12/02/2012

German production company Pandora Film has new films by German director Fatih Akin (pictured), Israeli director Ari Folman and US director Jim Jarmusch on its slate of upcoming productions which was announced yesterday (February 11) at the European Film Market of the 62nd Berlinale.

The concluding part of Akin’s Love, Death and the Devil trilogy, The Cut will star French actor Tahar Rahim and deal with the evil in mankind – the Devil. The first installment, Head On (about love/2004) won the Golden Bear in Berlin, while no 2 The Edge of Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile] (about death/2007) was awarded for Best Original Screenplay at Cannes. Pandora will co-produce with Akin’s own Corazón International production company.

Folman (Waltz with Bashir [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) has freely adapted Polish author Stanislaw Lem’s novel The Futurological Congress – a black humour, sci-fi depiction of a conference on the world's overpopulation crisis and what to do about it. Filming in the US and Germany, with a cast including Robin Wright, Harvey Keitel and Danny Huston, the Pandora production with Israel’s Bridgit Folman Film Gang is touted by The Match Factory.

Starring Tilda Swinton, Tom Hiddelston and John Hurt, and set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, Jarmusch’s Only Lovers Left Alive follows an underground depressed musician, who reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover. Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them? Shot in Germany, Morocco and Detroit, with Recorded Pictures, the film is sold in the market by HanWay.

The Cologne-based company is also backing Korean director Sung-Hyung Cho’s documentary, 11 Friends – about German Women Football Team at the 2011 World Championship in Germany – and German director Pia Marais’ Layla Fourie, with Rayna Campbell and August Diehl, included in The Match Factory’s catalogue.