cover 4_05-gfq.RV - German Films

Die Wilden Kerle III
Type of Project Feature Film Cinema Genre Children’s Film,
Sports Production Company SamFilm/Munich With backing
from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderungsanstalt (FFA),
Bayerischer Bankenfonds Producers Ewa Karlstroem, Andreas
Ulmke-Smeaton Director Joachim Masannek Screenplay Joachim
Masannek Director of Photography Sonja Rom Editor Dunja
Campregher Music by Bananafishbones Production Design
Manfred Doering Principal Cast Jimi Blue Ochsenknecht, Wilson
Gonzalez Ochsenknecht, Constantin Gastmann, Uwe Ochsenknecht,
Nick Reimann Casting Extras & Actors, Stefany Pohlmann, Anne
Walcher Format 35 mm, color, 1:1.85, Dolby Digital Shooting
Language German Shooting in Bavaria, August - October 2005
German Distributor Buena Vista International (Germany)/
Munich
Contact
SamFilm GmbH · Hanna Stoll
Rumfordstrasse 10 · 80469 Munich/Germany
phone +49-89-3 39 95 30 · fax +49-89-33 99 53 24
email: contact@samfilm.de · www.samfilm.de
Proving you can’t put a good franchise down, The Wild Soccer
Bunch return for more soccer-related shenanigans!
In their last outing, they defended their hold on the Teufelstopf trophy
and saw off the skater gang, the Flammenmuetzen. But this time
they’re up against their greatest challenge so far, an opponent more
devious, more dangerous, more diabolical than even they had ever
imagined – girls!!!
There is an unwritten law in filmmaking, that of diminishing returns,
that the higher the number after the title, the poorer the film. This is
also known as sequelitis and is something producers Andreas
Ulmke-Smeaton and Ewa Karlstroem, together with writerdirector
Joachim Masannek, have taken great pains to avoid.
“There aren’t many sequels in Germany,” says Ulmke-Smeaton. “But
we’ve noticed the admissions figures are going up with every film. The
brand is growing and that’s because so many kids identify with ’Die
Wilden Kerle’; girls just as much as boys.”
“That’s why,” Ulmke-Smeaton continues, “we are making sure the
girls are treated equally. In the last film there was a love interest. This
time we’ve got a whole pack of ’em!”
Director Joachim Masannek
“Also what’s new,” says Ulmke-Smeaton “is that ’Die Wilden Kerle’
no longer exist at the beginning of the film. They first have to be
resurrected, hence the new character of Nerv, who ’saves’ them. We
also have a new main actor, Nick Reimann.”
SamFilm are also taking the franchise in another new direction.
“We’re aiming for younger viewers, aged four to ten, as we’ve discovered
there is a whole younger fan-base out there,” says Ulmke-
Smeaton.
Since they first hit the shops in 2002, Masannek’s series of children’s
books and audiotapes has sold more than one million copies. And just
to recap: The first film won the Kinder-Medien-Award (2003), the
Bavarian Film Award (2003), the Golden Gryphon in the KIDZ category
at Giffoni – one of Europe’s largest festivals for children’s and youth
films – and was nominated for the German Film Award. In July of this
year, the second film also took Giffoni’s Golden Gryphon. The juries,
made up of over 300 children aged six to nine, obviously knew quality
when they saw it.
SamFilm and ’Die Wilden Kerle’ prove it’s possible to go from
strength to strength, even with sequels!
german films quarterly in production
4 · 2005 38
SK