Michael Weber (film producer)

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Michael Weber (born December 29, 1967 ) is a German film producer , best known for the films Caché , Nirgendwo in Afrika and Phoenix .

Life

Weber is the managing director of the world sales company The Match Factory , the production company Pola Pandora Film Produktions GmbH and co-founder of Match Factory Productions GmbH .

Michael Weber joined the World Sales Department of the Bavaria Film Group in 1996 and was appointed Managing Director of Bavaria Media GmbH in April 2000. In addition, Michael Weber u. a. Michael Hanekes Cannes competition entries Code: unknown , Wolfzeit and Caché (award for the “Best Director” in Cannes) and Caroline Links Nirgendwo in Afrika (Oscar winner in the category “Best Foreign Language Film”). Since the beginning of 2006 he has been running his own global distributor The Match Factory in Cologne. Michael Weber founded the company together with Karl Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig from Pandora Film .

The directors represented by The Match Factory GmbH include: a. Aki Kaurismäki , Ari Folman , Fatih Akin , Tom Tykwer , Brillante Mendoza , Bent Hamer , Thomas Vinterberg , Eran Kolirin, Miranda July , Danis Tanovic and Apichatpong Weerasethakul . The company was also co-producer of Pandora's Box by Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Uncle Boonmee remembers his earlier lives of Apichatpong Weerasethakul , the 2010 Cannes Golden Palm , and co-producer of ARAF by Yeşim Ustaoğlu and Stratos by Yannis Economides (world premiere, Berlinale 2014 ). In 2013 he founded Match Factory Productions GmbH together with Viola Fügen .

In 2018 he was appointed to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences , which awards the Oscars every year.

Pola Pandora Filmproduktions GmbH

POLA PANDORA Filmproduktions GmbH was set up in 1999 for the production of Leos Carax's film “Pola X” . The company produced Gianni Amelio's Le Chiavi di Casa (2003/04) and Jasmila Žbanić's On the Path (2009). THE EXCHANGE by Eran Kolirin premiered in Venice in 2011. Pola Pandora produced a Leos Carax film Holy Motors , which ran in competition in Cannes in 2012. The company originally founded by Karl Baumgartner and Reinhard Brundig and Rainer Teusner ( Pandora Film ) got a new co-partner and managing director in 2012 with Michael Weber.

The Match Factory

The world distributor The Match Factory is committed to bringing the best of the art house sector to the international market. Since it was founded in 2006, she has worked with many films from all parts of the world that have their own signature and a vision. The Match Factory has built stable relationships with established directors and producers over the years, while also looking for promising new filmmakers with a powerful style of their own.

The Match Factory was founded by Michael Weber and Reinhard Brundig and Karl Baumgartner from Pandora Film. Many of their films have since been honored with awards at the most prestigious film festivals: Esma's Secret - Grbavica by Jasmila Žbanić (Golden Bear, Berlinale 2006); Bahman Ghobadi received his second Golden Shell (San Sebastian 2006); Fatih Akins On the Other Side (Award for Best Screenplay, Cannes 2007) and Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir won the 2009 Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2009 The Match Factory presented films such as The Dust of Time , Soul Kitchen , Paradise Between Us and Desert Flower , based on the world bestseller. In 2010 Ajami - City of Gods by Scandar Copti and Yaron Shani as well as A Pearl Eternity by Claudia Llosa were nominated for the Academy Best Foreign Language Film. Bal - Honig by Semih Kaplanoğlu won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale and Uncle Boonmee remembers his earlier life by Apichatpong Weerasethakul won the Golden Palm in Cannes.

2011 won sleeping sickness by Ulrich Köhler at the Berlinale Silver Bear for Best Director and , if not, we of Andres Veiel the guild the price of German Art House Cinemas. Milagros Mumenthalers Abrir Puertas y Ventanas - Open Doors, Open Windows received the Golden Leopard in Locarno and the Golden Leopard for the best actress, Maria Canale . The Match Factory also premiered many other films, including Aki Kaurismäkis Le Havre - Official Competition Cannes Film Festival, Miranda July's The Future - and in the Berlinale 2011 competition, Amir Naderis CUT - opening film of the Horizons section at the Venice Film Festival 2011 and Yorgos Lanthimos Alps - Official competition at the Venice Film Festival 2011.

In 2012 the Berlinale brought two Silver Bears: Christian Petzold's Barbara (Best Director) and Bence Fliegauf's Just the Wind (Silver Bear, Grand Jury Prize) as well as the Alfred Bauer Prize for Miguel Gomes' film Tabu . At the Cannes International Film Festival, The Match Factory presented Sergei Loznitsa's Im Nebel , Apitchatpong Wheerasethakul's new film Mekong Hotel and Fatih Akin's documentary Garbage in the Garden of Eden in the competition . In their place of Rama Burshtein won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Film Festival in Venice, and the first Saudi feature film wadjda of Haifaa Al Mansour took after its premiere in the section horizons at the film festival in Venice great attention. Further world premieres were Margarethe von Trottas Hannah Arendt and Sally Potters Ginger & Rosa .

In 2013 The Match Factory was represented in the Berlinale competition with four films. An episode in the life of an iron picker by Danis Tanović two Silver Bears won (Best Actor and Jury Grand Prix), as well as the film was Prince Avalanche by David Gordon Green Silver Bear for Best Director Award. The film The Broken Circle Breakdown by Felix van Groeningen has received numerous awards, including the Panorama Audience Award and the Award Label Europa Cinemas.

Other films by The Match Factory include Omar by Hany Abu-Assad , Lunchbox by Ritesh Batra, The Owners by Agustín Toscano and Ezequiel Radusky, The Congress by Ari Folman , Vijay and I - My wife cheats with me by Sam Garbarski and Freuchtgebiete von David Wnendt .

In 2014, The Broken Circle by Felix van Groeningen and Omar von Hany Abu-Assad were officially nominated for the Academy Best Foreign Language Film.

At the Cannes Film Festival of the same year, White God by Kornél Mundruczó won the Un Certain Regard category, and Le Meraviglie by Alice Rohrwacher received the Grand Jury Prize. Alex Ross Perry's  Listen up Philip won the Silver Leopard Special Prize from the jury in Locarno.

Further world premieres at festivals in 2014 were Jasmila Žbanić's Love Island and Dancing Arabs by Eran Riklis . Fatih Akin's The Cut opened the competition in Venice, where The Match Factory also introduced Altman , directed by Ron Mann, Bypass by Duane Hopkins and Sabina Guzzanti's The State-Mafia Pact . In Toronto, were both Christian Petzold Phoenix and Ole Christian Madsen 's  Itsi Bitsi and Tigers of Danis Tanović listed.

In 2015 The Match Factory had four titles in the Berlinale competition, two of which won a Silver Bear: 45 Years by Andrew Haigh (Silver Bear for Best Actor and Best Actress), Victoria by Sebastian Schipper (Silver Bear for Outstanding Achievement), Andreas Dresens When We Dreamed and Sworn Virgin by Laura Bispuri . Anna Muylaerts Sundance Award winner The Second Mother received the Panorama Audience Award.

In addition to the current films, The Match Factory also has the classics of the X-Films collection and the complete works of Aki Kaurismäki as well as selected titles by Jim Jarmusch .

Match Factory Productions GmbH

Match Factory Productions was founded in 2013 by Michael Weber and Viola Fügen . The focus of the production company is on high-quality art house cinema, based on the films that are distributed worldwide.

The first co-production by Match Factory Productions was Strator by Yannis Economides, which premiered in the competition at the 2014 Berlinale. Other productions include the debut film Sworn Virgin by Italian director Laura Bispuri, which premiered in the 2015 Berlinale competition, and the coproduction Sunstrokes by Gustavo Taretto with the Argentinian company Rizoma Films. Cemetery of Splendor (by Apichatpong Weerasethakul , winner of the 2010 Golden Palm) was awarded the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival in 2015 .

Also, The Olive Tree by Iciar Bollain, Superfluous Man by Kornél Mundruczó, Sicilian Ghost Story of Fabio Grassadonia and Antonio Piazza, framing Mom Sara Johnson and Beyond the Mountains and Hills by Eran Kolirin (Premier in Un Certain Regard at Cannes in 2016) are a Selection of Match Factory Productions films.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ IMDb, filmportal.de and GND 1083286463 name 1958 as the year of birth (access date: August 12, 2019). Possibly mixed with Michael Weber (actor) .
  2. ↑ Academy invites 928 to Membersphip . In: oscars.org (accessed June 26, 2018).
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German film producer
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1967