Corporate reshuffles
Benni is Germany's candidate for the Oscars, the creation of the networking platform EFM Landmark, and a scandal erupts at HessenFilm
STAFF MOVEMENTS AND CORPORATE RESHUFFLES
Milena Hemmer has left her position in the Acquisitions department at Tobis to join the company's Production division. She is replaced by Maria Lang (maria.lang@tobis.de).
Bernhard Zu Castell (Universum Film) has been appointed head of distribution at Leonine following a merger between the Tele München Group (which was acquired earlier in the year by the US financial investor KKR), Universum Film, i&u TV, and Wiedemann & Berg Film. Three departments are grouped under the umbrella of Leonine Holdings: Leonine Production, Leonine Distribution, and Leonine Lincensing.
The production companies (including Wiedemann & Berg Film, Odeon Film, and i&u TV), as well as the television networks Tele 5 and RTL II (formerly RTL 2), and the SVOD platforms Filmtastic, Home of Horror, and Arthouse CNMA, will retain their previous names.
However, this is not the case for the group's the distribution and licensing divisions, with Tele München and its affiliates TM International, Concorde Filmverleih, and Concorde Home Entertainment, as well as Universum Film, operating under the Leonine brand from the beginning of 2020.
Milada Kolberg (milada.kolberg@x-verleih.de) has been appointed acquisitions director at X-Verleih. X-Verleih is the distribution division of the production company X Filme, which was founded by Stefan Arndt, Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker, and Dani Levy.
Sasha Bühler (Constantin Film) will join Netflix in December as director of Original Film for Germany, France, and Scandinavian countries.
Koch Films (a subsidiary of the Koch Media Group, founded in Germany in 2003) has acquired the German distribution outfit KSM.
THE OSCARS
Benni (Systemsprenger) by Nora Fingscheidt (winner of the Alfred-Bauer Prize at this year's Berlin Film Festival) has been selected as Germany's entry for the Oscar for Best International Film.
COMMUNICATION AND NETWORKING PLATFORM
The European Film Market has announced the creation of the EFM Landmark event (to be held in Berlin on February 24 and 25, 2020), to serve as a platform for information exchange bringing together film commissions and producers from around the world.
A SCANDAL AT HESSENFILM
The Frankfurt-based regional film fund HessenFilm has called on its CEO Hans Joachim Mendig to step down after a photograph was posted on social media showing him dining with members of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) political party. The publication of this photo unleashed a wave of protests from German movie industry executives.
