Wiebe [pictured] appointed head of German productions as company expands its production activities into Germany.

Munich-based distributor-producer SquareOne Entertainment is expanding its production activities into Germany.

Speaking exclusively to Screen, SquareOne’s CEO Al Munteanu revealed that he had been harbouring the idea of production in Germany for the past two years.

“People kept asking me why I wasn’t involved in German production and I never had a good answer. Then I had a bizarre experience in Toronto when I met Sebastian Koch who told me about a film he had starred in, The Weekend by Nina Grosse, which didn’t have distribution.¨

Subsequently, Munteanu released the film - an adaptation of a book by The Reader author Bernhard Schlink - in Germany last year. “This is when I had my epiphany that there is a real appetite for new distribution partners in Germany, who have a perhaps more hands-on approach to marketing films.”

“This accelerated our move into German production and we are going to take a very specific approach by concentrating on German comedies,” he continued.

“We will develop and remake properties we have acquired from the UK or France into German comedies.”

This latest development at SquareOne has led to the appointment of Lars Wiebe as Head of German Productions.

Wiebe had previously operated out of Munich for the Swiss film production and financing company Millbrook Pictures with involvement in such projects as David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, Matthew Thompson’s low-budget thriller Event 15, and the German family entertainment film V8.

Munteanu added that SquareOne will always use local German production companies to handle the actual physical production of its projects.

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