Butterfly Vision producer Darya Bassel and Call Me By Your Name executive producer Naima Abed are among 17 independent producers selected for Ace Animation Special, the animation business programme of European network Ace Producers.
The 17 producers will take part in the workshop from March 19-24 in Dingle, Ireland, in collaboration with the Animation Dingle festival.
Scroll down for the full list of producers
Now in its fifth edition, the workshop aims to show how to diversify business by developing and producing feature and series animation productions, for theatrical, broadcast and streaming release.
Producers will attend with animated features and series projects in early development,...
The 17 producers will take part in the workshop from March 19-24 in Dingle, Ireland, in collaboration with the Animation Dingle festival.
Scroll down for the full list of producers
Now in its fifth edition, the workshop aims to show how to diversify business by developing and producing feature and series animation productions, for theatrical, broadcast and streaming release.
Producers will attend with animated features and series projects in early development,...
- 2/1/2024
- ScreenDaily
’200% Wolf’, ’Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back’ and ’Richard The Stork 2’ have all been picked up for the UK and Ireland.
Signature Entertainment has picked up UK and Ireland rights to a trio of family animations – 200% Wolf, Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back and Richard The Stork 2 from Studio 100, Sola Media and Indie Sales respectively.
Theatrical releases are planned from the summer onwards.
200% Wolf is directed by Alexs Stadermann and produced by Barbara Stephen, Alexia Gates-Foale and Carmen Pérez-Marsá. It is the sequel to 2020’s 100% Wolf and follows a heroic poodle who is struggling to maintain the respect of his werewolf pack.
Signature Entertainment has picked up UK and Ireland rights to a trio of family animations – 200% Wolf, Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back and Richard The Stork 2 from Studio 100, Sola Media and Indie Sales respectively.
Theatrical releases are planned from the summer onwards.
200% Wolf is directed by Alexs Stadermann and produced by Barbara Stephen, Alexia Gates-Foale and Carmen Pérez-Marsá. It is the sequel to 2020’s 100% Wolf and follows a heroic poodle who is struggling to maintain the respect of his werewolf pack.
- 5/20/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Second edition of the scheme will take place in Veneto in June and Amsterdam in September.
Lava Films’ Mariusz Wlodarski from Poland and Topkapi Films’ Frans van Gestel from the Netherlands are among 12 producers selected for the second edition of Ace Leadership Special, a business workshop hosted by the Ace Producers network.
The 2023 edition will take place in Italy in June and in the Netherlands in September, with online elements over the summer.
Scroll down for the 2023 selection
Ace Leadership Special aims to help producers sustain solid business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their companies and develop their personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
Lava Films’ Mariusz Wlodarski from Poland and Topkapi Films’ Frans van Gestel from the Netherlands are among 12 producers selected for the second edition of Ace Leadership Special, a business workshop hosted by the Ace Producers network.
The 2023 edition will take place in Italy in June and in the Netherlands in September, with online elements over the summer.
Scroll down for the 2023 selection
Ace Leadership Special aims to help producers sustain solid business foundations, improve performance and prospects for their companies and develop their personal leadership and entrepreneurial skills.
- 4/12/2023
- by Ben Dalton
- ScreenDaily
Annecy, France — Still flush from a vibrant inaugural edition, the organizers of the European Animation Awards – or Emile Awards, as they are also known – are looking to build for their second edition, adding new categories, nominated titles, panels and presentations.
In another sign of growth, the Emile Awards’ board is in discussions to add a second day to the prizes with events taking place on the afternoon and evening of Friday, Dec. 7.
“Launched with great success in 2017, our brain child has grown up with prodigious speed,” commented Emile Awards president Peter Lord.
News of fast-track growth plans at the European Animation Awards comes as its members have elected a new board and executive, in place for 2018-20.
The number of short list nominations will increase from three to five in order to showcase a larger diversity in submissions for the final vote.
As sound design becomes a key production value...
In another sign of growth, the Emile Awards’ board is in discussions to add a second day to the prizes with events taking place on the afternoon and evening of Friday, Dec. 7.
“Launched with great success in 2017, our brain child has grown up with prodigious speed,” commented Emile Awards president Peter Lord.
News of fast-track growth plans at the European Animation Awards comes as its members have elected a new board and executive, in place for 2018-20.
The number of short list nominations will increase from three to five in order to showcase a larger diversity in submissions for the final vote.
As sound design becomes a key production value...
- 6/12/2018
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
German sales outfit Beta is reporting huge buyer interest in Look Who’s Back; also launching Hevn.
The brash and controversial Hitler comedy by David Wnendt is already proving a runaway box-office success in Germany.
Beta’s Thorsten Ritter has confirmed that the film is “being chased” by UK distributors and that several foreign buyers travelled to Germany in advance of the Afm to check out the film in cinemas and make offers before the market began.
The film’s premise sees Hitler (played by Oliver Masucci) waking up in modern-day Berlin and launching a television career after being universally mistaken for a brilliant comedian. It is based on Timur Vermes’ bestselling 2012 book of the same name, which sold millions of copies in Germany and was translated into twenty-eight languages
At Afm, Beta is also launching its new Nordic noir, Hevn (Revenge) from director Kjersti G. Steinsbø. Based on on the best-selling crime novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen ([link...
The brash and controversial Hitler comedy by David Wnendt is already proving a runaway box-office success in Germany.
Beta’s Thorsten Ritter has confirmed that the film is “being chased” by UK distributors and that several foreign buyers travelled to Germany in advance of the Afm to check out the film in cinemas and make offers before the market began.
The film’s premise sees Hitler (played by Oliver Masucci) waking up in modern-day Berlin and launching a television career after being universally mistaken for a brilliant comedian. It is based on Timur Vermes’ bestselling 2012 book of the same name, which sold millions of copies in Germany and was translated into twenty-eight languages
At Afm, Beta is also launching its new Nordic noir, Hevn (Revenge) from director Kjersti G. Steinsbø. Based on on the best-selling crime novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen ([link...
- 11/4/2015
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
German sales outfit Beta is reporting huge buyer interest in Look Who’s Back; also launching Hevn.
The brash and controversial Hitler comedy by David Wnendt is already proving a runaway box-office success in Germany.
Beta’s Thorsten Ritter has confirmed that the film is “being chased” by UK distributors and that several foreign buyers travelled to Germany in advance of the Afm to check out the film in cinemas and make offers before the market began.
The film’s premise sees Hitler (played by Oliver Masucci) waking up in modern-day Berlin and launching a television career after being universally mistaken for a brilliant comedian. It is based on Timur Vermes’ bestselling 2012 book of the same name, which sold millions of copies in Germany and was translated into twenty-eight languages
At Afm, Beta is also launching its new Nordic noir, Hevn (Revenge) from director Kjersti G. Steinsbø. Based on on the best-selling crime novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen ([link...
The brash and controversial Hitler comedy by David Wnendt is already proving a runaway box-office success in Germany.
Beta’s Thorsten Ritter has confirmed that the film is “being chased” by UK distributors and that several foreign buyers travelled to Germany in advance of the Afm to check out the film in cinemas and make offers before the market began.
The film’s premise sees Hitler (played by Oliver Masucci) waking up in modern-day Berlin and launching a television career after being universally mistaken for a brilliant comedian. It is based on Timur Vermes’ bestselling 2012 book of the same name, which sold millions of copies in Germany and was translated into twenty-eight languages
At Afm, Beta is also launching its new Nordic noir, Hevn (Revenge) from director Kjersti G. Steinsbø. Based on on the best-selling crime novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen ([link...
- 11/4/2015
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Iceland’s Oscar submission takes top prize in Lübeck; Edward Snowden gives video introduction to Citizenfour at Dok Leipzig; arson attack hits Lgbt screening in Kyiv.
Baldvin Baldvin Zophoníasson’s Life In A Fishbowl was the big winner at this year’s Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, taking home the Ndr Film Prize, worth $15,655 (€12,500)
Lead actor Thorsteinn Bachmann accepted the award in person from the five-person jury, which said it was “a touching and hopeful film about seemingly hopeless situations”.
The co-production between Iceland, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic is Iceland’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar and is being handled internationally by Films Boutique.
Special mentions were also given to Hisham Zaman’s Letter To The King (Norway) and J-p Valkeapää’s They Have Escaped (Finland) by the jury comprising actors Victoria Trauttmansdorff and Niklas Osterloh, producer Christoph Thoke, Ndr commissioning editor Diana Schulte-Kellinghaus and Finnish film-maker Kirsi Marie Liimatainen.
Festival-goers voted for...
Baldvin Baldvin Zophoníasson’s Life In A Fishbowl was the big winner at this year’s Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, taking home the Ndr Film Prize, worth $15,655 (€12,500)
Lead actor Thorsteinn Bachmann accepted the award in person from the five-person jury, which said it was “a touching and hopeful film about seemingly hopeless situations”.
The co-production between Iceland, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic is Iceland’s submission for the Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar and is being handled internationally by Films Boutique.
Special mentions were also given to Hisham Zaman’s Letter To The King (Norway) and J-p Valkeapää’s They Have Escaped (Finland) by the jury comprising actors Victoria Trauttmansdorff and Niklas Osterloh, producer Christoph Thoke, Ndr commissioning editor Diana Schulte-Kellinghaus and Finnish film-maker Kirsi Marie Liimatainen.
Festival-goers voted for...
- 11/3/2014
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Revenge thriller marks first Norway-Canada co-production in 15 years.
Norwegian revenge thriller The Doll in the Ceiling (Dukken i taket) has begun principal photography in Norway.
The $2m (NOK16.4m) psychodrama marks the feature debut of director Kjersti Steinbø, who also adapted the novel of the same title by Norwegian novelist Ingvar Ambjørsen.
The story centres on a woman who seeks out her deceased sister’s rapist and embeds herself in his idyllic family to destroy his life. It is earmarked for release in autumn 2015.
Producers are Paul Barkin of Toronto’s Alcina Pictures and Kristine Knudsen of new Bergen-based company Den Siste Skilling. Executive producers are Lisa G. Black of Garnet Girl (Us) and Mark Gingras of Vigilante Productions.
It marks the second Norway-Canada treaty co-production, the last being more than 15 years ago.
“This is an exciting time for Nordic Cinema,” said Barkin. “Through co-production with Canada, films like [The Doll in the Ceiling] have a better opportunity at reaching North American...
Norwegian revenge thriller The Doll in the Ceiling (Dukken i taket) has begun principal photography in Norway.
The $2m (NOK16.4m) psychodrama marks the feature debut of director Kjersti Steinbø, who also adapted the novel of the same title by Norwegian novelist Ingvar Ambjørsen.
The story centres on a woman who seeks out her deceased sister’s rapist and embeds herself in his idyllic family to destroy his life. It is earmarked for release in autumn 2015.
Producers are Paul Barkin of Toronto’s Alcina Pictures and Kristine Knudsen of new Bergen-based company Den Siste Skilling. Executive producers are Lisa G. Black of Garnet Girl (Us) and Mark Gingras of Vigilante Productions.
It marks the second Norway-Canada treaty co-production, the last being more than 15 years ago.
“This is an exciting time for Nordic Cinema,” said Barkin. “Through co-production with Canada, films like [The Doll in the Ceiling] have a better opportunity at reaching North American...
- 9/22/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
Power to the Pixel event to include a major Nordic delegation.Scroll down for full list of projects
Power to the Pixel (PttP) has announced the 32 cross-media projects from across Europe, the Us, Canada, the Middle East, Australia and South America selected to participate in The Pixel Market (Oct 8-9).
The two-day finance and co-production market is run as part of 8th Power to the Pixel: The Cross-Media Forum (Oct 7-10), held in association with the 58th BFI London Film Festival (Oct 8-19).
From the 32 teams, PttP has selected the top eight to compete for the Arte International Prize for The Pixel Market, a €6,000 ($7,800) award sponsored by the French/German broadcaster.
The producers and creators will present to a panel of international commissioning executives, financiers and experts who will use these projects as a backdrop to discuss successful finance strategies, sustainable business models and the companies actively investing in new media.
The winning team will be...
Power to the Pixel (PttP) has announced the 32 cross-media projects from across Europe, the Us, Canada, the Middle East, Australia and South America selected to participate in The Pixel Market (Oct 8-9).
The two-day finance and co-production market is run as part of 8th Power to the Pixel: The Cross-Media Forum (Oct 7-10), held in association with the 58th BFI London Film Festival (Oct 8-19).
From the 32 teams, PttP has selected the top eight to compete for the Arte International Prize for The Pixel Market, a €6,000 ($7,800) award sponsored by the French/German broadcaster.
The producers and creators will present to a panel of international commissioning executives, financiers and experts who will use these projects as a backdrop to discuss successful finance strategies, sustainable business models and the companies actively investing in new media.
The winning team will be...
- 9/17/2014
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
The Doll in the Ceiling marks the feature debut of Kjersti G Steinsbø.
Norwegian revenge thriller The Doll in the Ceiling (Dukken i taket) has secured Canadian and Us partners, ahead of the start of principal photography on Sept 15 in Norway.
The $2m (NOK16.4m) psychodrama will be made by new Bergen-based company Den Siste Skilling with Canadian producer Paul Barkin of Toronto’s Alcina Pictures and Us executive producer Lisa G Black of Garnet Girl.
Based on a novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen, the story centres on a woman who seeks out her deceased sister’s rapist and embeds herself in his idyllic family to destroy his life. It is earmarked for release in autumn 2015.
It marks the feature debut of director Kjersti G Steinsbø and was pitched last year in New Nordic Films at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.
The project also won the Best Pitch Prize, awarded by the...
Norwegian revenge thriller The Doll in the Ceiling (Dukken i taket) has secured Canadian and Us partners, ahead of the start of principal photography on Sept 15 in Norway.
The $2m (NOK16.4m) psychodrama will be made by new Bergen-based company Den Siste Skilling with Canadian producer Paul Barkin of Toronto’s Alcina Pictures and Us executive producer Lisa G Black of Garnet Girl.
Based on a novel by Ingvar Ambjørnsen, the story centres on a woman who seeks out her deceased sister’s rapist and embeds herself in his idyllic family to destroy his life. It is earmarked for release in autumn 2015.
It marks the feature debut of director Kjersti G Steinsbø and was pitched last year in New Nordic Films at the Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund.
The project also won the Best Pitch Prize, awarded by the...
- 8/26/2014
- by jornrossing@aol.com (Jorn Rossing Jensen)
- ScreenDaily
Dok Leipzig’s Golden Dove for Best International Documentary went to the Us, while Norway scored a hat-trick at the Nordic Film Days in Lübeck.
The top award in Leipzig’s International Documentary Competition went to Italian-born, Us-based film-maker Roberto Minervini’s Stop The Pounding Heart whose portrayal of a strict religious family was described by the jury as ¨refreshing and unsettling at the same time.¨
The Us-Belgian-Italian co-production is handled internationally by Doc & Film.
The Golden Dove in the German Documentary Competition was awarded to Carlo Zoratti for his feature-length debut The Special Need, while the newly-created Golden Dove for the animation-documentary hybrid form was presented to French director Daniela De Felice’s Casa.
A total of 18 prizes with cash awards totalling almost €70,000 ($95,000) included the Fipresci Prize for Gang Zhao’s A Folk Troupe; the Mdr Film Prize for Vitaly Mansky’s Pipeline; and the Youth Jury Prize to Joanna by Aneta Kopacz, a graduate...
The top award in Leipzig’s International Documentary Competition went to Italian-born, Us-based film-maker Roberto Minervini’s Stop The Pounding Heart whose portrayal of a strict religious family was described by the jury as ¨refreshing and unsettling at the same time.¨
The Us-Belgian-Italian co-production is handled internationally by Doc & Film.
The Golden Dove in the German Documentary Competition was awarded to Carlo Zoratti for his feature-length debut The Special Need, while the newly-created Golden Dove for the animation-documentary hybrid form was presented to French director Daniela De Felice’s Casa.
A total of 18 prizes with cash awards totalling almost €70,000 ($95,000) included the Fipresci Prize for Gang Zhao’s A Folk Troupe; the Mdr Film Prize for Vitaly Mansky’s Pipeline; and the Youth Jury Prize to Joanna by Aneta Kopacz, a graduate...
- 11/4/2013
- by screen.berlin@googlemail.com (Martin Blaney)
- ScreenDaily
Power to the Pixel has selected more than 30 participants for its cross-media workshop.
A total of 16 cross-media projects from across Europe have been chosen to take part in the annual Pixel Lab, taking place in Wallonia in Belgium at the end of the month.
Now in its fourth year, it offers media professionals a six-day workshop on how to create, produce and distribute cross-media stories that can engage audiences as well as monetise.
Participants include 16 international producers showcasing projects that incorporate film, gaming, mobile, publishing, live events, interactive, TV and online as well as 15 media professionals from across the industry.
Participants attending with a project include award-winning producers Holly Elson from Hark Pictures Ltd with Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue (UK), Agitrop’s Martichka Bozhilova with The Cars We Drove Into Capitalism (Bulgaria) and Robert Cibis from OVALfilm GmbH with Pop the Glock! (Germany).
Each project producer will be partnered with a participant not bringing a project...
A total of 16 cross-media projects from across Europe have been chosen to take part in the annual Pixel Lab, taking place in Wallonia in Belgium at the end of the month.
Now in its fourth year, it offers media professionals a six-day workshop on how to create, produce and distribute cross-media stories that can engage audiences as well as monetise.
Participants include 16 international producers showcasing projects that incorporate film, gaming, mobile, publishing, live events, interactive, TV and online as well as 15 media professionals from across the industry.
Participants attending with a project include award-winning producers Holly Elson from Hark Pictures Ltd with Moondog: The Viking of 6th Avenue (UK), Agitrop’s Martichka Bozhilova with The Cars We Drove Into Capitalism (Bulgaria) and Robert Cibis from OVALfilm GmbH with Pop the Glock! (Germany).
Each project producer will be partnered with a participant not bringing a project...
- 6/12/2013
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
I moderated a Women in Film and Television International panel on new methods and old for financing features with:
Julie Baines
Producer, Dan Films, UK
has had an extensive career in the film industry. She founded the independent production company Dan Films in 1994. In 1998 she was named one of the Top Ten Producers to Watch by Variety. Since then, she has established herself as a leading figure in both British Films and international multi-party co-productions.
Julie most recently produced Christopher Smith's Triangle, a psychological thriller starring Melissa George, which is being distributed worldwide by Icon.
As well as producing with acclaimed directors including Nicolas Roeg, Peter Bogdanovich, Frank Van Passel, Michael Winterbottom, Mika Kaurismaki and Deepa Mehta, she enjoys discovering and working with new talent. Julie acts as the external examiner for the Ma Producing course at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. In effect her final comment was that one must be clever to finance films today. Their U.K./ German coproduction uses funds, tax credits, distribution pre-buys and now private equity.
Christine Berg, Deputy Director, Ffa, German Federal Film Board has been deputy chairman of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa) since 1 February 2012. In this capacity she is responsible for all Ffa funding. She was previously project director of the German Federal Film Fund (Dfff), which was initiated on 1 January 2007 by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Bkm) and coordinated by the Ffa.
In addition, Christine Berg, a native of Hamburg, headed up the Msh - Gesellschaft zur Förderung audiovisueller Werke in Schleswig-Holstein mbH (Society for the Promotion of Audio-visual Works in Schleswig-Holstein), was artistic director of the festival Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, as well as being director of the Hamburg Filmförderung Office and producer at Kinowelt. She announced she is soon going to a new job....but meanwhile, the Dfff is automatic. If 25% of the budget of a film with German distribution attached is spent in Germany then there is a 20% rebate on the spend. Not bad...
Debbie Elbin, Founder and President, The New York Picture Company launched launched Ps:usa, Inc. a subsidiary of The N.Y. Picture Company Inc., at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Specifically targeted at international producers interested in producing content in the U.S., Ps:usa, Inc. offers access to the new U.S. production incentives and tax credits. In 2007, Debbie was based in Berlin, Germany, where she served as production consultant during the prep phase of the Wachowski Brothers' picture Speed Racer. On tap for Joel Silver, Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow, she was asked to report on the January '07 German film incentive program, as well as local VFX capabilities.
Prior, Elbin was based in Moscow, Russia, where she held the position of VP Production, Sony Pictures TV International for the territories Russia and the Cis. Her mandate was to found a new Russian company for the studio and head it as General Manager. Other than investigating how to structure such an entity, this also entailed finding viable producing partners and building creative teams of local writers and directors. In addition to selling two comedy formats, one of which was Bete La Fea, which subsequently rated #1 for Ctc, she was in charge of six productions in various stages of development, production, or post production. Genre-wise, they ranged from telenovellas to comedy series and a game show. Among those were the highly rated Russian versions of Married with Children entitled Happy Together, The Nanny, and the original Talisman of Love and Nastia.
Fall 2004, Elbin founded the Dutch production company, The N.L. Picture Company B.V. in Rotterdam, Holland. Created to develop and produce international film and TV co-productions as an EU partner, The N.L. Picture Company B.V. Xtc, a U.S./Netherlands co-production, which was selected for the Holland Film Meeting sidebar of the Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht, is the first film in development. The Kitchen, a television comedy series, was developed for Wdr in conjunction with Colonia Media. Debbie was Executive Producer of Germany's no. 1 rated prime-time series,Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (1992) (Good Times, Bad Times) for Rtl and Grundy Ufa. As show runner, she was responsible for the entire overhaul of the 10 year old series. She created twelve new lead characters, updated storylines and implemented new looks for everything from lighting to make-up, costumes and scenery. In addition she wrote the 10th anniversary week (five episodes), which dramatically increased audience share from 23% to 37%. In the U.S., she served as Co-Executive Producer of Sidney Lumet's 100 Centre Street (2001), A&E TV Networks first original drama series. This was the groundbreaker in 24p HDTV format production. 100 Centre Street was a co-production of Jaffe/Braunstein Films and Pearson Television Entertainment. Not only did the series receive critical acclaim, but it won the 2001 Koln Screenings Award for "Top Ten Dramas Worldwide". She is a member of the DGA as Director and Upm, serves as a member of the Directors East Coast Council and works on sundry committees, including the Special Projects and Disciplinary Committees. She is the initiator of the Global Cinema Initiative. She is also one of the first members of the Dean's Council of New York University and is the founder of the Dramatic and Comedy Writing Awards for Nyu Graduate and Undergraduate students.
Kristine Knudsen, Producer studied film theory at the College of Lillehammer and worked for Nordisk Film & TV in Bergen, Norway. Later she studied film production at the Filmakademie Baden-württemberg in Germany, followed by the Mega Master in audiovisual management in Ronda, Spain.In 2006 she established the company Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur GmbH in Berlin together with German producing partner Tom Streuber. In 2010 she established the company Den Siste Skilling As in Bergen, Norway. Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur GmbH (est. 2006) develop and produce both prestigious and entertaining feature and documentary films, focusing on the German and Scandinavian market.
Currently the feature film Gnade (Mercy), written by Kim F. Aakeson and directed by Matthias Glasner is in the Berlinale Competition. It took one year to raise financing in Germany. They also have the documentary Atw – To Be or To Perform is in pre-production. Their previous films include the feature film Reine Geschmacksache (Fashion Victims).
Pati Keilwerth, of Patisserie Film, produced Utopia in Ethiopia , whose financing was done via crowd funding on The Fledgling Fund. Utopia in Ethiopia is an interactive web documentary about Awra Amba - a small, Ethiopian village whose way of life has become a model for development, gender equality and democracy worldwide. Founded almost 40 years ago by an illiterate farmer, who had a vision of a better world, Awra Amba is a thriving self-help community, comprised of 400 people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. They have come together with the common belief that there is a way out of poverty by making women equal with men, by working instead of praying and by discarding ancient traditional practices. With such remarkable results without any external help, Awra Amba receives thousands of curious visitors every year, who come to learn from their way of life.
After finishing law school with a specialisation in Copyright Law, Competitive Law and Anti-Trust Law at the University Passau, Pati Keilwerth was hired to coordinate the protocol of the Berlin Film Festival. She continued working for the Berlinale in various departments and for the Broadcaster rbb, while studying Audiovisual Media Science at the Filmschool Hff “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Directly after her diploma with a thesis on international Co-Production she began employment with Wim Wenders.
After a three-year tenure as Wim Wenders’s Executive Assistant, she embarked on new terrain in the media industry and has been engaged in digital distribution, online and social media marketing, as well as branded entertainment ever since.
The discussion ensuing about how to treat monies raised via crowd funding, the need to account for 2,000 donors who do not get charitable tax write-offs and who must be accounted for as investors raised the level of excitement between panelists and the audience perceptively.
Julie Baines
Producer, Dan Films, UK
has had an extensive career in the film industry. She founded the independent production company Dan Films in 1994. In 1998 she was named one of the Top Ten Producers to Watch by Variety. Since then, she has established herself as a leading figure in both British Films and international multi-party co-productions.
Julie most recently produced Christopher Smith's Triangle, a psychological thriller starring Melissa George, which is being distributed worldwide by Icon.
As well as producing with acclaimed directors including Nicolas Roeg, Peter Bogdanovich, Frank Van Passel, Michael Winterbottom, Mika Kaurismaki and Deepa Mehta, she enjoys discovering and working with new talent. Julie acts as the external examiner for the Ma Producing course at the National Film and Television School, Beaconsfield. In effect her final comment was that one must be clever to finance films today. Their U.K./ German coproduction uses funds, tax credits, distribution pre-buys and now private equity.
Christine Berg, Deputy Director, Ffa, German Federal Film Board has been deputy chairman of the German Federal Film Board (Ffa) since 1 February 2012. In this capacity she is responsible for all Ffa funding. She was previously project director of the German Federal Film Fund (Dfff), which was initiated on 1 January 2007 by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (Bkm) and coordinated by the Ffa.
In addition, Christine Berg, a native of Hamburg, headed up the Msh - Gesellschaft zur Förderung audiovisueller Werke in Schleswig-Holstein mbH (Society for the Promotion of Audio-visual Works in Schleswig-Holstein), was artistic director of the festival Nordic Film Days in Lübeck, as well as being director of the Hamburg Filmförderung Office and producer at Kinowelt. She announced she is soon going to a new job....but meanwhile, the Dfff is automatic. If 25% of the budget of a film with German distribution attached is spent in Germany then there is a 20% rebate on the spend. Not bad...
Debbie Elbin, Founder and President, The New York Picture Company launched launched Ps:usa, Inc. a subsidiary of The N.Y. Picture Company Inc., at the 2008 Berlin Film Festival. Specifically targeted at international producers interested in producing content in the U.S., Ps:usa, Inc. offers access to the new U.S. production incentives and tax credits. In 2007, Debbie was based in Berlin, Germany, where she served as production consultant during the prep phase of the Wachowski Brothers' picture Speed Racer. On tap for Joel Silver, Warner Brothers and Village Roadshow, she was asked to report on the January '07 German film incentive program, as well as local VFX capabilities.
Prior, Elbin was based in Moscow, Russia, where she held the position of VP Production, Sony Pictures TV International for the territories Russia and the Cis. Her mandate was to found a new Russian company for the studio and head it as General Manager. Other than investigating how to structure such an entity, this also entailed finding viable producing partners and building creative teams of local writers and directors. In addition to selling two comedy formats, one of which was Bete La Fea, which subsequently rated #1 for Ctc, she was in charge of six productions in various stages of development, production, or post production. Genre-wise, they ranged from telenovellas to comedy series and a game show. Among those were the highly rated Russian versions of Married with Children entitled Happy Together, The Nanny, and the original Talisman of Love and Nastia.
Fall 2004, Elbin founded the Dutch production company, The N.L. Picture Company B.V. in Rotterdam, Holland. Created to develop and produce international film and TV co-productions as an EU partner, The N.L. Picture Company B.V. Xtc, a U.S./Netherlands co-production, which was selected for the Holland Film Meeting sidebar of the Netherlands Film Festival, Utrecht, is the first film in development. The Kitchen, a television comedy series, was developed for Wdr in conjunction with Colonia Media. Debbie was Executive Producer of Germany's no. 1 rated prime-time series,Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (1992) (Good Times, Bad Times) for Rtl and Grundy Ufa. As show runner, she was responsible for the entire overhaul of the 10 year old series. She created twelve new lead characters, updated storylines and implemented new looks for everything from lighting to make-up, costumes and scenery. In addition she wrote the 10th anniversary week (five episodes), which dramatically increased audience share from 23% to 37%. In the U.S., she served as Co-Executive Producer of Sidney Lumet's 100 Centre Street (2001), A&E TV Networks first original drama series. This was the groundbreaker in 24p HDTV format production. 100 Centre Street was a co-production of Jaffe/Braunstein Films and Pearson Television Entertainment. Not only did the series receive critical acclaim, but it won the 2001 Koln Screenings Award for "Top Ten Dramas Worldwide". She is a member of the DGA as Director and Upm, serves as a member of the Directors East Coast Council and works on sundry committees, including the Special Projects and Disciplinary Committees. She is the initiator of the Global Cinema Initiative. She is also one of the first members of the Dean's Council of New York University and is the founder of the Dramatic and Comedy Writing Awards for Nyu Graduate and Undergraduate students.
Kristine Knudsen, Producer studied film theory at the College of Lillehammer and worked for Nordisk Film & TV in Bergen, Norway. Later she studied film production at the Filmakademie Baden-württemberg in Germany, followed by the Mega Master in audiovisual management in Ronda, Spain.In 2006 she established the company Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur GmbH in Berlin together with German producing partner Tom Streuber. In 2010 she established the company Den Siste Skilling As in Bergen, Norway. Knudsen & Streuber Medienmanufaktur GmbH (est. 2006) develop and produce both prestigious and entertaining feature and documentary films, focusing on the German and Scandinavian market.
Currently the feature film Gnade (Mercy), written by Kim F. Aakeson and directed by Matthias Glasner is in the Berlinale Competition. It took one year to raise financing in Germany. They also have the documentary Atw – To Be or To Perform is in pre-production. Their previous films include the feature film Reine Geschmacksache (Fashion Victims).
Pati Keilwerth, of Patisserie Film, produced Utopia in Ethiopia , whose financing was done via crowd funding on The Fledgling Fund. Utopia in Ethiopia is an interactive web documentary about Awra Amba - a small, Ethiopian village whose way of life has become a model for development, gender equality and democracy worldwide. Founded almost 40 years ago by an illiterate farmer, who had a vision of a better world, Awra Amba is a thriving self-help community, comprised of 400 people from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. They have come together with the common belief that there is a way out of poverty by making women equal with men, by working instead of praying and by discarding ancient traditional practices. With such remarkable results without any external help, Awra Amba receives thousands of curious visitors every year, who come to learn from their way of life.
After finishing law school with a specialisation in Copyright Law, Competitive Law and Anti-Trust Law at the University Passau, Pati Keilwerth was hired to coordinate the protocol of the Berlin Film Festival. She continued working for the Berlinale in various departments and for the Broadcaster rbb, while studying Audiovisual Media Science at the Filmschool Hff “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Directly after her diploma with a thesis on international Co-Production she began employment with Wim Wenders.
After a three-year tenure as Wim Wenders’s Executive Assistant, she embarked on new terrain in the media industry and has been engaged in digital distribution, online and social media marketing, as well as branded entertainment ever since.
The discussion ensuing about how to treat monies raised via crowd funding, the need to account for 2,000 donors who do not get charitable tax write-offs and who must be accounted for as investors raised the level of excitement between panelists and the audience perceptively.
- 2/15/2012
- by Sydney Levine
- Sydney's Buzz
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.