The Berlinale 2013 is over, the circus is moving on (Cannes, Venice, then TIFF). Until then, here’s what I am
keeping an eye on in production:
For starters,
3x Wenders: About to launch, his
portrait of Brazilian photographer Sebastião Salgad called SHADE AND LIGHT. Announced for next year,
CATHEDRALS OF CULTURE, a documentary TV series in 3D and 2D about the soul of buildings, by a team of six award-winning filmmakers including Wim Wenders and produced by his Neue Road Movies. “If buildings could talk, what would they tell about us?” is the guiding question that clearly harks back to Wenders’ 3D video installation for the Venice Architecture Biennale 2010 of the same name.
And of course, in Canada, we are eagerly awaiting news on Wim’s next (3D) feature EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE with Sarah Polley, still in pre-production.
Another New German Cinema auteur is at it again (when isn’t he):
QUEEN OF THE DESERT is Werner Herzog’s new mega project,
a Lawrence of Arabia-esque biopic, said to have a refreshing focus on Gertrude Bell though, with Naomi Watts in the lead, Robert Patterson, and Jude Law. Production was scheduled to start in March but has just been postponed as Naomi Watts nominated herself in the Oscars' new Best Mother category as she wants to spend time with her kids this year. You can follow Herzog’s latest adventure on a dedicated blog and Twitter account for the
project.
Christian Petzold announced in an IndieWire interview last fall that, pending major funding, he was following his international success BARBARA with another
film set in 20th century German history, with BARBARA's main actors Nina Hoss and Ronald Zehrfeld in tow: “It will be in Berlin, 1945, in which a survivor of Auschwitz is returning to get her life back.” 'Highly anticipated' is a given here.
Closer to a release –December 2013—is another of my favourites,
Dominik Graf. DIE GELIEBTEN SCHWESTERN (BELOVED SISTERS), a historical drama with Hannah Herzsprung (Four Minutes) and Ronald Zehrfeld (see above), follows Friedrich Schiller romantically entangled between sisters Charlotte and Caroline von Lengefeld. If you liked our sold-out screening of GOETHE!, watch out for this
Sturm and Drang drama.
Continuing our trip down German history lane:
LUDWIG II by Peter Sehr & Marie Noëlle and also starring Hannah Herzsprung, alongside Tom Schilling and Uwe Ochsenknecht, will hit German theatres this Christmas. Sabin Tambrea has already won the
Bavarian Film Award for Best Newcomer Actor 2012 for it. Will have to revisit Visconti’s 1972 film on the colourful Bavarian king.
(Are you catching on to the round dance of German actors yet?)
This I will not miss:
Titans Maximilian Schell & Mario Adorf are cast as Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in THE LAST DAYS OF KARL MARX by Philippe Diaz, which just began shooting. Set in Algeria, it also has Abel Jafri, Caroleen Feeney and Sabrina Ouazani on board. I love the language listing that reads:
“French 50%, English 35%, German 15%”. Bring your stop watches!
Let me leave you with what promises to be the most monumental historical (?) piece:
Wolfgang Petersen does ARMINIUS, the Roman-trained Germanic hero who stopped Caesar in his European tracks.
I wonder who the casting agent is calling ... Chris Hemsworth? Brad Pitt? Or Til Schweiger (see previous post)?
No room here for more international productions in the works, but as a teaser: 2014 announcement for not-at-all-dumb sounding comedy POSTHUMOUS by US newcomer Lulu Wang -- with young German star trio Alexander Fehling, Tom Schilling, Nikolai Kinski (son of Klaus).
by Jutta Brendemühl, Goethe-Institut Toronto
