Beta Film Sells YA Horror Series ‘Cryptid’ to Germany’s Joyn (EXCLUSIVE)

American folk and country singer, John Prine, passed away at the age of 73 due to complications from Coronavirus. He was hospitalised after showing sudden COVID 19 symptoms on March 26 and was kept in the intensive care for 13 days before he succumbed to the virus on April 7. John’s family confirmed the tragic news to Variety. John was born and raised on the outskirts of Chicago. 1996, he was drafted into the US Army and was stationed in Germany during the Vietnam War. 

Coronavirus or not, the German film industry has determined that the show must go on. Germany will still hand out its equivalent of the Oscars, the German Film Awards, in a live ceremony in Berlin on April 24, despite the country being on lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

By Tom Grater

Farce is not a genre we commonly associate with the Germans, but then, as “Curveball” reminds us at the outset, this wildly atypical Teutonic satire — which plays like a cross between “Wag the Dog” and “Dr. Strangelove” in its portrayal of incompetence at the highest levels — is “A true story.

By Nancy Tartaglione

About 20 years ago, a collector found something quite rare at a flea market: a group of 55 photos taken on the set of the seminal 1920 German Expressionist film The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Set to air in April on Germany’s ARD, Beta Film has sold Dreamtool series “The Turncoat” throughout Scandinavia to public broadcasters NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, DR in Denmark and YLE in Finland. Negotiations are underway in the U.K. and U.S.

Germany’s Studio Babelsberg is seeking to find a settlement with hundreds of film crew members following the shutdown earlier this month of Warner Bros.’ “The Matrix 4” and Sony Pictures’ “Uncharted” amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Fremantle and Fabula has dropped the first trailer of eight-part series “La Jauría” (“The Pack”), showrun by Lucía Puenzo (“The German Doctor”), one of Latin America’s most prominent film and TV writer-directors, and starring Daniela Vega, the lead in the Academy Award winning “A Fantastic Woman.”

MADRID — In one of the first detailed breakdowns from a major European company of marketing strategies in the Series Mania/MipTV online marketplace, Germany’s Beta Film has announced that it will stage a virtual Beta Brunch on March 31.

MADRID — In one of the first detailed breakdowns from a major European company of marketing strategies in the Series Mania/MipTV online marketplace, Germany’s Beta Film has announced that it will stage a virtual Beta Brunch on March 31.

BERLIN -- Locked down due to the coronavirus pandemic, the nightclubs in the German capital have decided to keep the beat going — at least online.

Four upcoming premium drama series from German production companies—“Deutschland89,” “Wild Republic,” “Algiers Confidential” and “MaPa”—have been selected for Coming Next, a section that forms part of Series Mania’s Forum program. German Films, an agency that promotes Teutonic film and TV productions, compiled the selection.

All proceeds from the album will go to the MusiCares coronavirus relief fund

Father John Misty has released Off-Key in Hamburg, a live album recorded at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie on August 8, 2019. The 20-track album finds Josh Tillman backed by his touring band along with German orchestra Neue Philharmonie Frankfurt. All proceeds from the release go to the MusiCares COVID-19 Relief Fund. Check out the live version of “Holy Shit” below and purchase the album over at Bandcamp.

As the coronavirus crisis continues to devastate Germany’s entertainment industry, calls are growing ever louder for an official ban on shooting.