Wild Bunch Germany Sets Up Production Company

BERLIN -The German division of French pan-European film group Wild Bunch is setting up a local production operation to develop and co-finance German and international co-productions.

Amelie von Kienlin, formerly head ofacquisitions for international sales at German rights group Telepool, will run the new operation. She will report to Wild Bunch Germany boss Marc Gabizon, himself an old Telepool allumnus. Von Kienlin will also work with Gabizon in the acquisition of internationals film for the German market.

Wild Bunch already operates production divisions in France, Spain and the U.S.. Some of their
higher-profile productions include Darren Aronofsky's Oscar-nominated The Wrestler, George A. Romero's Land of the Dead and Steven Soderbergh's Che Guevara double header The Argentine and Guerrilla starring Benicio Del Toro.

Having a German production shingle will give Wild Bunch access to local film subsidies and tax breaks and make it easier to set up cross-border financing with other European territories. It's a model that has been used successfully by fellow French group Studiocanal, which runs
production/distribution divisions in France, Germany and the U.K. and Denmark's Zentropa, which operates  studio facilities or production firms in around a dozen European countries.