04/12/2006

Colonia Media Filmproduktion, subsidiary of the WDR Westdeutscher Rundfunk and Bavaria Film (50/50) Cologne-based group, will have two new directors – Winka Wulff and Michael Loeb – from January 1, 2007.

Wulff currently works at Polyphon in Hamburg, for whom she has also recently produced the ZDF series "Im Tal der wilden Rosen". Before that, she headed (until 1999) the Fiction and Entertainment section at the pay channel Premiere, collaborating in particular with Oliver Hirschbiegel (Downfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bernd Eichinger
interview: Joachim Fest
interview: Oliver Hirschbiegel
film profile]) on the television film "Das Urteil" and with Rolf Schübel on the award-winning feature Gloomy Sunday, before joining the Berlin-based outfit Ziegler Film.

At Colonia, Wulff will be head of the programming and television production section. Matthias Esche, director at Bavaria Film, is delighted about her appointment, because she is a winner who has been producing success after success for several years.

Michael Loeb – currently on the management team at the WDR group – will now be responsible for developing services offered by Colonia Media. Loeb, a lawyer by training, first began at WDR (Westdeutschen Rundfunk) in this capacity. In 1999, he joined the management team (with a particular interest in the preservation of radio and television archives). Since 2001, he has been in charge of programming and the development of new fields of activities. He recently collaborated on Deutschland. Ein Sömmermärchen, a WDR co-production directed by Sönke Wortmann, which was a popular box-office success in 2006.

(Translated from French)