TV Films on the Big Screen
9. August 2023
Ten television films are in the running for the Hamburg Producer Award “German Television Productions”. The award, endowed with 25,000 euros, is sponsored by the VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten mbH. Four series projects have been nominated for the VFF’s special prize “Serial Formats”, worth 10,000 euros. Three productions will be shown as special screenings and out of competition, including two episodes of the thriller series Die Saat – Tödliche Macht starring Heino Ferch as a special screening at Hapag-Lloyd.
“We are looking forward to an especially large number of top-class television films and series this year and promise ourselves an exciting competition like we haven’t had in a long time. The Corona-related lull seems to be finally over,” says Friedemann Beyer, Head of the Television Section.
Competition Television Films
In Briefe aus dem Jenseits, directed by Niki Stein and produced by Nils Dünker (Lailaps Films for ZDF), Inspector Ingo Thiel, played by Heino Ferch, reopens an old case and goes in search of a boy who went missing 25 years ago. There are indications that he is still alive.
Abandoned years ago in a storm surge night, Wienke (Philine Schmölzer) wants to know from her then “rescuer” (Anton Spieker) who she is. Die Flut – Tod am Deich produced by Kerstin Ramcke, Katinka Seidt and Wilfried Hauke (Nordfilm for ARD Degeto) is the free adaptation of the 2001 novel »Hauke Haiens Tod« by Andrea Paluch and Robert Habeck. Andreas Prochaska stages the material as a dramatic and emotional journey into the past, in which the downfall of the dike count Hauke Haien and his family was inevitable.
Inundated with work, forensic biologist Inga, played by Anne Ratte-Polle, doesn’t notice how lonely she actually is. When she is asked to take care of a falcon cub and her father reveals to her that she has a half-sister, she gets caught up in a whirlpool of long-hidden, painful feelings. With Mein Falke, produced by Jens Christian Susa (PROVOBIS Film for NDR and ARTE on behalf of ARD), Dominik Graf (director) and Beate Langmaack (screenplay) continue their successful collaboration after the Grimme Award-winning production Hanne.
Where is the money? Omar, the driver of the missing money transporter, is in jail and there is no trace of the millions. This does not leave five women alone: Omar’s wife, his mother, her girlfriend, an alleged mistress and a mysterious lawyer try, each in her own way, to get the money. Lars Becker directs Der Millionen Raub, produced by Reinhold Elschot and Julia Brand (Network Movie Hamburg for ZDF) as a special kind of crime entertainment.
Philipp, the 25 years younger new boyfriend of Johanna’s widowed mother Henriette, gets caught between the fronts of the two women: Der neue Freund directed by Dustin Loose from a script by Frédéric Hambalek is a suspenseful psychological drama starring Corinna Harfouch, Karin Hanczewski and Louis Nitsche and produced by Sophie von Uslar (Hager Moss for SWR/ARD).
Ostsee für Sturköppe, produced by Annedore v. Donop and Karsten Aurich (sabotage films for ARD Degeto) is the television film debut of Joana Vogdt based on a script by Sarah Esser. A Hamburg carpenter’s new start in a village on the Baltic Sea is anything but easy. Reservations, mistrust and painful family secrets from GDR times initially prevent living together as equals.
After his directorial debut Sörensen hat Angst, Bjarne Mädel is also showing his second film Sörensen fängt Feuer at FILMFEST HAMBURG. The script was written by Sven Stricker, the film was produced by Jakob Claussen and Uli Pütz (Claussen + Pütz for NDR). In his new case, the inspector, who suffers from anxiety disorders, has to take care of a young, disturbed woman.
What really happened between the German teacher Julia (Emily Cox) and her pupil? After the student’s death and a prison sentence served, Julia wants to carry on as before. But the inspector in charge (Thomas Loibl) comes across lies and secrets. The exciting crime drama Unschuldig – Der Fall Julia B., directed by Ute Wieland and based on a screenplay by Florian Oeller, was produced by Iris Kiefer (filmpool fiction for ARD Degeto).
Serious incidents with an AI-supported therapy app threaten to throw tech-savvy psychotherapist Emma off track. Martina Plura directs Unsichtbarer Angreifer, produced by Eric Bouley and Christopher Sassenrath (UFA Fiction for ZDF) as a psychological thriller about a topical issue.
Dancing back into life: Undercover and on behalf of his daughter, psychiatrist Hanne (Nina Kunzendorf) is supposed to provide therapy for the widowed and depressed dance teacher Albert (Ulrich Matthes) as an untalented student. Winterwalzer, directed by Ingo Rasper and based on a script by Edda Leesch, was produced by Friedrich Wildfeuer and Karsten Rühle (Constantin Television for ARD Degeto).
To mark the 20th anniversary of Klaus Borowski’s (Axel Milberg) service, FILMFEST HAMBURG will show out of competition Borowski und das unschuldige Kind von Wacken, produced by Kerstin Ramcke and Sabine Timmermann (Nordfilm for NDR/ARD), a new TATORT episode from the North, and Loriot 100 by director and producer André Schäfer (Florianfilm for SWR/RB), a documentary bow to Germany’s best-known humourist Vicco von Bülow.
As a special screening at Hapag-Lloyd, two episodes of the series Die Saat – Tödliche Macht with Heino Ferch are on the programme. The six-part miniseries (director: Alexander Dierbach, script: Christian Jeltsch and Axel Hellstenius) was produced by Britta Meyermann (Odeon Fiction for ARD Degeto & NRK).
Competition Serial Formats
In Die Augenzeugen, two students witness a murder. The killer knows about them, and the two have lived in constant fear of being discovered ever since. Carmen Stozek and Vanessa Lackschéwitz (Bantry Bay Productions) produce the German remake of the Norwegian thriller miniseries Øyevitne – Eyewitness for ARD Degeto, directed by Anna-Katharina Maier.
Concealing his origins, Adem changes his first name to Adam in order to get a room in a student fraternity. The lie he lives gradually turns into a burdening sense of guilt. Füxe is David Caly Diaz’s debut as a television director, who also wrote the script with Joe Hofer. The four-part mini-series was produced by Katrin Haase and Oliver Arnold (U5 Filmproduktion GmbH & Co. KG for ZDF).
An East German investigator (Henriette Confurius) and her new West German partner (Fahri Yardim) hunt a serial killer whose trail leads them into the abysses of the German-German past and confronts them with the question of personal guilt. Die Quellen des Bösen, directed by Stephan Rick, was produced by Björn Vosgerau (Wüste Medien for RTL +).
The scripts for the series Last Exit Schinkenstraße, directed by Jonas Grosch, were written by Heinz Strunk, who also plays the lead role with Marc Hosemann. The story about two unemployed dance musicians who want to start a career as party singers on Mallorca is produced by Nina Etspüler, Pierre Übelhack and Tobias Schober (i&u TV for Amazon Prime).
The section “Televisions” is presented by the Deutsche Fernsehlotterie.
Photo: Die Saat – Tödliche Macht/Odeon Fiction
