Page 26 - Fujifilm Exposure_51_Expo Intl_Spring 2011_ok

GERMANY FILM & TV T
year of Bernd Eichinger sent the
German filmmaking industry reeling. But not for long, it turns out. Arguably the most
influential producer in German cinematic history, Eichinger was a boffo box-office producer who set the tone in German cinema for
30 years.
But a new breed of up-and-coming
romantic comedy filmmakers is proof that 2011 is a turning point for a whole new generation of helmers and lensers, with Fujifilm often their preferred stock.
There is, for example, comic actor/director/producer Til
Schweiger, who is defying a box-of- fice downturn by drawing the crowds to his latest Billy Wilder- style romantic comedy.
GERMANY Schweiger’s Kokowääh (the German phonetic spelling of “coq au
FOCUSON
ERNEST GILL REPORTS FROM BERLIN ON THE FILM AND TELEVISION PRODUCTION SCENE IN GERMANY INCLUDING THOSE ORIGINATED
ON FUJIFILM
vin”) kick-started a sluggish 2011 box-office year by selling 2 million tickets in the first 10 days of the film’s release.
Schweiger represents a whole new breed of filmmakers who reflect the changing tastes and demography of post-unification Germany.
Another is Fatih Akin, a 37-year- old Turkish-German director
whose light comedic touch has transformed such unpalatable subjects as illegal immigration and Islamic radicalism into box-office gold in Germany. Four million ethnic Turks live in Germany, making them the country’s largest minority.
With poignant-yet-funny films like Soul Kitchen (shot by Rainer Klausmann on ETERNA 500T, ETERNA 250D and Super F-64D), Akin has straddled German society’s ethnic boundaries, hitting hard at social issues whilst making audiences laugh - and making them pay good money to do so. Similarly, Marc Rothemund’s Single By Contract (Groupies Bleiben Nicht Zum Frühstück).
Rothemund and DP Martin Langer who together made 2005’s Oscar- nominated Sophie Scholl, set during World War Two, re-united for this
complicated when it transpires that Chriz’s contract stipulates he’s not allowed to have a girlfriend.
Langer, 51, the award-winning cinematographer of Sass and 14 Tage Lebenslanglich -- and a nominee for various credits including A Handful Of Grass, After The Truth and, of course, Sophie Scholl – is a firm advocate of Fujifilm.
“I like the look of Fujifilm footage very much and the Vivid stocks gives me all the possibilities, which I need for creating my pictures: good skin tones, big exposure tolerance and full blackness,” he says.
he sudden death earlier this
Photo main: August Diehl and Nina Proll getting better acquainted in Buddenbrooks above l-r: scenes from Soul-Kitchen; Kokowããh; Marc Rothemund’s Single By Contract; Alexandra Schmidt’s Dunkel; Shahrukh Khan in Don 2 - The Chase Continues; Markus Imboden’s Der Verdingbub
altogether frothier and contempo- rary romantic German comedy.
When Lila (Anna Fischer) falls for Chriz (Kostka Ullmann), she doesn’t realise his ‘day job’ is lead singer of the popular rock band, Berlin Mitte. Things become even more
Single by Contract was originated by Langer on 35mm Fujicolor ETERNA Vivid 500T, ETERNA 250D, and Super F-64D
Langer, who has just completed the 19th Century set Der Ganz Grosse Traum for director Sebastian
24 • EXPOSURE • THE MAGAZINE • FUJIFILM MOTION PICTURE