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“Enfant Terrible,” which received the Cannes 2020 label, is set to start its international journey with its first distribution deals announced as it joins the international festival circuit. The film, directed by Oskar Roehler, is about the life of German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

The German film, which received its local festival premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival, was released on home turf by Weltkino on Oct. 1. The biopic is set to start its international life with upcoming premieres at the festivals in Ghent (in competition), Istanbul (as a Gala screening) and Seville (in competition).

“Enfant Terrible” opened the German Film Festival in Paris on Oct. 7, and screened in the Masters section of the Moscow Film Festival on Oct. 7, and has received a nomination for the European Film Awards.

Alongside various ongoing and advanced negotiations, sales agent Picture Tree Intl. has announced the film’s first deals, including in the U.

One of the happy surprises of the 2014 Berlinale was “The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq.” Guillaume Nicloux’ 90-minute film is a faux documentary inspired by the real-life and still-unexplained disappearance of the celebrated and reclusive French author, who didn’t show up for part of a 2011 book tour, leading to a media frenzy and even to worries of an Al-Qaeda plot, and then returned days later, lips sealed. Nicloux’ genius is to fill in the blanks, and he does so hilariously. It helps, of course, to know at least a bit about Houellebecq, who is as ornery and controversial as he is talented. In novels like “Platform” (2002) and “The Elementary Particles" (2000), he has openly criticized Islam and free economic markets, which he feels create winners and losers in love as well as life. Many critics consider him to be sexist, misogynist, racist, not to mention pornographic and generally repugnant. He is certainly an eccentric,...

Michel Houellebecq, the énfant terrible of French Literature, is regarded by many as the best European writer to emerge in decades. My first Houellebecq was Elementary Particles in the late 90s- the book was repulsive, depraved, nihilistic and shocking but I couldn't put it down.  I gotta admit that I am a big fan. I've read all his books since then. What's great about his work is, however incendiary and miserablist it might sound, there is always much humanism that runs through at its core.However, he's been accused of being an Islamophobe for some incendiary passages in many of his novels, namely Platform. It was his caricature on the cover of Charlie Hebdo when the place was shot up by Islamic militants, leaving 12 people...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

One of the happy surprises of the Berlinale is “L’enlevement de Michel Houellebecq (The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq).” Guillaume Nicloux’ 90-minute film is a faux documentary inspired by the real-life and still-unexplained disappearance of the celebrated and reclusive French author, who didn’t show up for part of a 2011 book tour, leading to a media frenzy and even to worries of an Al-Qaeda plot, and then returned days later, lips sealed. Nicloux’ genius is to fill in the blanks, and he does so hilariously.It helps, of course, to know at least a bit about Houellebecq, who is as ornery and controversial as he is talented. In novels like “Platform” (2002) and “The Elementary Particles" (2000), he has openly criticized Islam and free economic markets, which he feels create winners and losers in love as well as life. Many critics consider him to be sexist, misogynist, racist, not to mention pornographic and generally repugnant.

I do not like anything about labeling films, especially if the labels are in any way connected with gender. However, the latest film directed by Sally Potter (Orlando, The Man Who Cried) forces me to double-cross my habits. If there is a film which may be called a girlish one -- hysterical in a stereotypical feminine way; excessively poetic, subtle and erotic -- Ginger & Rosa is that particular one. On one hand, Potter's film is a typical, and bit predictable, coming-of-age story. On the other hand, it is clear that these puberty struggles will not lead anybody to real adolescence. Potter does not portray particular teenagers, but a lost generation that lived in permanent fear; the same one that turned freedom -- obtained during social revolts -- into weapons of self destruction. Michel Houellebecq wrote that the sexual revolution destroyed family bonds and led to tragic isolation of individuals. Ginger (phenomenal Elle Fanning!

Director: Jacques Audiard Writers: Jacques Audiard (screenplay), Thomas Bidegain (screenplay), Craig Davidson (story) Starring: Marion Cotillard, Matthias Schoenaerts, Armand Verdure, Celine Salette, Corinne Masiero, Bouli Lanners, Jean-Michel Correia There is something about Jacques Audiard's latest film, Rust & Bone (which screened in competition at Cannes 2012), that calls upon my bad memories of Oskar Röhler's adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's novel Elementary Particles. Though Craig Davidson's short stories belong to the prehistory of Audiard's project, too many of the source elements were lost in translation. Like Röhler, Audiard focuses on the main, most dramatic events of his two characters; the narration expands upon two accidents, and the story in between is filled with naturalistic episodes that seem deprived of authentic psychology. Having in mind (the great!) A Prophet, I was expecting more than an assemblage of tragic attractions that should have been shocking enough to keep the ball rolling.

Cologne, Germany -- Actor Moritz Bleibtreu ("The Baader Meinhof Complex") will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Festival of German Films (June 16 -27) this summer.

Bliebtreu is one of the country's best-known big screen talents and has appeared in such diverse features as Fatih Akin's culinary comedy "Soul Kitchen," Oskar Roehler's disturbing drama "The Elementary Particles" and Tom Tykwer's groundbreaking thriller "Run Lola Run."

The 38 year-old actor has also turned up in supporting roles in several international productions, among them Stephen Spielberg's "Munich" and Istvan Szabo's "Taking Sides."

Bleibtreu will receive his award in Ludwigshafen June 18. The Festival of German Films will follow the ceremony with a screening of Roehler's Berlin Film Festival entry "Jew Suss," which stars Roehler as notorious Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

Berlin -- The Berlin International Film Festival is going indie for its 60th anniversary with new films from Michael Winterbottom, Noah Baumbach, Thomas Vinterberg and other independent filmmakers among this year's competition lineup.

Baumbach's comedy "Greenberg" starring Ben Stiller as a New Yorker house sitting for his brother in Los Angeles, will have its world premiere in Berlin as will Vinterberg's latest, "Submario," a Danish drama that sees the director of "The Celebration" returning to the treacherous landscape of familial relationships.

Winterbottom's Western thriller "The Killer Inside Me" starring Casey Affleck will head to Berlin after its world premiere in Sundance, one of several titles catching the Park City-Berlin express this year. These include "Howl," a drama from famed documentarians Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman centered on poet Allen Ginsberg's 1957 obscenity trial; Nicole Holofcener's comedy "Please Give" starring Catherine Keener and Amanda Peet and Lisa Cholodenko's "The Kids Are Alright.

The Austrian director of The White Ribbon reveals that he and the controversial French author have discussed working together

Both are savage pessimists. Both have redefined the limits of their respective art forms. Both have expressed their admiration for the other. But it's only now that the possibility of their working together has been confirmed.

In London to promote his new film, The White Ribbon, Michael Haneke revealed to guardian.co.uk/film that he and the controversial author Michel Houellebecq had discussed mutual projects.

"I've read every book of Houlellebecq's and wondered myself whether we could perhaps work together," he said. "We have considered it and talked about it, but he's got so much to do and I've got so much to do, so we haven't got very far yet."

Houellebecq has long been interested in transferring his work to the cinema. His novel, Atomised, was adapted for the...

Cologne, Germany -- German star Moritz Bleibtreu ("The Baader Meinhof Complex") has signed on to star as Mephisto, the devil, in Oskar Roehler's adaptation of the classic "Faust."

The story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, "Faust" is one of the most enduring and influential German legends and has been adapted numerous times for the screen. Austrian director Phillip Hochhauser just completed a version based on the 19th century play by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Concorde, which will release Roehler's "Faust" in Germany, did not give details on the rest of the cast or when shooting will start.

"Faust" will be the fourth collaboration between Bleibtreu and Roehler. The actor starred in Roehler's "Elementary Particles" (2006) and "Agnes and his Brothers" (2004) and plays Nazi propaganda minister Josef Goebbels in Roehler's "Jud Suss," currently shooting in Vienna. "Jud Suss" explores the life of...

Berlin -- Bettina Bartl is the new head of distribution and marketing at Ufa Cinema, the German start-up mini-major backed by TV giant FremantleMedia.

Bartl, who spent the last eight years running PR at Constantin Film, will join her old boss, Thomas Peter Friedl, Constantin's former distribution head who jumped to Ufa at the beginning of the year.

Ufa Cinema is based in Berlin but Bartl will set up the company's distribution operations in Munich.

With its new lineup, which includes adaptations of Noah Gordon's bestseller "The Physician" and a 3-D animated take on Leonie Swann's murder mystery "Three Bags Full" -- Ufa is targeting Constantin's market: high-profile, mainstream productions with international potential.

This is right up Bartl's alley. She recently handled the successful campaign for Constantin's terrorist drama "The Baader Meinhof Complex" and ran PR for Constantin on such blockbusters as "Downfall," "Perfume -- the Story of a Murderer" and "The Elementary Particles.

COLOGNE, Germany -- German boxoffice star Til Schweiger and art-house darling Oskar Roehler have secured backing for their latest projects, with Schweiger's new romantic comedy Keinohrhasen and Roehler's social drama/love story Lulu und Jimi receiving funding from regional subsidy group Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg.

Keinohrhasen will be Schweiger's first film as producer, director and star since local hit Barefoot in 2005. Schweiger will play a macho womanizer forced to do community service at a local kindergarten, where he locks horns with teacher Anna, played by Nora Tschirner (FC Venus).

Keinohrhasen received $1.7 million in funding from the Medienboard. Schweiger will produce the film through his Barefoot Films shingle.

Schweiger's latest film as a producer and star, director Reto Salimbeni's One Way, opened at No. 6 on the German boxoffice chart last weekend.

Lulu und Jimi will be Roehler's first since the crossover success of Elementary Particles. The new film is set in Germany in the 1950s and is a love story between the wealthy Lulu and the African-American Jimi America.

COLOGNE, Germany -- Twelve films, including Pedro Almodovar's Volver, Luc Jacquet's Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins, and claymation feature Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit have made the shortlist for this year's European Film Prize people's choice award. The European Film Academy announced the shortlist on Friday, which also includes the black comedy Adam's Apples from Danish director Anders Thomas Jensen; Oskar Roehler's adaptation of Michel Houellebecq's Elementary Particles; 2005 Palme d'Or winner L'enfant from Belgian brothers Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne; Christian Carion's Oscar-nominated World War I film Merry Christmas and Roman Polanski's adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic Oliver Twist. Joe Wright's adaptation of another 19th century English classic, Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice made the EFA cut, along with Michele Placido's mafia drama Crime Novel and last year's San Sebastian winner Something Like Happiness from Czech director Bohdan Slama.

• Berlin gave us a sampling of comp and out-of-comp pics selected for the 56th edition. Selection of all 26 films to be screened in the competition section at the 56th Berlinale is due to be completed by mid-January. Here are some of the pics: Comp: Requiem - Hans-Christian Schmid The Elementary Particles - Oskar Roehler Candy - Neil Armfield Snow Angels - Marc Evans Grbavica - Jasmila Zbanic Invisible Waves - Pen-Ek Ratanaruang Non-Comp The Promise - The New World - Syriana - ...

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