'SS-GB' director Philipp Kadelbach's new feature gets German deal

The newly launched UFA Distribution is teaming up with Munich-based Global Screen to handle international sales on SS-GB director Philipp Kadelbach’s new feature So viel Zeit (translated as So Much Time).

The adaptation of Frank Goosen’s eponymous novel about the rock band Bochums Steine, who make a comeback after 30 years when a band member learns that he is terminally ill, features a stellar cast including Jan Josef Liefers (Vier gegen die Bank), Jürgen Vogel (The Wave), Armin Rohde (Taxi), Matthias Bundschuh (Wir sind die Neuen) and Richy Müller (Schlussmacher) as the boys in the band.

In addition, Kadelbach and the producers of UFA FICTION and Feine Filme have landed Klaus Meine, Rudolf Schenker, Matthias Jabs of the legendary band Scorpions to make a cameo appearance.

Backing for the co-production with public broadcaster ARD Degeto and Sky has come from Film und Medienstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), BKM, and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).

Principal photography continues at locations in North Rhine-Westphalia and Berlin until the beginning of April, with a theatrical release in German-speaking territories planned for spring 2018 by UFA Distribution in collaboration with Universum Film.

UFA Distribution is the successor to the UFA Group’s previous theatrical distribution arm, UFA Cinema Verleih, and has extended its remit to include international sales, with responsibility for the financing and licensing of UFA’s film and TV productions as well as the licensing of the UFA rights catalogue.

The physical distribution is being handled in cooperation with such distributors and sales companies as Fremantle Media International, Global Screen, Universal Pictures and Universum Film.

This year will also see UFA Distribution serving as a partner with Amazon Prime Video and Fremantle Media International on UFA FICTION’s production of Deutschland86, the sequel to its prize-winning series Deutschland83.

Kadelbach had previously worked with UFA FICTION on the internationally award-winning TV mini-series Generation War and the TV movie Naked Among Wolves (scripted by So viel Zeit co-author Stefan Kolditz) and is currently nominated in the Best TV Movie category for this year’s Golden Camera awards for his for his mafia thriller Auf kurze Distanz.