Former Studio Babelsberg boss Thierry Potok has taken over the management of the German private media fund VIP Medienfonds from Peter H. Riedel 'with immediate effect.'

Riedel had come to VIP last September as a successor to Dirk Specht, but his contract had from the outset been only temporary in nature and was linked to the attaining of 'certain strategic milestones'.

Speaking to ScreenDaily.com, Potok explained that Riedel will continue working on the managing of the funds until the end of June as part of a handover period.

In an initial reaction, the VIP investors advisory board welcomed the appointment of Potok as 'just the right manager who will select promising projects at the best possible conditions and collect monies we are due from sales companies and distributors.'

Potok served as the managing director of Studio Babelsberg AG and Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures between 1999 and 2004, overseeing such projects at the studios as the Jackie Chan action caper Around The World In 80 Days, Fernando Meireilles' The Constant Gardener, Margarethe von Trotta's Rosenstrasse and Kevin Spacey's Beyond The Sea.

In 2005, he joined forces with French producer Christophe Mazodier and Belgium's Hubert Toint to found the Paris-based outfit Polaris Film Production & Finance whose first feature project was Julie Delpy's internationally successful Two Days In Paris.

The VIP Media Group's funds have been involved in the realisation of over 50 film projects including the Oscar-winning Monster, Tom Tykwer's Patrick Suskind adaptation Perfume: The Story Of A Murderer, Marco Kreuzpaintner's human trafficking drama Trade, the German comedy 7 Dwarfs, and Todd Haynes' Bob Dylan biopic with a difference I'm Not There.

Most recently, VIP Medienfonds 3 was a production partner on Taylor Hackford's Love Ranch, starring Helen Mirren and Joe Pesci, which Capitol Films and Bontempo Productions started shooting earlier this year.

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