News

Co-operation with Senator Film

Senator Film AG, one of Germany’s strongest independent distributors, and the distributor of Lebanon, have acquired the services of GRINGO’s Sonja Ewers as a freelance producer at Senator Filmproduktion Köln GmbH. Parallel to her projects at GRINGO, Sonja is now also developing and producing a slate of in-house German and international feature films for Senator, the first of which is the film adaptation of Martin Suter's best-selling German-language novel The Chef.

Bethlehem wraps, WestEnd takes on international sales

Congratulations to director Yuval Adler, who has now finished shooting on Bethlehem, his political thriller about an Israeli intelligence officer and his teenage Palestinian informer amidst the violence and terror of the occupied West Bank. In the meantime, London-based sales agent WestEnd has come on board, and will begin international sales shortly.

Production Support for Happy Hour

GRINGO’s new German-Irish comedy Happy Hour has been awarded €200,000 in production support by the Film und MedienStiftung NRW. Written and directed by Franz Müller, and produced by GRINGO’s Sonja Ewers, Happy Hour tells the story of three German men who try to escape their mid-life crises by going on holiday deep in the Irish countryside. The shoot will take place in County Cork.

Bethlehem shoot begins in the West Bank and Israel

All our best wishes to director Yuval Adler, who has just begun shooting on his debut feature Bethlehem in Israel and the West Bank from the fantastic script he wrote together with Arab-Israeli journalist Ali Waked. GRINGO is co-producing alongside Entre Chien Et Loup’s Diana Elbaum and Pie Film Limited’s Talia Kleinhendler (Ajami, Human Resources Manager).

Production Support for Bethlehem

The Film und Medien Stiftung has come on board GRINGO’s latest international co-production, Bethlehem, investing €99,720 in production finance. Portraying an Israeli intelligence officer’s desperate attempts to keep his teenage Palestinian informant on-side amidst the terror and violence of the occupied West Bank, Bethlehem is written jointly by director Yuval Adler and journalist Ali Waked. Serving members of both the Israeli secret services and the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Brigades acted as consultants on the screenplay. Bethlehem is a co-production with Pie Films Ltd (Israel) and Entre Chien Et Loup (Belgium). German theatrical and DVD rights have been picked up by RealFiction.

Lebanon wins twice at the European Film Awards

Lebanon, co-produced by GRINGO’s Sonja Ewers, has won two prizes at the European Film Awards 2010, with director Samuel Maoz taking home the ‘European Discovery of the Year’ prize, and Giora Bejach collecting the award for ‘Best Cinematographer’. The film had also been nominated in four other categories: Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenwriter and Best Editor. (The two Awards round off an incredible run for Lebanon, which has also picked up two Asia Pacific Screen Awards, four Israeli Film Academy Awards and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.) International sales are being handled by Celluloid Dreams, with Senator distributing in Germany.

Two Asia Pacific Screen Awards for Lebanon’s Samuel Maoz

Congratulations to Lebanon director Samuel Maoz, who has won twice at the 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards, held in Queensland, Australia, picking up both the Best Screenplay award as well as the Grand Jury Prize. The awards follow an amazing run of film festivals, including Venice (at which it premiered in competition and won the Golden Lion), Toronto, New York, Vancouver, Pusan, São Paulo, Göteborg, Rotterdam, Glasgow, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Moscow and Karlovy Vary. Next up, the European Film Awards, for which Lebanon is nominated in 6 categories, including Best Film.

MEDIA development support for Zen in the Art of Archery

GRINGOs Zen in the Art of Archery has been awarded development support to the tune of €25,000 by the EU MEDIA fund. “To date, in spite of the well-developed film industries in both territories, there have been extremely few cinematic co-productions between Europe and Japan” says GRINGO’s Steve Hudson. “We’re extremely grateful to MEDIA for recognising the pioneering nature of our efforts with Zen in the Art of Archery and for their unqualified support in awarding the film the maximum €25,000 in single project development funding”.

ACE Japan Workshop for Zen in the Art of Archery

GRINGOs Zen in the Art of Archery has been invited to participate in ACE’s first workshop on co-producing with Japan, which is taking place in Tokyo and Kyoto in January 2010. The Ateliers du Cinéma Européen workshop, which is supported by the EU Media International program and by Unijapan, is bringing European producers - including GRINGO’s Steve Hudson - together with Japanese producers, distributors, studios and casting agents.

Lebanon wins Golden Lion in Venice

Congratulations to GRINGO's Sonja Ewers, whose co-production Lebanon has won the Golden Lion for the best film at the Venice Film Festival 2009. Written and directed by Samuel Maoz, Lebanon is a harrowing portrait of the chaos and panic of war, all told from within the claustrophobic confines of a tank on the first day of the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. After Venice, Lebanon is moving on to the film festivals in Toronto, London, New York, Telluride and Pusan. International sales are being managed by Celluloid Dreams. Lebanon is an Israeli-German-French co-production, the German side of which was handled by our sister company, Ariel Films, of which Sonja is also a managing director.

Pre-production support for Zen in the Art of Archery

GRINGO films has been awarded €48,000 towards the financing and pre-production of Zen in the Art of Archery by the Filmstiftung North Rhine-Westphalia. Gringo's Steve Hudson on the award: "We'd like to thank the Filmstiftung NRW for their continuing generous support and for reacting so positively to this film. As a German-Japanese co-production, Zen in the Art of Archery is an intensely ambitious project that requires careful planning and preparation. The award allows us to push ahead with financing at a critical time."