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As part of a strategy to build a new cinephile audience and revive the filmgoing experience in Brazil, São Paulo-based distributor O2 Play is theatrically releasing a selection of classic films, starting with A24’s 4K restored version of the seminal ‘80s Talking Heads concert docu, “Stop Making Sense” by Jonathan Demme.

The company has also launched an app called “carteirinha de cinéfilo” (cinephile card), to offer moviegoers special discounts, collectibles and foster the theatrical experience.

“Available at the App Store and Google store, we decided to launch it to help engage our audience and bring them back to theaters,” said O2 Play founder Igor Kupstas who laments the universal decline in cinema attendance since the pandemic, felt in Brazil and most parts of the world.

According to Kupstas, who launched O2 Play in 2013, talks are underway with traditional and IMAX screen owners for the premiere of “Stop Making Sense...

Fifteen years after “Inglourious Basterds,” Daniel Brühl is back on the Croisette, this time on the pink carpet at Canneseries, for the world premiere of “Becoming Karl Lagerfeld,” a prestige Disney+ miniseries which offered him one of his biggest acting challenges to date. To play Lagerfeld, Brühl not only perfected his French and learned to speak and walk with small heels like the late fashion icon, he also pulled from his own life experience as a perpetual foreigner, being both German and Spanish. Produced by Gaumont (“Lupin”), the six-part series chronicles the rise of Karl Lagerfeld through the world of 1970s Parisian high fashion. The lushly lensed series opens in 1972, as 38-year-old Karl Lagerfeld aspires to become the most famous French fashion designer, at a time when Yves Saint Laurent reigned supreme. Powered by a pop aesthetic, the series sheds light on the tumultuous love affair between Lagerfeld and Jacques de Bascher.

Young Europeans’ swerve toward the right and far right gets another movie thrown at it with the premiere of Je Suis Karl, from German director Christian Schwochow (November Child, Cracks in the Shell). The film tries to follow in the footsteps of previous German-language films such as The Edukators, The Wave and last year’s And Tomorrow the Entire World, all works that attempt to figure out what it is about political extremes that seduces young people — and how their idealism and hormone-powered gumption can eventually come head-to-head with the much uglier realities of politics and life.

Though spirited performances bring the ...

Young Europeans’ swerve toward the right and far right gets another movie thrown at it with the premiere of Je Suis Karl, from German director Christian Schwochow (November Child, Cracks in the Shell). The film tries to follow in the footsteps of previous German-language films such as The Edukators, The Wave and last year’s And Tomorrow the Entire World, all works that attempt to figure out what it is about political extremes that seduces young people — and how their idealism and hormone-powered gumption can eventually come head-to-head with the much uglier realities of politics and life.

Though spirited performances bring the ...

What better way to kick off a new month than a look at the many movies coming to Hulu? Ok, if you don’t have a Hulu subscription you might need an alternative. Maybe this list will convince you to take one out, though (not that I’m there salesperson). But enough patter, let’s crack on with it.

Here’s every new film that arrived on July 1st:

12 and Holding (2006)

2001 Maniacs (2005)

52 Pick-Up (1986)

A Bridge Too Far (1977)

A Complete History of My Sexual Failures (2009)

A Kid Like Jake (2018)

A Mighty Wind (2003)

A Storks Journey (2017)

An Eye for a Eye (1966)

The Axe Murders of Villisca (2017)

The Bellboy (1960)

Beloved (2012)

Best In Show (2000)

Between Us (2017)

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)

Birdwatchers (2010)

Boogie Woogie (2010)

The Bounty (1984)

Brokedown Palace (1998)

Buffy, the Vampire Slayer (1992)

Bug (1975)

Buried (2010)

Cadaver (2009)

California Dreamin’ (2009)

Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974)

Catcher Was A Spy (2018)

The Catechism Cataclysm (2011)

Change of Plans (2010)

Cheech & Chong...

With so many streaming services to choose from, it can often be difficult to find the right one to spend your hard-earned dough on. That being said, Hulu has remained among the most exciting and content-heavy platforms alongside Netflix, really cementing itself as one of the most appealing options out there in recent years thanks to its collection of original content and very, very deep library of licensed films.

Like every other streaming service, they bring us new titles every month and July is looking to be quite a good one. Especially if you’re a horror fan. Admittedly, Hulu has always been pretty reliable when it comes to this particular genre, and that’s a reputation they seem intent to keep, as next month will bring us the likes of The Devil’s Rejects, Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy’s Dead: The Final Nightmare, House of 1000 Corpses, The Ninth Gate, The House That Jack Built...

Hulu is out with its list of everything new coming to the streaming service in July.

Highlights include season three of “90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days” and season one of “90 Day Fiance: The Other Way: Complete Season 1,” as well as some classic movies like “The Color Purple” and “Best in Show,” all coming July 1.

A new Hulu original movie “Palm Springs” drops on July 10, and a new episode of “Into the Dark” called “The Current Occupant” premieres July 17.

Movies leaving Hulu on July 31 include “Batman Begins” and “The Dark Knight,” “Thelma & Louise” and “Wayne’s World.”

See the full list of everything new and leaving the streamer below.

Also Read: ABC Already Changes Fall TV Schedule, Moves 'Black-ish' Up From Midseason

July 1

1000-lb Sisters: Complete Season 1 (TLC)

90 Day Fiance: Before the 90 Days: Complete Season 3 (TLC)

90 Day Fiance: The Other Way: Complete Season 1 (TLC)

BBQ Rig Race: Complete Season...

Perhaps the most exciting piece of content coming to Hulu in July 2020 is…a movie? Remember those? You would buy a ticket and then go sit in a dark room with other people eating Buncha Crunch. Sounds wild!

Yes, more and more feature films are turning to streaming services for their summer releases. And with their list of new offerings for July 2020, Hulu got itself a big fish. Palm Springs is a Groundhog Day-style comedy starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti as star-crossed lovers forced to live the same day over and over again. It premieres on Hulu on July 10.

And that’s not the only original movie coming to Hulu in July. Romanian crime thriller The Whistlers premieres on July 2. Sasheer Zamata comedy The Weekend follows on July 15. Then Hulu caps the month off with the Julia Garner-starring The Assistant on July 20. There’s good movie news...

With so many streaming services available now, it can often be hard to pick the right one to spend your hard-earned money on. However, Hulu has remained among the most successful and content-heavy platforms alongside Netflix and has only gotten better with age. Whereas it had very few worthwhile movies years ago, now it often has some of the best films you can find to watch, and they’re offered up alongside brand new episodes of shows from various major networks. Like every other streaming service, Hulu updates their content throughout each month, and July is looking to add quite a lot of good stuff.

First up, superhero fans will be happy to hear that Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 swings onto the service on July 1st. This polarizing third entry for the Tobey Maguire version of the popular web-slinger sees Peter Parker bond with a symbiote that brings out...

An actor and swiss army knife multi-linguistic for almost three decades now with seminal films in Good Bye Lenin! (2003) and The Edukators (2004) effectively acting as his launchpad, Daniel Brühl (who is moments away from plunging into his first feature as a filmmaker) was one of the juror members at the 2018 Marrakech Intl. Film Festival. I had the chance to speak to him during a roundtable not even 24 hours after learning he had garnered an Emmy nomination for The Alienist. Since he is a history buff, I was curious about if he prefers to play or finds it more difficult to play real people or fictitious characters with historical framework (Inglorious Basterds) or if he prefers carte-blanche.…...

The Berlin Film Festival has announced the first 16 titles to screen next year in its Generation sidebar of youth and children's films.

The lineup includes several world premieres, among them 303, a road movie from German director Hans Weingartner (The Edukators) and Cobain, the latest from Dutch director Nanouk Leopold (Brownian Movement), which follows a 15-year-old boy on his search for his self-destructive mother.

The 2018 Generation also includes several debuts, among them The Pigeon, from Turkish director Banu Sivaci; Denmark from director Kasper Rune Larsen; and Red Cow, the feature debut of Israeli filmmaker Tsivia Barkai.

The Generation...

Maggie Gyllenhaal and Diego Luna amongst those to join jury president Paul Verhoeven.

The 67th Berlin Film Festival has revealed its jury, homage subject and Golden Camera recipients.

Joining jury president, Paul Verhoeven, will be actors Maggie Gyllenhaal, Diego Luna, and Julia Jentsch, producer Dora Bouchoucha Fourati, artist Olafur Eliasson and director-screenwriter Wang Quan’an.

Eighteen films are vying in this year’s competition for the Golden Bear. The winners will be announced at the Berlinale Palast on February 18.

Robocop director Verhoeven is currently flying high off the success of Golden Globe-winning drama Elle.

Gyllenhaal is best known for her Oscar-nominated role in Crazy Heart, breakthrough performances in Donnie Darko and Secretary, The Dark Knight and TV series The Honourable Woman, for which she garnered a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy nomination.

Luna, co-star of Alfonso Cuarón’s Y Tu Mamá También, has played at the Berlinale in titles including Milk (dir: Gus van Sant, Berlinale...

Exclusive: German sales team boards road-trip drama from The Edukators director.

Global Screen has picked up world sales right to writer-director-producer Hans Weingartner’s (The Edukators) drama 303, currently shooting in France and Spain.

Mala Emde and Anton Spieker star in the story of a pregnant woman who falls in love with another man during a heady road trip.

Producers are Kahuuna Films and Neuesuper with support from Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Bkm and Ffa.

Delivery is planned for spring/summer 2016.

Julia Weber, head of theatrical sales at Global Screen, said: “We are thrilled to sell 303 internationally. When I first read the screenplay, I was amazed to see how perfectly Hans Weingartner managed to balance out deep conversation with a beautiful, gently rising love story.”

Weingartner’s 2004 drama The Edukators, starring Daniel Bruhl, played in Competition at Cannes.

Hank Levine, the German producer who spent a couple of years in L.A. where we met before he moved to Brazil where he worked at 02 Filmes with Fernando Mirielles and had a family. He co-produced the Academy Award-nominated films City of God and Wasteland and returned to Germany a couple of years ago. He is now producing the English language directorial debut of Hans Weingartner (The Edukators) with the screen adaptation of the best selling true story of Larry Orbach and Vivien Orbach-Smith’s Soaring Underground (Der Taucher). As a young German-Jewish Berliner struggling to survive in WWII Berlin, Larry Orbach resisted and made a new life. The film will shoot in Germany, Brazil, Africa and Asia. This year, Levine will also direct his first film, Exodus, an international feature documentary. He also produced this year’s Berlinale Competition film Praia Do Futuro.

To read more on Hank Levine's projects visit his site Here...

Hans Weingartner’s to make first English-language film for Praia do Futuro producer Hank Levine.

Hans Weingartner (The Edukators) is set to make his English-language directorial debut with a screen adaptation of Larry Orbach and Vivien Orbach-Smith’s bestseller Soaring Underground (Der Taucher).

The true story of Orbach as a young German-Jewish teenager struggling to survive in Berlin during the Second World War will be produced by Hank Levine Film, one of the producers of the Competition film Praia do Futuro.

“The story personally appealed to me because the protagonist isn’t a victim, he shows resistance to the Nazi regime, and this theme of resistance is one which has run through almost all of my films,” Weingartner told ScreenDaily.

“Everything you need for a film is in the story – emotions, humanity as well as a lot of humour.“

“Orbach’s experiences have a timeless quality and a relevance for today,” added producer...

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

It’s certain that Ron Howard is one of the more frustratingly inconsistent directors working today; every riveting masterpiece (Frost/Nixon) is usually followed by one or two duds (Angels & Demons, The Dilemma) before he returns on stonking form, just as he has with Rush, an exhilarating, white-knuckle thrill-ride that decisively earns the commendation of “sweaty palm movie of the year.”

Rush is based on the riveting rivalry between two Formula 1 racers – care-free, hedonistic British playboy James Hunt (Chris Hemsworth) and the more studious, serious Austrian Niki Lauda (Daniel Brühl) – from their humble beginnings in Formula 3, right up to the shocking accident at the 1976 German Grand Prix that nearly claimed Lauda’s life, and then beyond.

Through the duality of Hunt and Lauda’s characters, Ron Howard’s racing movie proves to be, much like Asif Kapadia’s sublime documentary Senna, an irresistibly compelling human drama...

Music Box Films just sent us over the first official trailer for its upcoming flick The Silence, and it looks to be riddled with mystery. We're talking the sinister stuff involving death and bodies. You know... the good stuff! Check it out!

The flick is directed by Baran bo Odar and stars Ulrich Thomsen, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Sebastian Blomberg, Katrin Sass, and Burghart Klaussner.

Look for it in limited release on March 8, 2013.

Synopsis

The Silence begins 23 years ago on a hot summer day, when a young girl named Pia is brutally murdered in a field of wheat. Now, on the exact same date in the present, 13-year-old Sinikka is missing, her bicycle abandoned in the same spot. As Krischan, the retired investigator of the unresolved case, and his younger colleague David struggle to solve the mystery of these parallel crimes, Sinikka’s distraught parents are trapped in an agonizing period of waiting and uncertainty.

By David Harkness, MoreHorror.com

A creepy poster for the upcoming murder thriller The Silence has released. Take a look at a larger version of the poster under the synopsis.

The Silence opens in theaters March 8, 2013.

Synopsis:

The Silence begins 23 years ago on a hot summer day, when a young girl named Pia is brutally murdered in a field of wheat. Now, on the exact same date in the present, 13-year-old Sinikka is missing, her bicycle abandoned in the same spot. As Krischan, the retired investigator of the unresolved case, and his younger colleague David struggle to solve the mystery of these parallel crimes, Sinikka’s distraught parents are trapped in an agonizing period of waiting and uncertainty. Meanwhile, their daughter’s fate rips open old wounds in the heart of Pia’s mother, who is visited by an unexpected guest with an eerie connection to her daughter. The unrelenting...

Music Box Films just sent us over the first official stills and one-sheet for its upcoming flick The Silence, and it looks to be riddled with mystery. We're talking the sinister stuff involving death and bodies. You know... the good stuff!

The flick is directed by Baran bo Odar and stars Ulrich Thomsen, Wotan Wilke Möhring, Sebastian Blomberg, Katrin Sass, and Burghart Klaussner.

Look for it in limited release on March 8, 2013.

Synopsis

The Silence begins 23 years ago on a hot summer day, when a young girl named Pia is brutally murdered in a field of wheat. Now, on the exact same date in the present, 13-year-old Sinikka is missing, her bicycle abandoned in the same spot. As Krischan, the retired investigator of the unresolved case, and his younger colleague David struggle to solve the mystery of these parallel crimes, Sinikka’s distraught parents are trapped in an agonizing period of waiting and uncertainty.

Even with only two feature films under his belt, photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn has become a director with a distinct voice. His debut "Control" was a startling look at the life of Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis, while his followup "The American" placed George Clooney in a pretty nifty anti-thriller that favored mood over action. And so we couldn't be more excited about this next, the John Le Carré adaptation of "A Most Wanted Man." And with production now starting, a few more names an official synopsis have been revealed for the picture. "Inglourious Basterds," "The Edukators," "Goodbye Lenin!" and "The Bourne Ultimatum" star Daniel Brühl (who was rumored over a month ago) has joined Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright and Willem Dafoe in the film, with Franz Hartwig, Kostja Ullman, Rainer Bock, Charlotte Schwab, Max Volkert Martens and Martin Wuttke rounding...

★★★★☆ The latest in a line of strong German entries exploring mental illness at this year's 55th BFI London Film Festival, Hans Weingartner's Hut in the Woods (Hütte im Wald, 2011) focuses on the lives of to down-and-outs, former mathematician Martin Blunt (Peter Schneider) and recently orphaned Ukrainian youngster Viktor (Timur Massold), who both become homeless through circumstance. Together, they escape to the forest and build a hut within with to live out their lives.

Weingartner, perhaps best known in the UK for 2004's The Edukators, presents a side of German society rarely seen, sensitively depicting the type of existence that can befall the nation's homeless. Adversely, figures of authority are painted very unsympathetically by the director; Martin's former company refuses to re-employee him after a short stint in care despite promising the contrary; the bailiffs that arrive to evict Martin a few days later are unscrupulous in their work, denying...

By Alice Baghdjian

London (Reuters) - George Clooney, Ralph Fiennes and David Cronenberg will parade the red carpet of the British Film Institute's (BFI) 55th London Film Festival, which is set to showcase a varied line up of big titles and emerging talent, organizers said Wednesday.

The European premiere "360" directed by Fernando Meirelles with a glittering cast including Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz, will launch the 16-day festival in October, and "The Deep Blue Sea," also starring Weisz and directed by Terence Davies, will round off Britain's largest cinematic celebration.

"London has a strong reputation as a center for creativity and innovation in the film industry and I'm particularly pleased to see that the high profile films selected for the opening and closing nights have been shot in the capital with great British talent," London Mayor Boris Johnson said in a statement.

Following in the wake of Venice...

After a brief respite, we're back with Part 3 of tMF's Top 50 Essential Foreign Films. This time the spotlight is on German cinema.

- - -

- - - As in Part 1 - French cinema and Part 2 - Movies from the UK, the scope remains the same:

Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

- - -

1. Das Experiment - 2001 - Featuring the amazing performance of Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel, from the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel.

About the Movie: Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's...

After a brief respite, we're back with Part 3 of tMF's Top 50 Essential Foreign Films. This time the spotlight is on German cinema.

- - -

- - - As in Part 1 - French cinema and Part 2 - Movies from the UK, the scope remains the same:

Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

- - -

1. Das Experiment - 2001 - Featuring the amazing performance of Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel, from the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel.

About the Movie: Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's...

After a brief respite, we're back with Part 3 of tMF's Top 50 Essential Foreign Films. This time the spotlight is on German cinema.

- - -

- - - As in Part 1 - French cinema and Part 2 - Movies from the UK, the scope remains the same:

Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

- - -

1. Das Experiment - 2001 - Featuring the amazing performance of Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel, from the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel.

About the Movie: Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's...

After a brief respite, we're back with Part 3 of tMF's Top 50 Essential Foreign Films. This time the spotlight is on German cinema.

- - -

- - - As in Part 1 - French cinema and Part 2 - Movies from the UK, the scope remains the same:

Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

- - -

1. Das Experiment - 2001 - Featuring the amazing performance of Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel, from the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel.

About the Movie: Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's...

After a brief respite, we're back with Part 3 of tMF's Top 50 Essential Foreign Films. This time the spotlight is on German cinema.

- - -

- - - As in Part 1 - French cinema and Part 2 - Movies from the UK, the scope remains the same:

Content-wise, the 50 movies feature stories about war and peace, love and romance, family affairs, coming-of-age tales, cultural and religious diversity, social issues (including prostitution and abortion) and personal - celebrating life or facing death with dignity. Coverage-wise, tMF list down many of the best foreign films from 2000 until last year from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and about 15 other countries in Europe, North and Latin America and Asia-Pacific.

- - -

1. Das Experiment - 2001 - Featuring the amazing performance of Moritz Bleibtreu and Christian Berkel, from the direction of Oliver Hirschbiegel.

About the Movie: Inspired by a famous 1971 psychological experiment, Oliver Hirschbiegel's...

There seems to be something about me that makes film-makers and the audience look at me and see a romantic. My friends, my girlfriend and my parents on the other hand know only too well that I can be a complete arsehole. But for some reason no one wants to see me like that in front of the camera.

That's from a profile written for the award-winning German actor Daniel Brühl where the actor himself pointed out why he always get to play the romantic, leading man and never the 'basterd asshole' villain. - - -

- - - But is Brühl limiting himself in European cinema? In playing only meaty lead roles? Apparently not. In fact, the German actor is just looking for the right role to play. After such acclaimed films as Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators and Salvador, this is definitely one of Brühl's most challenging roles and...

There seems to be something about me that makes film-makers and the audience look at me and see a romantic. My friends, my girlfriend and my parents on the other hand know only too well that I can be a complete arsehole. But for some reason no one wants to see me like that in front of the camera.

That's from a profile written for the award-winning German actor Daniel Brühl where the actor himself pointed out why he always get to play the romantic, leading man and never the 'basterd asshole' villain. - - -

- - - But is Brühl limiting himself in European cinema? In playing only meaty lead roles? Apparently not. In fact, the German actor is just looking for the right role to play. After such acclaimed films as Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators and Salvador, this is definitely one of Brühl's most challenging roles and...

There seems to be something about me that makes film-makers and the audience look at me and see a romantic. My friends, my girlfriend and my parents on the other hand know only too well that I can be a complete arsehole. But for some reason no one wants to see me like that in front of the camera.

That's from a profile written for the award-winning German actor Daniel Brühl where the actor himself pointed out why he always get to play the romantic, leading man and never the 'basterd asshole' villain. - - -

- - - But is Brühl limiting himself in European cinema? In playing only meaty lead roles? Apparently not. In fact, the German actor is just looking for the right role to play. After such acclaimed films as Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators and Salvador, this is definitely one of Brühl's most challenging roles and...

There seems to be something about me that makes film-makers and the audience look at me and see a romantic. My friends, my girlfriend and my parents on the other hand know only too well that I can be a complete arsehole. But for some reason no one wants to see me like that in front of the camera.

That's from a profile written for the award-winning German actor Daniel Brühl where the actor himself pointed out why he always get to play the romantic, leading man and never the 'basterd asshole' villain. - - -

- - - But is Brühl limiting himself in European cinema? In playing only meaty lead roles? Apparently not. In fact, the German actor is just looking for the right role to play. After such acclaimed films as Goodbye Lenin!, The Edukators and Salvador, this is definitely one of Brühl's most challenging roles and...

Krabat, Marco Kreuzpaintner‘s film adaptation of Otfried Preußler‘s beloved bestselling novel Krabat (The Satanic Mill)—which sold over 2.1 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 30 languages—has come highly anticipated. Starring Daniel Brühl (Goodbye, Lenin!, The Bourne Ultimatum, The Edukators), Christian Redl (Downfall) and David Kross (Tough Enough, The Reader) in the lead role of Krabat, Kreuzpaintner’s film is a soul-stirring adventure for all ages that seizes the viewer with its atmospheric power, emotional truthfulness, and discreet SFX rather than CGI overload and arcane storylines. I had the good fortune of touching base with Kreuzpaintner and Brühl during the film’s international premiere at the 33rd Toronto International Film Festival. They startled me for arriving clean-cut to our scheduled interview without a trace of mud or grime. My thanks to Stephen Lan and Bavaria Film International (whose website provides a subtitled trailer) for arranging...

San Sebastian Film Festival

SAN SEBASTIAN, Spain -- The theme of Reclaim Your Brain is how crass TV is corrupting the minds of the masses. But the movie's very own lack of subtlety undermines its message. German director Hans Weingartner, whose last feature The Edukators did well in the Art House market across Europe, fails to engage from the start. The two main characters are not well-constructed and some plot lines do not seem credible. The crudeness of the film may limit its appeal to German-speaking markets.

TV producer Rainer (Moritz Bleibtreu) got to the top by making vulgar programs such as one in which contestants compete to make a master race. Then the mysterious Pegah (Elsa Schultz Gambar) smashes into his car in revenge for her grandfather's suicide, caused by one of Rainer's shows. Suddenly Rainer is inspired to make intelligent programs. When they fail, he sets off with Pegah to uncover a conspiracy surrounding the rigging of audience figures to ensure the masses are fed only trash TV.

The film's struggles come largely in the area of poorly developed main characters. An opening sequence of cocaine-snorting Rainer speeding through traffic in his sports car plays out a tired cliche. And character of the beautiful Pegah is sketchy in the extreme.

Weingartner and co-writer Katherine Held throw in a series of improbable plot turns. When Rainer is confronted by Pegah, the explanation of her grandfather's suicide seems unlikely. Rainer's decision to jeopardize a highly successful career to save the nation's brains is equally improbable.

But when the pair pull off their "revolution," Germans suddenly immerse themselves in high culture. This works well as comedy: Scenes of Germans throw awaying their TVs and meeting to discuss poetry -- captured by TV news bulletins -- amuse. When Rainer's gang subvert the TV ratings system, Weingartner plays this for laughs well.

The unlikely star of Reclaim Your Brain is Milan Peschel, who plays the conspiracy-obsessed oddball Philip. Peschel can do both zany and shy convincingly. But Philip's decision to throw his lot in with two strangers to embark on a TV revolution doesn't ring true.

This movie might succeed as a comedy romp in its native land, but the jokes may be too direct and culturally specific for the film to travel much beyond home.

RECLAIM YOUR BRAIN

Kahunna films GmbH with coop99 Filmproduktion GmbH

Credits:

Director: Hans Weingartner

Writers: Katherine Held, Hans Weingartner

Producters: Hans Weingartner, Antonin Svoboda

Director of photography: Christine A. Maier

Production designer: Udo Kramer

Music: Adam Ilhan, Andreas Wodraschke

Costume designer: Thomas Olah

Editing: Andreas Wodraschke

Cast:

Rainer: Moritz Bleibtreu

Pegah: Elsa Schultz Gambard

Philip: Milan Peschel

Maiwald: Gregor Bloeb

Anna: Simone Hanselmann

Running time -- 129 minutes

No MPAA rating...

San Sebastian, Spain -- Austrian director Hans Weingartner, in San Sebastian with his competition entry Reclaim Your Brain, is teaming with City of God screenwriter Braulio Mantovani for his next project, Nanny.

Nanny revolves around two women who leave their families in South America to become domestic servants in the U.S. As with Weingartner's previous two films -- Brain and The Edukators -- it is an undisguised attack on the abuses of modern capitalism.

"It looks at the perversion of the system, where rich countries have to import love and caring (for their children) from the Third World," Weingartner told The Hollywood Reporter. "How these women are forced to leave their own families to go and provide for the rich."

Weingartner made his name on the international film scene with his second feature, Edukators, which debuted in Cannes and went on to win several awards, including the German Film Critics prize for best film. Palmer West and Jonah Smith of production outfit Thousand Worlds have picked up the U.S.

• Yesterday’s day of coverage began by a morning chat/interview with filmmaker Ramin Bahrani – who was in Toronto to present the North American premiere of Chop Shop - a film that I was very fond and discovered at Cannes (read review here). A pleasurable sit down (the sort that could begin with a glass of vino and finish with 2 polished off bottles). For me its always interesting to discuss the form, structure, narrative strategy and of course all the behind the scenes process of the filmmaking process. Unfortunately, moments after the completion of the interview I realized that (and this is where I have that sick to my stomach feeling) I only had a portion of the interview recorded. That feeling falls somewhere between my dog ate my homework and probably how Lodge Kerrigan felt when he lost an entire film in a processing lab disaster. A real

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CANNES -- Moritz Bleibtreu has signed on to star in Free Rainer, the new feature from Hans Weingartner (The Edukators) that the Match Factory is selling at the Marche du Festival. Bleibtreu will play the title role of a television executive frustrated with producing garbage who decides to start a broadcast revolution. Gathering a group of disciples around him, he successfully hacks the code for TV set-top ratings boxes and manipulates the ratings figures so that intelligent television is hugely successful and trash TV fails miserably. This leads to a cultural revolution but also to a backlash from the broadcast powers-that-be. "If 'The Edukators' was about economic revolution, about poor vs. rich, this film will be more about cultural revolution, about freeing the mind," Weingartner said in an interview. "But like 'The Edukators, ' it will also be funny and suspenseful and with a love story in the middle of it all."...

CANNES -- Moritz Bleibtreu has signed on to star in Free Rainer, the new feature from Hans Weingartner (The Edukators) that the Match Factory is selling at the Marche du Festival. Bleibtreu will play the title role of a television executive frustrated with producing garbage who decides to start a broadcast revolution. Gathering a group of disciples around him, he successfully hacks the code for TV set-top ratings boxes and manipulates the ratings figures so that intelligent television is hugely successful and trash TV fails miserably. This leads to a cultural revolution but also to a backlash from the broadcast powers-that-be. "If 'The Edukators' was about economic revolution, about poor vs. rich, this film will be more about cultural revolution, about freeing the mind," Weingartner said in an interview. "But like 'The Edukators, ' it will also be funny and suspenseful and with a love story in the middle of it all."...

NEW YORK -- Brad Anderson has been tapped to adapt and direct a remake of Hans Weingartner's political German film The Edukators. Palmer West and Jonah Smith of production outfit Thousand Words will produce the film. The story centers on three youths whose concern over global capitalism leads them from acts of protest to serious crime. The original, released domestically last summer by IFC Films, won top honors at the German Critics Film Awards and top honors at several European film festivals. "What excites me most is the way the story straddles genres," said Anderson, who most recently directed The Machinist. "On the one hand it's a suspenseful thriller, and on the other, it's a provocative and timely political debate. Yet at its heart it's really a very sly, very dark romantic comedy. In my films I've always tried to artfully 'mash up' genres. Palmer and Jonah get this. I couldn't ask for better collaborators."...

COLOGNE, Germany -- Hans Weingartner's politically charged drama The Edukators was named best film by the German association of film critics Wednesday, with the film's star Julia Jentsch picking up the best actress nod. August Diehl won the best actor prize for his turn in Achim von Borries' period romantic drama Love in Thoughts, and Michael Schorr's tragicomedy Schultze Gets the Blues picked up the award for best film debut.

BERLIN -- Hans Weingartner, the director of Cannes Competition entry The Edukators, has won the newcomer award, Foederpreis Deutsche Film, at this year's Munich Film Festival, the festival said Thursday. The three-person jury -- directors Hans-Christian Schmid and Michael Althen, and actress Sophie von Kessel -- chose Weingartner's entry over Marco Kreuzpaintner's Summer Storm and Marcus Lenz's Close. Edukators star Stipe Erceg won the best actor award, while Marie-Luise Schramm beat out Julia Jentsch (The Edukators) for the best actress prize for her role in Kathrin Feistl's Am I Sexy? Now in its third year, the Foederpreis is Germany's top prize for up-and-coming talent. The award is presented by Munich-based film company Bavaria Film, state pubcaster Bayerischen Rundfunk and bank HypoVereinsbank.