Loveling’ Director Gustavo Pizzi on Berlinale Series Standout ‘The Last Days of Gilda’

David Hasselhoff is going meta in Ze Network, a new German TV series in which he will star as Hollywood actor David Hasselhoff. The plot of the dark comedy sees the Hoff cast in a theater play in Germany only to be caught up in an international conspiracy of former Cold War assassins.

CBS Studios and German producer Syrreal Entertainment are teaming to create a series for RTL streamer TV Now in which David Hasselhoff will star as himself in a fictional international conspiracy story.

Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. rights to Maria Schrader’s I’m Your Man after the film picked up a Silver Bear for Maren Eggert’s lead performance at the 2021 Berlin International Film Festival.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorAltered Innocence has picked up U.S. rights to Kateryna Gornostai’s debut feature film “Stop-Zemlia,” which just had its world premiere in the Generation 14plus section of the Berlin Film Festival.The film follows Masha, her two best friends, and the rest of their class through parties, field trips and romance in their last year of high school.

Mr. Bachmann and His Class took director Maria Speth years to research, six months to shoot, and another three years to edit.

It’s 1943. A particularly cruel winter has swept through the occupied Soviet Union.

Hours after his Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn won the Golden Bear for best film at the first-ever virtual Berlin International Film Festival, Romanian director Radu Jude took aim at what he called the "bullshit of red carpets" and the false glamour of in-person film festivals.Jude said he was "quite happy" not to have had to attend a fancy awards gala in Berlin on Friday to receive his Golden Bear.

EXCLUSIVE: Indie stalwart Cassian Elwes is making a move into management via his Elevated banner, kicking off with signing Best Sellers director Lina Roessler, whose debut feature starring Michael Caine and Aubrey Plaza screened in the Berlin Film Festival’s Special Gala section this week. It’s the first time the film producer and former co-head of William Morris Independent has moved into the management space.

Laetitia Eido, the French actress known to fans of Netflix's Israeli drama Fauda as Dr. Shirin El Abed, has signed on to co-star in Nhiem, a new high-end television series set during the Vietnam War from New Zealand director Roger Donaldson (The World's Fastest Indian) and German production group Carte Blanche International.

Guy Lodge Film CriticNow in its 35th year, the Teddy Awards are among the Berlinale’s most affectionately regarded institutions.

BERLIN -- One of Germany's best-known TV directors and scriptwriters has been formally charged with raping an aspiring actress almost 25 years ago, Munich prosecutors said Friday.Dieter Wedel was the first prominent figure in the country named when the #MeToo movement targeting alleged sexual abusers in the media and the arts gathered pace in Germany three years ago.Wedel, 81, has denied claims by several women that he pressured them for sex.The 20-page indictment against Wedel claims that in

Naman Ramachandran The Berlin Film Festival’s Golden Bear for best film has been won by “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” (Babardeală cu bucluc sau porno balamuc), directed by Radu Jude and produced by Ada Solomon.The international jury, made up of former Golden Bear winners, includes Mohammad Rasoulof from Iran, Nadav Lapid from Israel, Adina Pintilie from Romania, Ildikó Enyedi from Hungary, Gianfranco Rosi from Italy and Jasmila Žbanić from Jasmila Zbanic from Bosnia and Herzegovina.More to

Ed Meza @edmezavarPalestinian filmmaker Annemarie Jacir’s Gaza-set drama “The Oblivion Theory” has won the top prize at the Berlinale Co-Production Market.Presented by Paris-based Incognito Films and Berlin’s One Two Films, the film is based on José Eduardo Agualusa’s novel “A General Theory of Oblivion,” although the book’s story has been moved from Angola to Palestine during the First Intifada, the sustained protests by Palestinians against Israel occupation that lasted from 1987 to 1993.The

Ben Croll Playing in Berlin’s Encounters sidebar, the French documentary “We” spins a tapestry of small moments and personal recollections, finding connections in the lives of migrants, immigrants, lovesick teens and retirees without downplaying their hardships.

South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo has been a particular favorite at the Berlin Film Festival for quite some time — he won the Best Director prize there last year for The Woman Who Ran — and he’s back again this year with another competition entry, Introduction.

Lise Pedersen The new action-horror film set to be shot by acclaimed blockbuster director Renny Harlin (“Die Hard 2,” “Cliffhanger”) is being introduced online at Berlin’s virtual European Film Market.

Hungary’s most recent contribution to the implacable flow of war films pouring out of Eastern Europe is a far cry from the Russian tank operas and spectacular disaster films like Battle of Leningrad. Denes Nagy’s sensitive first featureNatural Light (Termeszetes feny), bowing in Berlin competition, is the opposite of these: a slow starter high on atmosphere but low on action, whose horrific main event takes place discreetly off-screen.

Naman Ramachandran Cold War spy drama “Baloton Brigade” has been selected to pitch at Series Mania in Lille as part of the Berlinale-Series Mania Project Exchange.Under the terms of the partnership, now in its seventh year, one project pitched at Series Mania at Lille is invited to pitch again at the ongoing Berlin Series Market’s Co-Pro Series (March 1-5). In return, Series Mania invites a Berlinale project to pitch in Lille as part of the Series Mania Forum (Aug.

Ed Meza @edmezavarIn his latest work, “Fabian — Going to the Dogs,” Dominik Graf adapts a work that defines the tragic, hedonistic and dysfunctional era of the Weimar Republic from a writer widely known for his children’s books.Set in 1931 Berlin, the story, based on Erich Kästner’s novel of the same name, is seen through the eyes of Jakob Fabian (Tom Schilling), a fatalistic writer who finds solace in his love for Cornelia, played by Saskia Rosendahl (“Never Look Away”) and his best friend

Ed Meza @edmezavarBerlin has been wrought a shadow of its former bustling self by the ongoing pandemic, and while locals can still be seen on the streets, its once thriving nightlife, packed restaurants, crowded bars and 24-hour dance parties seem like a distant memory.The Berlinale was one of the few major industry events that managed to take place last year before the COVID-19 crisis hit Europe in March. This year, it has followed other major A-list festivals online.