After being off the radar for a while, Veronika Morawetz has bounced back with the launch of a new distribution outfit Stardust Filmverleih into the increasingly difficult German distribution market.

The first company's releases scheduled for January 30, 2003 will be the trio of 'Planet B' features - The Antman, Detective Lovelorn and Mask Under Mask - which were produced by the Berlin-based production house Checkpoint Berlin Filmproduktion and were always conceived as a 'mini festival'.

The first two of these films were shown at this year's Berlinale as part of the new Perspectives German Cinema sidebar and all three had originally featured in the release line-up of Senator Film and Ottfilm at various times over the last two years.

The launch of Stardust marks Morawetz's fourth foray into distribution after serving from 1990-1994 as head of sales at Warner Bros for Germany and Austria, then managing director of Concorde Filmverleih until early 1999 before moving over to become an executive board member with responsibility for theatrical distribution at Advanced Medien.

After Advanced decided to wind down its theatrical operations last November, the company's supervisory board decided to dismiss her as of December 31, 2001.