclusivity.

For its first and second editions, being chosen in...

A scene from the German TV historical series “Babylon Berlin” Season 2. Courtesy of MHz Choice

As promised in last month’s review of the German historical thriller “Babylon Berlin: Season One” (https://www.wearemoviegeeks.com/2024/04/babylon-berlin-season-one-review/), May bestows upon us the bounty of Seasons Two and Three, in which Germany’s political and economic upheavals deepen. These two seasons remain in 1929, bringing us up to the global you-know-what that led to the Great Depression. The train with its mysterious, hazardous contents remains in play among several factions with assorted motives.

Both seasons are longer – 10 and 12 episodes, respectively – which may not have been a plus. The pace seems slower than before, with less overt action per hour. The suspense and looming aura of menace, however, are ramped up and broadened, with more characters bringing more subplots and social issues into the picture. Rath is still our beleaguered hero; Charlotte’s role...

The genre-bending detective fiction series that is quickly becoming everybody’s favorite of the year is Sugar. The Apple TV+ series created by Mark Protosevich is set in Los Angeles and it follows the story of a private detective John Sugar as he is hired by a big-time film producer Jonathan Siegel to find his missing granddaughter Olivia. While, trying to find Olivia, Sugar stumbles into something far more dangerous than he could have anticipated. Sugar stars Colin Farrell in the lead role with Amy Ryan, James Cromwell, Sydney Chandler, Nate Corddry, Kirby Howell-Baptiste, and Dennis Boutsikaris starring in supporting roles. If you loved the mystery and thrill of Sugar here are some similar shows you could check out next.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Showtime

The Man Who Fell to Earth is a sci-fi drama series created by Jenny Lumet and Alex Kurtzman.

Unspooling May 18 as part of an overall Swiss Focus at the Marché du Film, Solothurn Film Festival Goes to Cannes marks the first collaboration between the long-standing Swiss festival and the Cannes market, but also a first for many of the talents and producers carefully picked for the event.

Two of Switzerland’s top documentary filmmakers Jacqueline Zünd, winner of a 2019 Crystal Bear nominated for “Where We Belong,” and Nicholas Steiner, director of “Above & Below”, ranked among Variety reviewer Peter Debruge’s Top 10 films of 2015, are set to attract buyers, sales agents and programmers’ attention with their star-stubbed fiction debuts.

In “Do You Believe in Angels, Mr Drowak,” Steiner has hired Karl Markovics, star of the 2008 Oscar winner “The Counterfeiters”, rising acting talent Lune Wedler, Lars Eidinger and Dominique Pinon.

“After two cinematic documentaries that ran worldwide and an original Netflix series [“Dig Deeper-The Disappearance of Birgit Meier”], I was excited to create this technically demanding,...

Exclusive: Studiocanal has been rolling out sales on the first instalment of Germany-language film trilogy Woodwalkers in Cannes.

A joint production between Blue Eyes Fiction and Studiocanal Germany, it is one the most ambitious German-language productions to date for both partners.

The franchise is adapted from the best-selling novels by German writer Katja Brandis about a group of teenagers with secret shapeshifting abilities, known as ‘Woodwalkers’.

Blue Eyes Fiction MD and founder Corinna Mehner is lead producing, with Berlin-based Studiocanal exec Sandrine Mattes, EVP German Production & Acquisition, spearheading her company’s involvement.

Mattes says the Woodwalkers ticks a number of boxes for Studiocanal.

“Studiocanal’s DNA is truly European so we’re always looking for European content that can work on the global market. The ‘Woodwalkers’ books are a perfect fit. They’re one of the biggest IPs we have for family and kids in the German market, both in...