Nico Hofmann

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Nico Hofmann (2016)

Nico Hofmann (born December 4, 1959 in Heidelberg ) is a German director , film producer , screenwriter and managing director of UFA GmbH.

Life

Nico Hofmann, son of a journalist couple, completed a two-year traineeship at the Mannheimer Morgen newspaper after graduating from high school in 1978 at the Mannheimer Moll-Gymnasium , applied at the age of 20 to the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF) and was accepted there. He studied there from 1980 to 1985, gained his first practical experience as an assistant director to Dieter Dorn and graduated with honors. Afterwards Hofmann worked as a writer, director and producer.

Hofmann's first works were created in the 1980s. His thesis at the film school, My Father's War (1984), dealt with the recent German past and received some sponsorship awards for it. In 1988 the land of fathers, land of sons, was established . Inspired by the factual novel Great Federal Cross of Merit by Bernt Engelmann , the film tells the story of Fritz Ries . This production was the German competition entry for the San Sebastian Festival and was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize.

Since 1990 he has been teaching at German film schools such as the HFF Munich, the dffb Berlin and the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy .

Between 1990 and 1993 Hofmann shot for Tatort , developed the crime series Balko for RTL and worked for the first time with Götz George on the east-west satire series Schulz & Schulz . For The Last Cosmonaut , Nico Hofmann received the Prix ​​Futura in 1995 . His film The Great Departure was awarded the television film prize of the German Academy of Performing Arts .

In 1995 Hofmann was appointed professor at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy for the "scenic film" department.

In the same year he directed Der Sandmann , for which he worked again with Götz George. For Der Sandmann he was awarded the Adolf Grimme Gold Prize and the Bavarian Film Prize. The film also received several awards at the RTL television award Golden Lion : for the main actors (in gold for George and in silver for Karoline Eichhorn ) as well as for the best film and the director.

Hofmann has been a member of the German Academy of Performing Arts since 1996 and of the European Film Academy Berlin since 1997 . In 1999 and 2000 he was a juror for the German Television Prize .

From January 1996 to May 1998 Hofmann was exclusively under contract as a director and project consultant with Bernd Eichinger's Constantin Film . Here, among other things, he directed a two-part remake of the Dürrenmatt material It happened in broad daylight for Sat 1 . In July 1998 he got out of his contract prematurely and became managing director of the newly founded Hofmann / Zander / Reitz production company for film and television , a subsidiary of UFA . This production company has been known as teamWorx from the start .

Nico Hofmann with Anja Kling at the Berlinale 2017 .

With his so-called "event productions" such as Der Tunnel , Die Luftbrücke - Only the Sky Was Free , Die Sturmflut , Dresden and Die Flucht , often designed as a two-part series, Hofmann changed the German television landscape sustainably and made teamWorx a very successful production company in the field of the so-called "Event TV". These productions are offered alternately to all major German TV channels and are often shown in connection with a “theme evening”. With mostly historical and emotionalizing film productions such as Wolfsburg , Toter Mann , Stauffenberg , Not All Were Murderers or The Miracle of Berlin , teamWorx and Hofmann achieved some success ratings with over 5 million viewers.

The most successful teamWorx productions include the anti-war drama Dresden (12.68 million viewers), which was awarded the German TV Prize in 2006 in the “Best TV Film” category, and the historical two-parter Die Flucht mit Maria Furtwängler , which was released in March 2007 more than 11 million television viewers watched. Escape has received several awards, including the German TV Prize (“Best Music”), the 2007 Audience Bambi , the DIVA Award for “TV Movie of the Year” and “Best TV Film” at the 2007 Shanghai Television Festival .

In 2008, Mogadishu (director: Roland Suso Richter ) about the hijacking of the Lufthansa plane Landshut in October 1977 and the three-part film Die Patin with Veronica Ferres in the lead role were broadcast. Mogadishu received two Golden Cameras and the German Television Prize.

The most important first broadcasts in the following three years include Vulkan (2009, director: Uwe Janson , with Heiner Lauterbach , Armin Rohde and Katja Riemann , among others ), Der Mann aus der Pfalz (2009) by director Thomas Schadt about the former Chancellor Helmut Kohl , the first fictional film about Scientology Until Nothing Remains (2010), the Bernd Burgemeister Prize- winning film Kongo (2010) and Rosanna's Daughter (2010). In 2011, six teamWorx productions were among the top ten most-watched TV movies: the ZDF two-part series Schicksalsjahre with Maria Furtwängler reached a broad television audience with more than eight million viewers each, Hindenburg was also successful and was best multi-part with the German TV award excellent. In addition to other films such as Der kalte Himmel or Vorzimmer zur Hölle and the German-British co-production Laconia , the first film on the subject of Internet bullying was also broadcast in the autumn of the same year - Homevideo received, among other things , the German TV Prize in the categories of Best TV Film and Promotion Prize (for lead actor Jonas Nay ) and the Grimme Prize 2012 in the fiction category .

One of the most successful productions in 2012 was the film adaptation of Uwe Tellkamp 's award-winning novel Der Turm . The two-parter with Jan Josef Liefers , Claudia Michelsen , Götz Schubert and Sebastian Urzendowsky in the leading roles each reached almost 7 million viewers. Claudia Michelsen received the Hessian Film Prize and the Golden Camera for best German actress , and Der Turm was awarded the Audience Bambi as TV Movie of the Year 2012 . The Jakob von Metzler case by director Stephan Wagner and Niki Steins Rommel were also among the big teamWorx projects in 2012.

Nico Hofmann 2018 with Karl Max Einhäupl (center) and Benjamin Benedict at a press conference on the Charité television series .

In spring 2013, Our Mothers, Our Fathers were broadcasted by Nico Hofmann's most elaborate and expensive production to date, which has so far been sold in 148 countries and received the International Emmy Award in the “TV Movie / Miniseries” category in 2014. The main roles were Volker Bruch , Tom Schilling , Katharina Schüttler , Miriam Stein and Ludwig Trepte . The satire Der Minister , based on the plagiarism affair surrounding ex-Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg , ran successfully in spring 2013. In February 2014, Der Resignation followed , a docu-drama that discussed Christian Wulff's last 68 days in the office of Federal President. Bornholmer Strasse is Hofmann's contribution to the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall and, with more than 7 million viewers, achieved a great rate for ARD. The tragic comedy with Charly Hübner in the leading role of Lieutenant Colonel Harald Schäfer was awarded the BAMBI as "TV Event of the Year".

In the first half of 2015, the two-part Grzimek , a tribute to the committed zoologist and animal filmmaker Bernhard Grzimek, and the new adaptation of Bruno Apitz's novel Nackt unter Wölfen , which received the Bavarian TV Prize for "Best Director", were shown on German television for the first time. Naked under wolves has already been sold in numerous countries, including the French broadcaster M6.

Deutschland 83 was the first German-language series to be broadcast on US television in 2015 and won the Emmy for best drama series in 2016.

In 2015 Hofmann took over the directorship of Dieter Wedel at the Nibelungen Festival in Worms .

In March 2016, ZDF broadcast Hofmann's three-part Ku'damm 56 . As a TV event, Ku'damm 56 also celebrated great successes internationally and a final with 6.35 million viewers. At the beginning of 2018, Hofmann also co-produced the sequel with Ku'damm 59 , again in the form of a three-part series with equally outstanding ratings.

The Charité series was broadcast in 2017 . The six-part set takes place around 1888 and deals with the history of the renowned Berlin hospital. The first two episodes reached 8.32 million television viewers and a market share of over 25%.

Nico Hofmann has received several awards as a producer and director. In 2006 he received the Hans Abich Prize for his special services in the field of television film , and for Dresden , Die Sturmflut and Die Luftbrücke he was honored as a producer with the Bavarian Television Prize. In 2007 he also received the Schiller Prize of the city of Mannheim and the Romy for best producer .

In 2000, together with Bernd Eichinger, he initiated the First Steps award for young talent , which is awarded annually to graduation films by students at film schools. Hofmann is also a member of the board of trustees of the Hertie Foundation and the Alfred Brenner Foundation . In addition, he is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Deutsche Kinemathek , the Board of Directors of the Producers Alliance and the Bertelsmann Content Alliance.

From 2013 to September 2015, Hofmann was chairman of the management board of UFA FICTION, which combines all fictional activities of UFA television production, Phoenix Film and teamWorx. As managing director and film producer for UFA Cinema, Hofmann was responsible for the film adaptations of Hanni & Nanni , Hanni & Nanni 2 , Dschungelkind , Teufelskicker , The Relativity Theory of Love and the GDR drama We wanted to go to sea by Oscar-winner Toke Constantin Hebbeln . Other UFA Cinema productions by Hofmann are Hanni & Nanni 3 , Jesus Loves Me , the literary film adaptation of The Weekend , The Almost Perfect Man and The Medicus . The shooting of the bestseller I'm away with Devid Striesow as Hape Kerkeling took place in late summer 2014 in Berlin and at original locations along the Way of St. James . Striesow was awarded a Bambi in November 2016 for his acting performance in I'm gone . In December 2018, the movie Der Junge muss auf den fresh Luft was released , also a film adaptation of an autobiographical book by Hape Kerkeling and directed by Caroline Link . The boy has to get some fresh air was the most successful German cinema production in 2018, has so far reached more than 3.6 million viewers and has been awarded the German Film Prize as the “most popular film”. Under the direction of Philipp Stölzl , Nico Hofmann realized the film I've never been to New York in 2019 together with Sebastian Werninger (UFA FICTION), Regina Ziegler (Ziegler Film) and Christian Müller (Mythos Film) .

In preparation are currently u. a. a filmic examination of the life of the exceptional magicians "Siegfried & Roy" and "The Porsche Saga".

On September 1, 2015, Nico Hofmann was appointed Co-CEO of the UFA Group alongside Wolf Bauer . The appointment was part of a two-year transition period. Nico Hofmann has been CEO of the UFA Group since September 1, 2017. Since September 18, 2018, Nico Hofmann has been managing UFA as CEO together with Managing Director Joachim Kosack .

criticism

The echo in the criticism of Hofmann's productions was often mixed. On the one hand, it was sometimes granted historical authenticity and mass effectiveness, on the other hand, the accusation of sympathizing with war criminals and trivializing historical events was also often loud. Over-emotionalization and over-dramatization were also often criticized.

“Under the umbrella of Ufa, teamWorx has systematically worked its way through key events in Germany's past over the past 14 years, thus reaching an audience of millions. Hofmann therefore has to live with the accusation that he serves mass tastes and kitsch contemporary history: the Guido Knopp of entertainment. But not even his critics deny that with the historical two-part event he invented a very successful genre and made it affordable, which has since been copied like a recipe. "

“Hofmann's handwriting (counts) among the most powerful. It is easy to recognize in the main characters and their actors, in the lush background music (symphonic whispering for ZDF, as aggressive sound design on RTL) and in the melodramatic style. "

In 2013, Frank Schirrmacher wrote about “Our mothers, our fathers”: “Hofmann, whom some people like to think of as irrelevant because he also produces irrelevant materials, is himself the protagonist of this new phase. He, born in 1959, who are now counted finally to the big producers in the country must also talks about his own mother and his own father, and you do not go too far if one claims that he's seven-year working on this film also therefore took on himself to have one last conversation with his parents. [...] The seriousness, the attention to detail, the uncompromisingness with which he did it are admirable and have what it takes to touch the soul of the country. Who would you have been in this film? Who would you have become if you had been twenty years old in 1941? These are the future-oriented and ultimately irrefutable questions that Nico Hofmann's great work leaves in the audience. "

Filmography

As a director (selection)

  • 1983: Farewell Pictures (also book)
  • 1984: My Father's War (also book)
  • 1986: The Polish Pond
  • 1988: Chimeras - Fiction and Reality
  • 1988: Land of Fathers, Land of Sons (also book)
  • 1989: quarantine
  • 1991: Tatort - Death in the Chopper (also book collaboration)
  • 1991: Death came as a friend
  • 1992: Schulz & Schulz IV: New Worlds - Old Burdens
  • 1993: five to twelve
  • 1993: the last cosmonaut
  • 1994–1995: Balko (3 episodes)
  • 1995: The Sandman
  • 1995: The big exit
  • 1996: Deadly turning point
  • 1997: It happened in broad daylight
  • 1998: Solo for clarinet

As a producer (selection)

Fonts

  • More attitude, please! : What our history obliges us to do . Bertelsmann, Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3570103050 .

Awards (selection)

Hofmann's work as a director and producer has received numerous national and international awards, including the Grimme Prize and the German Television Prize.

Web links

Commons : Nico Hofmann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Interviews

Footnotes

  1. ^ Konstantin Groß : Neckarau: From the farming village to the district . Erfurt 2012, ISBN 978-3-86680-892-8 , p. 126.
  2. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost November 7, 2006: Interview with Nico Hofmann
  3. ↑ Prof. Nico Hofmann In: MediaBiz
  4. ↑ Kinoweb - Solo for Clarinet
  5. ↑ Nico Hofmann on 'Solo for Clarinet' In: Blickpunkt: Film from September 30, 1998
  6. ↑ UFA Film & TV Produktion and Nico Hofmann found production company In: Blickpunkt: Film from September 2, 1998
  7. ↑ Wilfried Urbe - On behalf of demystification In: taz of October 14, 2012
  8. ↑ Germany, your love story (s) In: FOCUS Magazin | No. 12 (2006)
  9. ↑ ARD celebrates the successful Flucht Spiegel Online from March 5, 2007
  10. ↑ FremantleMedia International's 'Deutschland 83' Comes to Sundance TV in US In: The Hollywood Reporter . ( hollywoodreporter.com [accessed August 13, 2018]).
  11. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin: RTL series “Deutschland 83” wins Emmy as best drama series . ( Morgenpost.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
  12. ↑ Nico Hofmann becomes director of the Nibelungen Festival. handelsblatt.de , July 22, 2013, accessed on September 9, 2013 .
  13. ^ Artistic director - Nibelungen Festival Worms. Retrieved July 18, 2019 .
  14. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin: Brilliant premiere of “Ku'damm 59” at Cinema Paris . ( Morgenpost.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
  15. ↑ Berliner Morgenpost - Berlin: Brilliant premiere of “Ku'damm 59” at Cinema Paris . ( Morgenpost.de [accessed on August 13, 2018]).
  16. ↑ Andreas Kurtz: TV tip: ARD mini-series about the renowned Berlin Charite . In: Berliner Zeitung . ( berliner-zeitung.de [accessed on August 14, 2018]).
  17. ↑ Primetime check: Tuesday, March 21, 2017 . In: quota meter . March 22, 2017 ( quotenmeter.de [accessed August 14, 2018]).
  18. ↑ Young film talent and training in Germany In: website of the Goethe Institute
  19. ↑ www.ghst.de (last accessed on April 24, 2018)
  20. ↑ Deutsche Kinemathek: Homepage | German Kinemathek. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  21. ^ Members »Producer Alliance. In: Producer Alliance. Retrieved on September 19, 2019 (German).
  22. ↑ Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA: Bertelsmann launches new “Content Alliance” in Germany - Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA. Retrieved September 19, 2019 .
  23. ↑ The boy has to get some fresh air - UFA filmed Hape Kerkeling's childhood. Retrieved on August 14, 2018 (German).
  24. ↑ 3 million visitors for “The boy needs some fresh air” by Caroline Link. In: Film and Media Foundation NRW. Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
  25. ↑ The boy has to get some fresh air • German Film Award. Retrieved September 11, 2019 (German).
  26. ↑ I've never been to New York. Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
  27. ↑ Nico Hofmann sole CEO of the UFA Group In: ufa.de , accessed on September 1, 2017.
  28. ↑ Torsten Zarges: Holding-Posten for Kosack, own label for Winger. DWDL.de, accessed on September 11, 2019 .
  29. ↑ Close to reality In: Handelsblatt.com of September 24, 2012
  30. ↑ Stefan Schmitz - The poor, poor field marshal In: Stern.de from November 1, 2012
  31. ↑ Chr. Peitz - Enough of the cute Nazi monsters In: Zeit online from November 2, 2012
  32. ^ Christian Bartels - Teamworx à trois In: derFreitag Kultur from November 27, 2008
  33. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung from October 1, 2012: Producer Nico Hofmann - The formula of his life
  34. ^ Of the Friday culture of November 27, 2008: Christian Bartels - Teamworx à trois
  35. ↑ Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 15, 2013: “Our mothers, our fathers” on ZDF: The history of German nightmares
  36. ^ Kurier: The winners of the Akademie-Romy 2018 . Article dated April 5, 2018, accessed April 6, 2018.
  37. ↑ The boy has to get some fresh air • German Film Award. Retrieved September 11, 2019 (German).
  38. ↑ UFA FICTION production “Lotte am Bauhaus” twice honored at the Seoul International Drama Awards 2019. Retrieved September 11, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Hofmann, Nico
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German director, film producer and screenwriter
DATE OF BIRTH 4th December 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Heidelberg , Germany