Berlin-Brandenburg Film Fund Medienboard Fetes Cannes Festival Films

Leo Barraclough
·2 min read
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On Saturday, film and TV funder Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg celebrated the six films that it funded running in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival.

These were Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” in Competition, Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider,” in Competition, Emily Atef’s “More Than Ever,” in Un Certain Regard, Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Un beau matin,” in Directors’ Fortnight, Sergei Loznitsa’s “The Natural History of Destruction,” in Special Screening, and Mantas Kvedaravicius’ “Mariupolis 2,” in Special Screening.

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Commenting on the role Medienboard played in funding the films in Cannes, the organization’s chief Kirsten Niehuus said: “Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and other film funds play an important role in sustaining high quality cinema in Europe and in international co-productions around the world.”

The team from “Holy Spider,” including actors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Sara Fazilat, and producer Sol Bondy. - Credit: Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz
The team from “Holy Spider,” including actors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Sara Fazilat, and producer Sol Bondy. - Credit: Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz

Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz

Speaking about the type of films Medienboard likes to fund, she said: “Not very original but true – we prefer films that bring something original to an audience. That goes for mainstream as well as young talent and arthouse. Especially this year’s MBB funded films in Cannes are so amazing and diverse…each a unicorn.”

On the role of Berlin-Brandenburg in world cinema, she said: “We are very proud to have it all… the Berlinale as an important platform for films from around the world, some of the finest producers who made history with the extraordinary films they produced and co-produced, and will be part of the future of world cinema, and film funding to support the filmmakers in putting their creative visions on the screen.”

The VIPs who attended included “More Than Ever” director Emily Atef; “Holy Spider” director Ali Abbasi, actors Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Sara Fazilat, and producer Sol Bondy; Philippe Bober and Erik Hemmendorff, producers of “Triangle of Sadness”; the team from “Mariupolis 2,” including producer Thanassis Karathanos and Hanna Bliobrova, fiancée of the late Mantas Kvedaravičius; Sergei Loznitsa, director of “The Natural History of Destruction”; Julia von Heinz, director of “And Tomorrow the Entire World”; Gerhard Meixner and Roman Paul of Razor Film, producers of “One Fine Morning”; Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek, the heads of Berlinale; Veronika Ferres, actress and producer; and Charlie Woebcken, Henning Molfenter and Eike Wolf of Studio Babelsberg.

The team from “Mariupolis 2,” including producer Thanassis Karathanos and Hanna Bliobrova, fiancée of the late Mantas Kvedaravičius. - Credit: Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz
The team from “Mariupolis 2,” including producer Thanassis Karathanos and Hanna Bliobrova, fiancée of the late Mantas Kvedaravičius. - Credit: Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz

Courtesy of MBB/Daniel Hinz

Also attending were members of The Creatives, a network of independent European producers: Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach of Komplizenfilm; Synnøve Hørsdal and Cornelia Boysen of Maipo; Erik Glijnis and Leontine Petit of Lemming; Mike Goodridge of Good Chaos; Tatjana Kozar, Jacques-Henri Bronckart and Gwen Libert of Versus; Simon Arnal of Haut et Court; and Eitan Mansuri of Spiro.

Also there were Alexander Wadouh, Germany’s candidate for EFP’s Producer on the Move program; and actors Emilia Schüle, Stefan Konarske and Maximilian Mundt.

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