European Film Promotion is playing host at the Cannes Film Festival to 20 up-and-coming European producers, selected for its Producers on the Move program. Variety invited the producers to share details of their upcoming projects.
Katharina Posch, Austria
“I’m Not Here to Make Friends”
Director: Julia Niemann
“I’m Not Here to Make Friends” is a sleek and sunny psycho thriller about a reality TV show set on a remote island. Playing with elements of horror and satire it asks the question: Why do we want to be seen so badly?
Elisa Heene, Belgium
“Nightshade”
Director: Leni Huyghe
“Nightshade” by Cinéfondation talent Leni Huyghe is a psychological thriller about Leanna, a chemist, who starts experimenting with the poisonous plant Nightshade and discovers its hallucinatory powers. Leana gets addicted and loses herself in a dreamlike world, where the midwife Marta is accused of witchcraft.
Kalin Kalinov, Bulgaria
“Axis of Life”
Director:...
Katharina Posch, Austria
“I’m Not Here to Make Friends”
Director: Julia Niemann
“I’m Not Here to Make Friends” is a sleek and sunny psycho thriller about a reality TV show set on a remote island. Playing with elements of horror and satire it asks the question: Why do we want to be seen so badly?
Elisa Heene, Belgium
“Nightshade”
Director: Leni Huyghe
“Nightshade” by Cinéfondation talent Leni Huyghe is a psychological thriller about Leanna, a chemist, who starts experimenting with the poisonous plant Nightshade and discovers its hallucinatory powers. Leana gets addicted and loses herself in a dreamlike world, where the midwife Marta is accused of witchcraft.
Kalin Kalinov, Bulgaria
“Axis of Life”
Director:...
- 5/15/2024
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Magnify, the rebranded international sales arm of Magnolia Pictures, has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” in the run up to its world premiere at Cannes Directors’ Fortnight.
Directed and co-writer by Tyler Taormina (“Ham on Rye”), the film stars Michael Cera (“Barbie”), Francesca Scorsese, Maria Dizzia (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Ben Shenkman (“Billions”), Elsie Fisher (“Eighth Grade”), Gregg Turkington (“Entertainment”), Sawyer Spielberg (“Masters of the Air”) breakout actor Matilda Fleming, among others.
Written by Taormina and Eric Berger, the film revolves around a rambunctious extended family descending upon their small Long Island hometown for the holidays where hijinks, generational squabbles, and family traditions ensue.
“Taormina takes a singular approach to the classic holiday family movie, bringing his absurdist humor and dynamic filmmaking to life with a charming and perfectly cast ensemble,” said Lorna Lee Torres, Magnify SVP of Global Sales. “We...
Directed and co-writer by Tyler Taormina (“Ham on Rye”), the film stars Michael Cera (“Barbie”), Francesca Scorsese, Maria Dizzia (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), Ben Shenkman (“Billions”), Elsie Fisher (“Eighth Grade”), Gregg Turkington (“Entertainment”), Sawyer Spielberg (“Masters of the Air”) breakout actor Matilda Fleming, among others.
Written by Taormina and Eric Berger, the film revolves around a rambunctious extended family descending upon their small Long Island hometown for the holidays where hijinks, generational squabbles, and family traditions ensue.
“Taormina takes a singular approach to the classic holiday family movie, bringing his absurdist humor and dynamic filmmaking to life with a charming and perfectly cast ensemble,” said Lorna Lee Torres, Magnify SVP of Global Sales. “We...
- 4/25/2024
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Magnify, formerly Magnolia Pictures International, has announced multiple territories out of EFM on Veni Vidi Vici, the provocative Sundance premiere from Austrian filmmakers Daniel Hoesl And Julia Niemann.
Deals have closed in France (L’atelier d’Images), Central and Eastern Europe (HBO Europe), Poland (Aurora), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Pilot), former Yugoslavia (Five Star Distribution), Middle East (Gulf), Taiwan (Joinstar), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Hungary (Cinefil), and airlines (Spafax).
Magnify’s SVP of global sales, Lorna Lee Torres and director of global sales Austin Kennedy negotiated the deals and are considering offers on Germany, Japan and other territories.
Satire Veni Vidi Vici premiered...
Deals have closed in France (L’atelier d’Images), Central and Eastern Europe (HBO Europe), Poland (Aurora), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Pilot), former Yugoslavia (Five Star Distribution), Middle East (Gulf), Taiwan (Joinstar), Ukraine (Arthouse Traffic), Hungary (Cinefil), and airlines (Spafax).
Magnify’s SVP of global sales, Lorna Lee Torres and director of global sales Austin Kennedy negotiated the deals and are considering offers on Germany, Japan and other territories.
Satire Veni Vidi Vici premiered...
- 2/28/2024
- ScreenDaily
There’s a striking dissonance between the serene and realistic surface of Daniel Hoesel and Julia Niemann’s Veni Vidi Vici and the way it bludgeons its points home using the exaggerated methods of social critiques common to such genre pieces as Snowpiercer or Infinity Pool. How effective this will be depends in part on the viewer. Some will appreciate this class satire’s grim portrait of a venal polo-playing billionaire class who explain away their amoral behavior with self-aggrandizing business-speak. Others may thrill to the dark comedy of a serial killer operating so in the open that he’s practically begging to be caught. Either way, the message of Hoesel’s screenplay is blunt: Everyone not at society’s pinnacle is only prey.
The film’s serial killer is Amon (Laurence Rupp), a chipper Austrian billionaire with a thing for picking off strangers with a sniper rifle. He pursues his targets carefully,...
The film’s serial killer is Amon (Laurence Rupp), a chipper Austrian billionaire with a thing for picking off strangers with a sniper rifle. He pursues his targets carefully,...
- 1/31/2024
- by Chris Barsanti
- Slant Magazine
One of my favorite categories of Reddit posts (don’t judge) are those where people who have worked for or near the super-rich share stories that people “wouldn’t believe.” From ordering private jets like they were pizza to hosting children’s parties where A-list performers sing to indifferent toddlers, these stories make it quite clear that the 1% lives on a planet most of us will never visit. “Pharaoh-level shit,” as one of my favorite Reddit reactions of all time said.
The craziest thing about Veni Vidi Vici, Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s pitch-black satire about a wealthy family with a predilection for human-hunting, is that it doesn’t seem that crazy.
The Ulrich Seidl-produced film opens with a quote from The Fountainhead, which can never mean a good thing unless we’re in store for a comedy. “The point is who will stop me”––a quote part...
The craziest thing about Veni Vidi Vici, Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s pitch-black satire about a wealthy family with a predilection for human-hunting, is that it doesn’t seem that crazy.
The Ulrich Seidl-produced film opens with a quote from The Fountainhead, which can never mean a good thing unless we’re in store for a comedy. “The point is who will stop me”––a quote part...
- 1/29/2024
- by Jose Solís
- The Film Stage
Destroy Everything You Touch: Hoesl & Riemann Come to Conquer with Dark Satire
As Abba once succinctly stated, “Money, money money/Must be funny/In a rich man’s world,” which is certainly the case in the latest film by Austrian director Daniel Hoesl, co-directing with Julia Niemann. The pair previously co-directed the doc Davos (2020), featuring the locals in a rural Swiss town visited by wealthy elitists once a year, which sounds an awful lot like Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of this title (along with Hoesl’s similarly articulated 2013 debut Soldier Jane). Once the assistant director to the venerable Austrian provocateur Ulrich Seidl (who produced this film), Hoesl shares a certain streak of misanthropy with his mentor, introducing us to a family of impossibly callous elitists who feel something like the self-absorbed clan of White Noise (2022) who have developed a taste for playing the...
As Abba once succinctly stated, “Money, money money/Must be funny/In a rich man’s world,” which is certainly the case in the latest film by Austrian director Daniel Hoesl, co-directing with Julia Niemann. The pair previously co-directed the doc Davos (2020), featuring the locals in a rural Swiss town visited by wealthy elitists once a year, which sounds an awful lot like Park City, Utah, where the Sundance Film Festival hosted the premiere of this title (along with Hoesl’s similarly articulated 2013 debut Soldier Jane). Once the assistant director to the venerable Austrian provocateur Ulrich Seidl (who produced this film), Hoesl shares a certain streak of misanthropy with his mentor, introducing us to a family of impossibly callous elitists who feel something like the self-absorbed clan of White Noise (2022) who have developed a taste for playing the...
- 1/20/2024
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
“Veni Vidi Vici” — a jaw-dropping Austrian shocker that’s part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival – came, saw and conquered at its Thursday premiere.
The film follows a ruthless and charismatic billionaire family whose patriarch guns down innocent citizens in his free time, and left many speechless at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. Directed by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann, the movie features intensely provocative moments including infanticide and brutal public shootings. The family, it turns out, is simply too powerful to face consequences from local police, national defense agents and even their prime minister.
“The problem is that he’s so charming,” director Hoesl said of his leading man Laurence Rupp (whose appeal practically demands a Tom Hiddleston-esque introduction to the American market). “The sunlight is blinding us. We know people like him and we let them get away with it.”
Perhaps not quite like this.
The film follows a ruthless and charismatic billionaire family whose patriarch guns down innocent citizens in his free time, and left many speechless at the Egyptian Theater in Park City. Directed by Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann, the movie features intensely provocative moments including infanticide and brutal public shootings. The family, it turns out, is simply too powerful to face consequences from local police, national defense agents and even their prime minister.
“The problem is that he’s so charming,” director Hoesl said of his leading man Laurence Rupp (whose appeal practically demands a Tom Hiddleston-esque introduction to the American market). “The sunlight is blinding us. We know people like him and we let them get away with it.”
Perhaps not quite like this.
- 1/19/2024
- by Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Hailing from the country that gave us such grim social critics as Michael Haneke and Ulrich Seidl, Vantablack Austrian satire “Veni Vidi Vici” opens with a senseless homicide. It’s a startling scene, no less upsetting than the Scorpio killing that kick-starts “Dirty Harry” — except that in this case, the incident is calibrated as the darkest sort of comedy. Rather than picking off an unsuspecting rooftop swimmer, the serial killer does his hunting out in the open, without shame or any pretense of covering his tracks.
The movie makes no mystery of the sniper’s identity, revealing it right from the jump, the way a “Columbo” episode might. And yet the authorities show zero interest in arresting the guilty party, even going so far as to toss an eyewitness out of the police station (that man winds up offing himself in exasperation). That’s because the person responsible, Amon Maynard (Laurence Rupp), is a millionaire,...
The movie makes no mystery of the sniper’s identity, revealing it right from the jump, the way a “Columbo” episode might. And yet the authorities show zero interest in arresting the guilty party, even going so far as to toss an eyewitness out of the police station (that man winds up offing himself in exasperation). That’s because the person responsible, Amon Maynard (Laurence Rupp), is a millionaire,...
- 1/19/2024
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Veni, vidi, vici: “I came, I saw, I conquered,” reportedly said Julius Caesar after an especially swift victory. Now, his words echo in Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann’s satire about a family so powerful it can get away with murder. Literally.
“Imagine you are above the law. You can do anything. It’s frustrating, because sometimes you want the world to wake up and yet nothing happens. It’s really funny and really sad,” Hoesl tells Variety.
“These people want to be stopped. They leave all these traces, so why does no one speak up? There is more than one Jeffrey Epstein out there.”
Premiering at Sundance and Rotterdam – and produced by Ulrich Seidl for Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion, with Magnify handling sales – “Veni Vidi Vici” takes a closer look at the Maynard clan where “family is everything,” but human life means nothing.
“Our main character always wins. It...
“Imagine you are above the law. You can do anything. It’s frustrating, because sometimes you want the world to wake up and yet nothing happens. It’s really funny and really sad,” Hoesl tells Variety.
“These people want to be stopped. They leave all these traces, so why does no one speak up? There is more than one Jeffrey Epstein out there.”
Premiering at Sundance and Rotterdam – and produced by Ulrich Seidl for Ulrich Seidl Film Produktion, with Magnify handling sales – “Veni Vidi Vici” takes a closer look at the Maynard clan where “family is everything,” but human life means nothing.
“Our main character always wins. It...
- 1/18/2024
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
"Go ahead and run! I know what you look like!" Magnify Films has revealed the first look teaser trailer for a Sundance film called Veni Vidi Vici, from filmmakers Daniel Hoesl & Julia Niemann. This Austrian film is premiering in the "World Cinema Dramatic Competition" section at Sundance 2024 this month. Apparently it's commentary on the uber-rich, using a familiar idea in The Hunt and/or the classic "The Most Dangerous Game". The Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family's wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences. So he hunts humans. The cast includes Laurence Rupp, Ursina Lardi, Olivia Goschler, Kyra Kraus, Tamaki Uchida, and Dominik Warta. The filmmaker explains why: "The situation is serious... To create a parable, you have to exaggerate, paradoxically enough." This looks disquieting, with much more stronger commentary...
- 1/12/2024
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
For those missing the billionaire voyeurism of “Succession,” Sundance film “Veni Vidi Vici” is poised to be a more sinister remedy.
Directed by Julia Niemann and Daniel Hoesl (and written by Hoesl), the film centers on the Maynard family, who live an “almost perfect” billionaire lifestyle, per the official synopsis. Patriarch Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences, as the logline for the social satire dark comedy teases.
“Destructive strength is creative strength,” a character says in the trailer. “But don’t predatory cats belong in the wild?”
The hunt for whomever the dangerous hunter with no regard for human life is takes over a community, as all fingers seem to point to the elite family at the center of the drama. Yet the whodunit takes on another social issue: When the presumed wealthy “madman” killer is revealed,...
Directed by Julia Niemann and Daniel Hoesl (and written by Hoesl), the film centers on the Maynard family, who live an “almost perfect” billionaire lifestyle, per the official synopsis. Patriarch Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences, as the logline for the social satire dark comedy teases.
“Destructive strength is creative strength,” a character says in the trailer. “But don’t predatory cats belong in the wild?”
The hunt for whomever the dangerous hunter with no regard for human life is takes over a community, as all fingers seem to point to the elite family at the center of the drama. Yet the whodunit takes on another social issue: When the presumed wealthy “madman” killer is revealed,...
- 1/11/2024
- by Samantha Bergeson
- Indiewire
Sales talks to commence in Park City and continue in Berlin.
Magnify, the company formerly known as Magnolia Pictures International, has made its first acquisition since the rebrand, taking global sales rights to upcoming Sundance premiere Veni Vidi Vici.
Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann (Davos) directed the Austrian social satire about a billionaire family and their children’s almost perfect life without consequences.
Laurence Rupp (Barbarians), Ursina Lardi (Lore), Dominik Warta (L’Animale), and newcomer Olivia Goschler star. Ulrich Seidl (Goodnight Mommy) of Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion served as producer.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire...
Magnify, the company formerly known as Magnolia Pictures International, has made its first acquisition since the rebrand, taking global sales rights to upcoming Sundance premiere Veni Vidi Vici.
Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann (Davos) directed the Austrian social satire about a billionaire family and their children’s almost perfect life without consequences.
Laurence Rupp (Barbarians), Ursina Lardi (Lore), Dominik Warta (L’Animale), and newcomer Olivia Goschler star. Ulrich Seidl (Goodnight Mommy) of Ulrich Seidl Filmproduktion served as producer.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire...
- 12/13/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Magnify, which was formally known as Magnolia Pictures International, has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to “Veni Vedi Vici,” an Australian social satire from directors’ Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann. Written by Hoesl, the film will debut in the World Dramatic Competition section of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. It marks the first title acquired for sales under the newly rebranded Magnify label.
In “Veni Vedi Vici,” the Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire that delves into the dynamics of privilege. Fuelled with dark humor, psychotic absurdity, and hyper-realistic violence, ‘Veni Vedi Vici’ promises a captivating watch in Park City, that we are thrilled to launch under the freshly rebranded Magnify label,...
In “Veni Vedi Vici,” the Maynards and their children lead an almost perfect billionaire family life. Amon is a passionate hunter, but doesn’t shoot animals, as the family’s wealth allows them to live totally free from consequences.
“Daniel and Julia have crafted an exquisite, sophisticated and timely satire that delves into the dynamics of privilege. Fuelled with dark humor, psychotic absurdity, and hyper-realistic violence, ‘Veni Vedi Vici’ promises a captivating watch in Park City, that we are thrilled to launch under the freshly rebranded Magnify label,...
- 12/13/2023
- by Brent Lang
- Variety Film + TV
Les Arcs Industry Village Winners: ‘The Visitor’, ‘Rossosperanza’ & ‘Veni Vidi Vici’ Take Top Prizes
Lithuanian filmmaker Vytautas Katkus’s debut feature project The Visitor won the top €6,000 Artekino International Award at the Les Arcs Coproduction Village on Tuesday.
The award, decided by Rémi Burah, President of ArteKino Foundation and CEO of Arte France Cinéma, is granted to support the development of the project.
The project, which previously won Cannes Critics’ Week Next Step prize in May, revolves around a young man attempting to make a new life for himself in a foreign land where he does not speak the language or know anyone.
“For this 2022 edition, the ArteKino International Award supports a first feature by a director walking the line between fiction and documentary, social realism and fantastic poetry, with a subtle balance that he has demonstrated in his already very mastered short films,” said Burah.
The Visitor was among 18 feature projects participating in the Les Arcs Coproduction Village.
It is one element of...
The award, decided by Rémi Burah, President of ArteKino Foundation and CEO of Arte France Cinéma, is granted to support the development of the project.
The project, which previously won Cannes Critics’ Week Next Step prize in May, revolves around a young man attempting to make a new life for himself in a foreign land where he does not speak the language or know anyone.
“For this 2022 edition, the ArteKino International Award supports a first feature by a director walking the line between fiction and documentary, social realism and fantastic poetry, with a subtle balance that he has demonstrated in his already very mastered short films,” said Burah.
The Visitor was among 18 feature projects participating in the Les Arcs Coproduction Village.
It is one element of...
- 12/12/2022
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Fresh off their debut feature documentary “Davos,” Daniel Hoesl and Julia Niemann have lined up a number of new projects, among them an upcoming series for HBO Max and Zdf.
Produced by Berlin-based Komplizen Film (“Tony Erdmann“), “Fck My Heritage” (working title) is set in an elite boarding school and follows a group of students who decide to reject their inheritances and trigger a global social revolution.
Christian Schwochow is serving as showrunner on the series, which Hoesl and Niemann are co-writing with Heide Schwochow and Jana Burbach.
Hoesl has also completed the script for his next narrative feature, a satire about an Austrian billionaire family with a penchant for hunting, which Ulrich Seidl is producing.
Elites and their wealth and power have been at the core of the Austrian filmmaker’s past works, including “Soldier Jane” and “Winwin” – both of which unspooled at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where...
Produced by Berlin-based Komplizen Film (“Tony Erdmann“), “Fck My Heritage” (working title) is set in an elite boarding school and follows a group of students who decide to reject their inheritances and trigger a global social revolution.
Christian Schwochow is serving as showrunner on the series, which Hoesl and Niemann are co-writing with Heide Schwochow and Jana Burbach.
Hoesl has also completed the script for his next narrative feature, a satire about an Austrian billionaire family with a penchant for hunting, which Ulrich Seidl is producing.
Elites and their wealth and power have been at the core of the Austrian filmmaker’s past works, including “Soldier Jane” and “Winwin” – both of which unspooled at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, where...
- 6/2/2021
- by Ed Meza
- Variety Film + TV
Event will include the launch of the festival’s newest and largest programme, Harbour.
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has unveiled the first titles for its summer event, which has shifted to a hybrid format due as the pandemic continues.
The celebration of the festival’s 50th anniversary was due to run as a physical series of screenings and events from June 2-6, complementing the online-only edition of IFFR that took place in February.
It will now be presented as a hybrid event, with a film programme that will be available online in the Netherlands and physically in Rotterdam, as...
- 4/15/2021
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
- 3/31/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
Claire Denis, Petra Costa and Peter Mettler to give online masterclasses.
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
Swiss documentary festival Visions de Réel, which was to have taken place from April 24 to May 2 in the lakeside town of Nyon, has revealed details of the online format it has developed to replace the physical event which was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Visions du Réel 2020 will not take place at the Place du Réel, in the cinemas, in the tent and in the bar, in Nyon,” said artistic director Émilie Bujès, referring to the event’s traditional festival and industry hubs. “But it will resolutely be held on the internet,...
- 3/31/2020
- by 1100388¦Melanie Goodfellow¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
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