Sandra Hüller Set For Rotterdam; Bavaria Fiction Restructure; César Prize For ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Post-Prod House Poly Son; BBC ‘Murder Trial’ & EPI Taps UFA Exec – Global Briefs

Melanie Goodfellow, Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
·4 min read

Sandra Hüller Set For Rotterdam Talks Program

Awards season frontrunner Sandra Hüller has joined the roster of speakers lined up for the talks program of the 53rd International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR), running from January 25 to February 4. She joins 16 previously announced talks guests who also include L.A. Rebellion filmmaker Billy Woodberry, veteran Italian director Marco Bellocchio, animation maestro Bill Plympton, French director Anne Fontaine and avant-garde German director Alexander Kluge, who continues to blaze a trail at the age of 91 with his new AI work Cosmic Miniatures. As previously announced, IFFR opens with Jonathan Ogilvie’s post-punk, coming-of-age comedy Head South and 14 titles are in the running for its top Tiger award.

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Bavaria Fiction Restructures Development Team
Germany’s Bavaria Fiction is rejigging its development team with Thomas Kren placed in charge. Work has begun to restructure the unit, with Kren expanding his existing role to “accelerate and coordinate discussions with both broadcasters and creatives.” Furthermore, Bavaria Fiction will also push more heavily into co-production development and begin centrally evaluating such material. Kren will report to Bavaria Fiction Managing Director of Content Marcus Ammon, who said Kren’s “understanding of dramaturgy and his expertise in content make him the perfect sparring partner at eye level with our executive producers.” Kren previously led the ProSiebenSat.1 Media local fiction division, before joining Das Boot co-procucer Bavaria in 2021 to concentrate on developing high-end streaming projects and managing writers’ rooms as a creative producer.

César Academy Fetes ‘Anatomy Of A Fall’ Post-Production House Poly Son

Paris-based post-production house Poly Son has been declared the 2024 winner of the French César Academy’s César & Techniques Award celebrating the work of the technical sector professions including directors of photography, editors, sound engineers, set designers and costume designers. The company was also feted with the César Academy’s Innovation award for its development of the BOOM-IT plug-in tool supporting the processing of studio voice recordings. The honors come on the back of a high-profile year for the two-decade-old company thanks to its work on the sound for Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall, a key element in the storyline, as well as Thomas Cailley’s breakout box office hit The Animal Kingdom.

BBC To Cover One Of Scotland’s Longest-Running Murder Cases In Latest ‘Murder Trial’

The BBC is to enter a courtroom for one of Scotland’s longest-running unresolved murder cases in its first series of Murder Trial for four years. The Killing of Dr. Brenda Page will air later this year and producer Firecrest Films has been permitted access to shoot from inside the High Court Aberdeen during the trial. Page, a 32-year-old scientist, was brutally murdered in her flat and, over four decades later, her 80-year-old ex-husband Christopher ‘Kit’ Harrisson is finally standing trial, accused of her killing. Previous Murder Trial series for BBC Scotland and BBC Factual have covered disappearances of Renee and Andrew MacRae, and Margaret Fleming, with the latter airing in 2020. “The team at Firecrest are bringing us remarkable access to a challenging and high profile trial that takes us right to the heart of justice in action as well as raising important issues around abusive relationships,” said BBC commissioner Emma Loach.

Erich Pommer Institut Taps Katja Bäuerle

German professional training body the Erich Pommer Institut (EPI) has appointed former UFA exec Katja Bäuerle as its new CEO. Bäuerle developed and produced more than 500 episodes of mostly daily series in Germany and Australia before moving up to corporate management at UFA. Most recently, she served as the group’s Senior Manager Creative Responsibility, Education & Internal Communications. EPI is one of the leading providers of professional training in the German and European media landscape and an independent industry think tank. “Like many aspiring filmmakers in Berlin and Brandenburg, I first encountered the EPI as a seminar participant, as well as a lecturer and client. The quality of their work, a result of the close relationship to latest media research by the Film University Babelsberg as well as to the film and media industry, has always been very convincing to me,” said Bäuerle of her new employer.

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