German directors Dani Levy and Wolfgang Becker have revealed more details of their next features as their joint production company X Filme Creative Pool undergoes a management restructure.
This will see director-producer Tom Tykwer take over from producer Stefan Arndt as the company’s joint managing director alongside Uwe Schott. Tywker founded the company with Levy, Becker and Arndt 30 years ago. Arndt plans to focus on producing.
Levy’s next feature Kochschule Schwarz is based on the true story about a restaurant owner and a lawyer who establish a cookery school in Munich in 1938 to offer fast-track courses to Jews to allow them to obtain trade that will improve their chances of securing a visa to leave the country.
The tragicomedy, which Levy has written with Tristan Fiedler and Alexander Costea has already received funding from the regional film funds FFF Bayern and MDM.
Meanwhile, an autumn start is set for Becker’s adaptation of Maxim Leo’s bestselling novel The Hero Of Bahnhof Friedrichstraße, based on a screenplay by Constantin Lieb, with Daniel Brühl, Leonie Benesch and Charly Hübner set to star.
In addition, X Filme is developing the fifth season of Babylon Berlin which will now be with ARD Degeto and Beta Film. Pay-TV platform Sky is no longer involved.
‘We want to encourage creative and unconventional filmmakers from all over Europe to tell their stories for the cinema or series,” said Tykwer, who is now in post on his feature The Light.
“Bold and original stories that seek a broad audience have been our focus since the founding of X Filme, and I still believe that audiences long to experience something new. I want to help us sharpen this focus again and not only contribute to this as a writer and director, but also actively help shape the day-to-day business.”
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