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Jochen Laube

Producers on the Move 2013 - Germany

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- After working as an independent producer on highly acclaimed arthouse films, Jochen Laube continues to produce quality films for the German company Teamworx

After working as an independent producer on highly acclaimed arthouse films such as Novemberkind, Jochen Laube continues to produce quality films like Das Lied in mir for the German company Teamworx.

Cineuropa: What is your approach as a producer?
Jochen Laube: From my experience in film school, I learned the lesson that I never should rely only on good material for a film if the chemistry between the people doesn‘t really work. Sometimes a director presents you a compelling exposé that you really fall for, but there is no point of working with him for three years if you can`t easily get along with him. There is something right about that - a great team sticks together like a family.

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As a young independent producer, you operated very successfully the production outfit Sommerhaus. What made you decide to become a producer at Teamworx?
Actually, the situation is not very different for me except that I have more freedom now. As an independent producer, I realized what it means to run a whole company just by yourself. With first-time features and documentaries, you don‘t make so much money but invest a lot of time to close the projects so that there is less time left for the creative work.

What are the main advantages of working at Teamworx?
The Teamworx office in Ludwigsburg offers the perfect constellation for me. I can produce the kind of movies that I am dying to do. A big company is backing me and allows me to acquire material and develop art-house film projects. I also work with upcoming talents on quality television projects. With six former students I won the pitch for the three-episode series Baron Münchhausen, for which 40 production companies applied. Meanwhile, the funding organizations and television stations understand what kind of projects we are producing at Teamworx Ludwigsburg. It is a win-win situation for all of us.

Is it also easier to raise financing now?
Unfortunately not. If agents hear the name Teamworx they think they can ask for a big fee for their actors, even for a very low budget movie. But this is not the case at all. Each time when we finance a project we have to start from scratch like everybody else.

What inspired you to produce the drama Wir sind jung, wir sind stark?
The film is based on the historical facts of the nights of the fire in Rostock-Lichtenhagen in 1992. There is not a feature film, not even a documentary in Germany that deals with the excesses of anti-foreignism that happened for example in Rostock, Mölln and Solingen. When the sunflower house in Rostock was on fire, a mob of 3,000 people was applauding and blocked the driveway for the police and fire department. I did a lot of research with the director Burhan Qurbani who presented Shahada in the 2010 Berlinale competition. With our distributor Zorro Film we found a partner who believes in this kind of movie.

Why are you producing the new film Coconut Hero by the Das Lied in mir director Florian Cossen as an international co-production?
We started to develop the project as a small German film but story-wise we had locate it in Northern Canada because overt here a 17-year-old has no chance to get out of his hometown. It is a very emotional and funny script by Florian Cossen and Elena von Saucken that won an award at the Munich film festival. We will shoot the film in English with an international cast.

Is the nomination as Producer on the Move for you a step towards international production?
I understand this invitation as being a recognition of my work in Germany. This is a good starting point for me to 'think more European'. It also gives me the chance to consider European co-productions and 'think bigger'. I look forward to meeting producer colleagues from other European countries to discuss stories, and I will pitch two feature film projects.

  

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