10/12/2008

German producer Ute Schneider has been named as one of the 15 members of the EFA - European Film Academy board, which is presided by French producer Yves Marmion. The UK’s Nik Powell and German director Volker Schlöndorff are both vice-presidents.

Schneider has handled production on German films, including Tom Schreiber’s Fools (produced in collaboration with Wim Wenders) and Hardi Sturm’s recent title Up! Up! To the Sky [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (produced by the company she co-owns with Christof Groos – schneider+gross filmproduktion – which has offices in Cologne and Hamburg).

Schneider has also worked on European co-productions, including Robinson Savary’s UK/German/Austrian/Luxembourg film Bye Bye Blackbird [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2005) and Jan Troell’s recent title Everlasting Moments [+see also:
trailer
film profile], which was co-produced by Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and schneider+gross and is representing Sweden in the nomination race for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

She also has experience at an institutional level in the field of European film: from 1988-1996, she headed the EFDO (European Film Distribution Office), the first Europe-wide funding body for audiovisual distribution.

Schneider was selected from among 1,800 professionals and will occupy her position for at least two years.

(Translated from French)