Huerth-based production outfit Media Select has acquired the core activities of the insolvent Das Werk postproduction group, in the face of stiff competition from a number of rival bidders from Germany, Europe and the USA.

According to an official statement, the new owner plans to run Das Werk's regional operations in Hamburg, Duesseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich and Frankfurt-based Zweigwerk largely unaltered under the brand name of "Pictorion Das Werk".

Media Select's managing shareholder Helmut Breuer said 'a return to the original roots of success should guarantee both the future of the company as well as a continuity of all business relations in the long term.

Visual effects for Polanski's Oscar winner The Pianist and Wolfgang Becker's current box office hit Good Bye, Lenin! were among some of Das Werk's most recent contracts.