Todd Haynes, Paul Abbott Head to Cologne Conference to Present 'Mildred Pierce,' 'Exile'

COLOGNE, Germany - Director Todd Haynes and British screenwriter Paul Abbott are among the industry illuminaries attending this year's German TV confab The Cologne Conference (Sept. 25-30). Haynes will present his acclaimed mini-series, Mildred Pierce, which has received 21 Emmy nominations, including a lead actress nom for star Kate Winslet - the Pierce of the title - a divorced single mom who decides to enter the restaurant business. Screenwriter Abbott is a Emmy and BAFTA TV award winner and the creator of Channel 4's long-running dramedy Shameless, the basis for Showtime's Emmy-nominated series. In Cologne he will screen his new BBC mini, Exile, a mystery thriller centered on a father and son, played by Jim Broadbent and John Simm.

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Other highlights of this year's Cologne Conference include Michael Winterbottom's Brit comedy The Trip and Eugene Jarecki's presidential biopic Reagan, both originally made for the BBC. The Cologne Conference will screen the feature film version of The Trip, originally screened as a six-episode sitcom on the BBC. The Trip stars Steve Coogan as an incompetent newspaper food critic traveling the country with his mate Rob Brydon. Reagan, a co-production between the BBC and Germany's ZDF network, debuted at the Slamdance Film Festival.