EXCLUSIVE: Studio Zentral, the German production company behind Mascha Shilinski’s Cannes competition feature Sound Of Falling, is developing neo-Nazi tale The Aughts penned by Richard Kropf, the writer behind by hit series such as TNT’s 4Blocks and Netflix’s Kleo and Marc Rothemund’s feature Weekend Rebels.
It is one of a number of new projects being readied by the fast growing Berlin and Munich-based Studio Zentral, which is backed by German broadcaster ZDF’s Studios Group.
The Aughts is adapted from the book Nullerjahre by Hendrik Bolz. It is a memoir about a post-reunification adolescence among Neo-Nazis, drugs, violence, and the search for identity.
Studio Zentral is also developing a family entertainment drama, adapted from Marc Uwe Klings’ adventure novel The Clue Finder which he wrote together with his 12-year-old twin daughters. It is a fantasy crime comedy about an unusual trio of investigators.
It is also in early development stage on The Dissolution (Zerfließen), the debut film by Clara Zoe My-Linh von Arnim, the director of Cannes Series 2024 winner The Zweiflers. It’s about a young woman haunted by water, who gains a new perspective on her identity after meeting a family that has fled Vietnam.
Meanwhile, Studio Zentral has also joined as a co-producer on Ali Asgari’s next film after Terrestrial Verses, which premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2023.
Founded in 2020 by producers Lasse Scharpen and former Netflix director of international originals Lucas Schmidt, the Studio Zentral team now comprises over 40 creatives focused on film and TV series. Its content slate is managed by Berlinale Series founder Solmaz Azizi and producer Christine Hartmann, alongside Scharpen and Schmidt.
Its first two cinema productions, Ivo by Eva Trobisch and Every You And Me by Michael Fetter Nathansky, produced with Contando Films, played in the Encounters and Panorama section respectively at Berlin last year. Series productions include RTL’s Supermad and ZDF’s Love Sucks.
Cannes invitation
Schilinski’s Sound Of Falling was the very first project Studio Zentral decided to develop at launch, having met the director at the 2020 Berlinale.
Set over the course of a century, the film is about memories transported through generations: it follows four girls from different time periods experiencing their youth on the same German farm. Schilinski’s feature debut Dark Blue Girl had previously played in the Berlinale’s now defunct Perspektive Deutsches Kino section in 2017.
Schmidt recalls that when Sound Of Falling was completed last summer, Studio Zentral submitted it to Cannes and received a reply before Christmas asking for it to play in Competition, the first film to be invited. “We were super excited when we heard, but it was hard to keep the news within our inner circle for four months.”
Asked why it caught the eye of a the Cannes selectors, Schmidt says: “Mascha is a very talented director and writer. She has a distinctive style, and that made Cannes aware of the film. She has a great talent for casting and working with cast. From the very beginning she had a very clear vision about what she wanted to direct and shoot, and we tried to help her make this vision come true.”
This was not always easy. Funding was a challenge for the director’s second feature, and so too was the shoot – which took place during a rainy summer on location.
Distinctive voices
A key focus for Studio Zentral is finding and building long-term relationships with new and distinctive voices, helping them to bring their visions to the big or small screen, says Azizi. They might be self-taught and not have taken the typical film school route. “In general, we’re trying to contribute to making the German and international landscape a bit more diverse and open.”
Hartmann, meanwhile, flags the “huge variety” of shows that Studio Zentral produces, from arthouse through to mainstream. “We try to find the perfect spot for the talent,” whether a series or a film. Working with new talent and young casts also means that it can appeal to younger audiences.
Despite being a subsidiary of ZDF Studios Group, Studio Zentral doesn’t have a first look deal with the broadcaster and is free to work with different partners on projects.
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