Neue Kinowelt Filmproduktion (NKF), the recently founded production arm of Germany's Kinowelt Group, has unveiled an ambitious slate of projects.
They include new German language features by Esther Gronenborn, Til Schweiger, Michael Schorr and Hendrik Handloegten spanning all genres from arthouse to the mainstream.

According to Kinowelt's Bertil le Claire, NKF aims to become involved in betweenthree-to-five co-productions a year andtwo-to-three in-house projects as well as working on TV movie commissions from German public and private broadcasters.
All of the cinema films will be released in Germany by Kinowelt's theatrical arm Kinowelt Filmverleih and on DVD by Kinowelt Home Entertainment.
While world sales of the in-house projectsare likely to be handled by Kinowelt International, international distribution of projects where Kinowelt is a co-producer will be subject to negotiation with the production partners - for example, NKF's second co-production Friedliche Zeiten is being represented by The Match Factory.

The line-up of co-productions and in-house projects - with budgets ranging between $3m-10m (Euros 2.5m and Euros 7.5m) - was kicked off in the spring by Adnan G. Koese's drama Lauf Um Dein Leben! - Vom Junkie Zum Ironman, based on the true story of the triathlete Andreas Niedrig, and then followed this month by the shooting of Neele Leana Vollmar's tragicomedy Friedliche Zeiten in Munich.

The next project due to go into production will be the mystery thriller Kaifeck Murder by Esther Gronenborn, to be produced by 24 Frames Film with NKF and SevenPictures Film as co-producers and shooting in Bavaria and Thuringia from November.

Next spring should see NKF serving as a co-producer on the medieval slapstick comedy Zwei Ritter Geben Vollgas which will be directed by Til Schweiger for Lionheart Entertainment and his own company Barefoot Films.
He will play one of the leads opposite Manitou's Shoe star Rick Kavanian in a story penned by Oliver Philipp and Oliver Ziegenbalg, authors of the military comedy Kein Bund Fuers Leben.

March 2008 is also scheduled for the start of shooting on the long-gestating adaptation of Wladimir Kaminer's cult novel Russendisko, which will be directed by Michael Schorr (Schultze Gets The Blues) for Black Forest Films and Joachim von Vietinghoff Filmproduktion with NKF co-producing.
In the summer, NKF will be a partner on a screen version of the German classic children's TV series Robbi, Tobbi Und Das Fliewatuut with Berlin-based box! Filmproduktion and plans the shoot of its first in-house project the tragicomedy Sein Letzes Rennen by Kilian Riedhof.

Projects at an earlier stage of development include Hendrik Handloegten's biopic of the legendary German writer Karl May in Der Mann Aus Ardistan, written with fellow director Achim von Borries; Swiss-based Samir's political comedy Superland, with Dschoint Ventschr Filmproduktion, Scripthouse and RoMe Film as co-producers, and Edzard Onneken's German Bollywood musical Indisch Heiraten.

Le Claire added that the French production house Ideale Audience had also approached NKF to come onboard a new documentary project by Pepe Danquart (To The Limit) which is tentatively entitled Beyond The Clouds/Earth Calling.

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