"Babylon Berlin" at the Cologne Film Festival

• Premiere of the first 6 episodes  on 30.09. at a Binge Watching Night in Cologne’s Cineplex
• in the presence of the directors Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries
• and the lead actors Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries
• Shooting in Cologne, Mülheim, Krefeld, Duisburg and Essen, among other places
• TV broadcast from 13 October on Sky1 and from autumn 2018 on ARD

On 30 September, the Cologne Film Festival will be presenting the first six episodes of the Filmstiftung-backed series in Cologne’s Cineplex as part of its Binge Watching Night. The authors and directors Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Boerries as well as the lead actors Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries will be attending.

"Cologne’s Volker Kutscher wrote the novel, the Filmstiftung provided funding, the series was shot in Cologne and other towns in NRW, and the 'new' Cologne Film Festival with its great expertise in series will be offering a wonderful  platform for the presentation of this exceptional series," says Petra Müller, CEO of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. "Congratulations to Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries on their magnificent production. We’re happy that we were able to support the producers and filmmakers in the realisation of this ambitious project. We would like to wish the festival-goers an exciting evening with Detective Gereon Rath in the Berlin of the Twenties."

The Series Night

The Binge Watching Night will begin on 30 September at 19.00 in Cologne’s Cineplex Filmpalast, this year’s central venue for the Cologne Film Festival. There will be a Q&A with the series' makers and protagonists after the screening of the first two episodes. The series marathon will then continue following on from the discussion.

The Series

Babylon Berlin is a joint series project of X Filme Creative Pool, ARD Degeto, Sky and Beta Film. ¨Babylon Berlin¨ will air in prime time on Sky1 from 13 October. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW supported the production with a total of 2 million Euros. Additional backers are the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Creative Europe MEDIA and the German Motion Picture Fund. In addition to serving as a co-producer, Beta Film is handling world sales for the series. Principal photography for the first two seasons of eight episodes apiece lasted for more than 180 shooting days and took place from May to December 2016. North Rhine-Westphalia served as a shooting location in Cologne, Mülheim, Krefeld, Duisburg and Essen, among many other places.

"Babylon Berlin"  is based on the internationally bestselling series of novels by Volker Kutscher and tells the story of police inspector Gereon Rath who conducts his investigations in 1920s' Berlin, in a cabinet of curiosities between drugs and politics, murder and art, emancipation and extremism. Volker Bruch and Liv Lisa Fries can be seen in the leads. Other parts are played by such actors as Peter Kurth, Matthias Brandt, Thomas Thieme, Misel Matisevic, Hannah  Herzsprung, Benno Fürmann and Lars Eidinger.

Premieres, MIP screening and TV broadcast

The TV series ¨Babylon Berlin¨ will celebrate its world premiere at the Berliner Ensemble on 28 September, and the premiere of the first six episodes will follow two days later at the Cologne Film Festival. The series will then have its international premiere in Los Angeles on 6 October. It will be screened there as part of the 50th city twinning celebrations between Berlin and Los Angeles. Two episodes of ¨Babylon Berlin¨ will be shown to professional delegates at the international MIPCOM TV fair in Cannes in mid-October. ¨Babylon Berlin¨ can be seen on television in the primetime schedule of Sky1 at 20.15 from 13 October. The channel will be broadcasting the series in double episodes. ¨Babylon Berlin¨ will then be in ARD’s schedules from autumn 2018.

Funding Series at the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW

 The supporting of series, TV movies and serials has been part and parcel of the Filmstiftung’s funding portfolio for many years. Apart from series events like ¨Babylon Berlin¨ and ¨Weinberg¨, it had most recently backed such mini-series as ¨Winnetou¨ and ¨Gotthard¨ as well as the second season of the mystery web series ¨Wishlist¨. Moreover, the Filmstiftung NRW is a partner of the German-French  Co-Development Fund for TV series. It has also been supporting the development of serial formats since 2012. In addition to supporting an annual Series Summit in Cologne, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is a co-initiator and main partner for the ¨Drama Series Days¨ during the Berlinale.

The Festival

The Cologne Film Festival  is the central national and international meeting place for the industry in Cologne and is also the leading audience festival in NRW. It is being held this year in Cologne from 29 September to 6 October.