A TIMELINE OF TV'S OBSESSION WITH HISTORY (3)

The author is Germany's answer to George R. R. Martin of "Game of Thrones" fame. Colourful --and extremely successful-- German scifi/fantasy author Wolfgang Hohlbein, who some of you might remember from the short-lived docu soap “The Hohlbeins, A Totally Fantastic Family”— penned his Nibelung book (the show’s basis) in 1986. In it, he turns the constellation of the Nibelung saga upside down and distils its message: Any means are justified in the struggle for power, and love is a more powerful weapon than the sword. Hagen von Tronje, the epic tale's dark knight, becomes a lonely hero in the film, so the announcement. The last of the Vikings, in touch with the ancient gods, stands for courage, loyalty and individual freedom. Siegfried, the brightest of all heroes and ruler of the Nibelungen, appears as an unscrupulous upstart here, the representative of an authoritarian regime based on a new religion, Christianity. Two great, shimmering figures in whose field of conflict the dramatic events unfold.

Let’s see how this will stack up compared to Fritz Lang’s two silent fantasy films from 1924 and 1926. The chosen format here is intriguing: “Hagen von Tronje” is planned as both a feature-length film and a six-part series. I am hoping for a “If you liked ‘Vikings’ and ‘GOT’, you will like…” effect.

Everyone is wondering of course what the Covid-19 pandemic means for TV production schedules. Netflix announced they will continue to pay cast while (about a dozen) productions are suspended, according to Deadline.com. On top of that, Netflix has put aside a $100m support fund for production staff in need, from makeup artists to set designer, and others have followed suit although noone in the industry is expecting a return to an old normal.

Back to new productions, whenever we will get to see them: “Das Boot” is back for season 2 (teaser trailer)! And hopefully still this year. December 1942. We meet U-boat ace Johannes von Reinhartz (Clemens Schick of "Casino Royale“) who is sent with his U-822 on a secret mission to the US East Coast in order to disembark three saboteurs. His loyalty is questioned, and U-612, with its Commanding Officer Wrangel (Stefan Konarske of Netflix‘ "Freud“) is sent in pursuit. Former Commanding Officer Hoffmann (Rick Okon of "Romeos“) narrowly escaped death in the Atlantic Ocean. In New York he finds shelter with Sam Greenwood (Vincent Kartheiser of "Mad Men“), who owes his life to Hoffmann, and meets the sleazy German-born lawyer Berger (Thomas Kretschmann of "Westworld“). Will he enable him to return to Germany? Back in La Rochelle, Simone (Vicky Krieps of "Phantom Thread“) is still secretly helping those affected by the Nazi occupation, and Forster (Tom Wlaschiha of "Game of Thrones“), Head of the Gestapo, suspects as much, as Simone and her roommate Margot (Fleur Geffrier of "Elle“) work to secure an escape route for a Jewish family.

Inspired by Wolfgang Petersen’s original 1981 movie which in turn was based on Lothar-Günther Buchheim’s 1973 novel, the latest "Das Boot“ was shot over 104 days at La Rochelle, Manchester, Liverpool, Prague, and in Malta. Season 1 sold to more than 100 territories and won at Monte Carlo and Shanghai. Expect more season announcements covering 1943, 1944, 1945...

Enough with the male slaying, over beloved Sisi (and x4 at that), who faced her own problems with men. Elisabeth of Bavaria (1837–1898) became Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary when she married Emperor Franz Joseph I. The new Austrian-German “Sisi” will have to stand up to 15-year-old Romy Schneider’s sweet and innocent „Sissi“ trilogy interpretation. But the plot here will be different, producer Heinrich Ambrosch told Austrian newspaper Kurier: "It’s time to reinterpret Sisi with a new premium TV series. We will tell a tale of ambivalence, the fate of a modern, mutable woman who wouldn’t fit into any box. Audiences can expect a gorgeous contemporary Heimatfilm series, high production values and big drama." "Sisi" will be written by Dorothee Schön and Sabine Thor Widemann of "Charité".

The competition is stiff: Last year saw a docudrama about Elisabeth –"Sissi - Driven”, with Sunnyi Melles and created by Sisi's great-great-grandson Leopold Altenburg, who summarized her character thus: "She was easy to love but hard to get along with." Now, there is a British Sisi TV series in the works, written by Amy Jenkins (“The Crown”) as an adaption of American novellist Allison Pataki’s bestselling books. That series will tell the story of Sisi’s gradual embrace of her imperial power, so expect the Kate Middleton version of events more than Meghan Markle’s. Even more exciting is the announcement that offbeat German director Frauke Finsterwalder (“Finsterworld”) is again teaming up with her husband, well-known author Christian Kracht, for the film “Sisi - Empress Elisabeth.” Told from the perspective of her the eyes of her lady-in-waiting Irma and surrounded by other female characters, a straight “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” comes to mind.. This retelling will focus on the globe-trotting, multilingual fitness fanatic and free spirit, not the doting wife. Finsterwalder: "Films have to create new myths. I want to show Empress Elisabeth as a radical, intelligent, modern woman, more than the Sissi with two s we all know." Shooting will take place later this year in Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, Greece, and Morocco. Interestingly, all new projects stress a "woman born into the wrong century” theme. I see a “Sisi” GOETHE FILMS @ TIFF Lightbox film series in our future.

“KaDeWe” is a six-parter scheduled for this year, the story of four young people in the Weimar Republic (“Babylon Berlin’s” setting) revolving around Berlin’s famous “Kaufhaus des Westens”, the "Department Store of the West", Europe’s biggest at the time. "‘KaDeWe‘ will be a great saga of friendship and family, from a time similarly fragile and chaotic as ours but still full of freedoms, promises and opportunity,“ announced writer-director Julia von Heinz. "It’s a lesbian love story against all odds as well as a statement on our current state of the world.“

Welcome to our globalised present: “Funeral for a Dog”, based on Thomas Pletzinger’s bestselling eponymous novel, is scheduled to start shooting this summer. The story has Munich journalist Daniel Mandelkern travel to a remote estate at Lake Lugano for an interview with celebrated German author Dirk Svensson. What was meant to last a few hours starts to fatally envelope Mandelkern in Svensson’s life. He becomes entangled in a love triangle that begins in South America, blooms in Finland, falls apart in New York and ends in a dramatic death – an accident, or murder? Mandelkern’s questions open up a dark secret hovering over the lake setting.

"To adapt a novel as linguistically and visually powerful as Funeral for a Dog will demand all of our courage, curiosity for its intensity and willingness to embrace its unusual characters. We are fascinated by the challenge of connecting the multiple temporal and narrative levels artfully and cinematically,” said German-Austrian co-director team David Dietl and Barbara Albert. The series will be co-written by Pletzinger and Hanno Hackfort and Bob Konrad of Berlin gangster drama “4 Blocks.”

I’ll leave you with a glimpse of the future (of storytelling and what “TV” will mean soon): Thomas Pletzinger, again with co-creators Hackfort and Konrad, is preparing an experiment called “Crime Stories” -- supposed to be the first interactive crime web series delivered via Instagram. Young detective Jennifer Rothe tackles a new case each week, supported by her community with followers said to be immersed daily into the fictional story through various interactive points of entry. Let's make the next TV/Quibi history together.

by @JuttaBrendemuhl

image: Sisi, courtesy Story House Media Group