German Film @ Canada - Goethe-Institut

In order to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus crisis on the German film and cinema industry, the Executive Committee of the German Federal Film Board (FFA) decided an extensive package of measures and the creation of an aid fund jointly supported by the FFA, the German Ministry of Culture, and state sponsors.

“The effects of the coronavirus pandemic pose an unprecedented threat to the German film and cinema industry,” explains FFA President Bernd Neumann. Continue reading "Coronavirus crisis: German Federal Film Board's..." »

What do "Metropolis", "The Blue Angel", "Jakob the Liar" --the only GDR production ever nominated for an Oscar--, "Inglourious Basterds", and "Monuments Men" have in common? All have been shot, since its doors opened in 1912, at the Babelsberg Studios just outside Berlin. Tom Hanks and Tom Tykwer just went back there to shoot their latest mega project "Hologram for a King", further putting the location on the map as Europe's Hollywood.

One of Germany's most celebrated auteurs, Oscar winner Volker Schlöndorff, was recently honoured for transitioning Babelsberg from centralized communist film production to Western market economy as its director from 1992 to1997. 100+ years of (nearly) uninterrupted film production from Weimar to Nazi Gemany to the East German DEFA to a unified Germany have included many economic and artistic ups-and-downs. At the Berlinale 2014, the "Filmstudios Babelsberg" were more present than ever with three major films. Europe's larget film factory has become an international brand with big plans for the future, as Berlin's Tagesspiegel reports:

Continue reading "Europe's Hollywood: Studio Babelsberg" »