01/12/2016 - The German-French funding committee has greenlit financing for five feature films and three projects in development

German director Christian Petzold

At the recent German-French Film Meeting in Saarbrücken (read the news), the funding committee gave out €1.7 million in production and development support. Many of the feature-film projects supported are about love and life-changing experiences, and often, the characters have to leave their home country because of war or political reasons. One of the five features receiving production support is Transit [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
interview: Franz Rogowski
film profile] by German writer-director Christian Petzold (Barbara [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile], Phoenix [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
interview: Christian Petzold
film profile]). Based on a novel by Anna Seghers, the story is about refugees in Germany, comparing the political situation today with that in 1940. The film will be produced by Berlin-based Schramm Film Koerner & Weber, in co-production with Neon Productions in Marseille.

After his drama Original Bliss [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sven Taddicken
film profile], about escaping from an abusive husband, German filmmaker Sven Taddicken will tell the story of another couple. In Das schönste Paar, a man has a chance meeting with the person who raped his girlfriend, and is ready for revenge. For this production, Germany’s One Two Films is hooking up with Paris-based Arsam International. Meanwhile, award-winning French filmmaker Mia Hansen-Løve (Things to Come [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Mia Hansen-Løve
film profile]) is also focusing on a relationship: in Maya, a war reporter in India falls in love with a 15-year-old. The partners in this French-German co-production are Les Films Pelléas in Paris and Razor Film Produktion in Berlin. In Mein liebster Stoff by Gaya Jiji, a young Syrian woman hopes for a better life by getting married in America. The drama, produced by Paris-based Gloria Films Production and Katuh Studio, will be shot in Turkey. Life also changes dramatically for the characters in Lionel by Noël Alpi, a coming-of-age drama set on a French farm. The producers are La Gaillarde Productions in Paris and Zeitfilm Media in Hamburg.

Furthermore, three German-French co-productions have received development support. In Licht by Jakob Zapf, an old man and a young boy help each other to overcome their trauma, while Moon by Karim Aïnouz is about two men, an abandoned town and hidden memories. Finally, in Sibel [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Çağla Zencirci and Guillaum…
film profile] by Cagla Zencirci and Guillaume Giovanetti, a young woman who has been living a lonely existence with her father in a village sees her life turned upside down when she runs into a renegade soldier.