German company DCM acquires majority stake in Wim Wenders Road Films – The Hollywood Reporter
From left: Dario Sutter, Wim Wenders, Mark Schmidheney, Christoph Daniel, Joel Brandes
DCM
Berlin-based production/distribution company DCM has acquired Wim Wenders’ production company Road Movies, creating an “equal and strong partnership” between the two companies, Wenders and DCM said Friday.
DCM, which has released several of Wenders’ films in Germany, including the Oscar-nominated film Perfect days, will be purchased into Road Movies in the first quarter of this year. DCM partners Dario Sutter, Christoph Daniel, Mark Schmidheney and Joel Brandis described the move as a strategic expansion of the company’s film production business. Schmidheiny will be appointed Managing Director of Road Movies.
Schmidheiny described the partnership as a “dream come true”, saying that DCM would take over the financial and day-to-day management of Road Movies in order to “make way for Wim to bring his seemingly inexhaustible creative force to the screen”.
“It has been on the agenda for years to work with a strong partner,” Wenders said. “As Road Movies, we have an eventful past as one of the oldest independent production companies in German-speaking countries, but for some time now we have been too small for what we produced, but again too big to easily bridge the developmental stage gap between films. With DCM We have now found the partner we were hoping for, people of the highest integrity, creativity and love of film who have built a production and distribution company under whose roof I can better focus on future projects.
Wenders, 78, has enjoyed a recent career boom, receiving an Academy Award nomination in the Best International Feature category for his film. Perfect daysa drama set in Tokyo starring Koji Yakusho as a philosophical toilet cleaner. Perfect days It premiered at Cannes, where Yakusho won Best Actor, as did Wenders. AnselmA 3D documentary about German artist Anselm Kiefer. DCM released both films in Germany and they converted Perfect days In a brilliant artistic stroke, it earned nearly $2.5 million in the region. Under the new deal, DCM will release all of Wenders’ films in Germany.
The company first worked with Fenders Secret placesA documentary about the Swiss architect Peter Zumthor.
Founded in 2008, DCM is one of Germany’s leading independent distribution companies and has handled the local release of such hits as the artist, moon lightAnd I’m Tonya In addition to producing and releasing the highly successful German family film series Baby and Tiny. Their latest film is Solin Yusuf Seeger Sen It will have its world premiere on Friday as the opening film of the Generation section of the Berlin Film Festival. The company also has a stake in Thorsten Schumacher’s London-based film sales company Rocket Science and the Metrograph Theater in New York.
Wenders founded Road Movies in 1976 and the company has produced or co-produced more than 100 feature films and documentaries by Wenders and other directors, including Paris, Texas, Wings of desireAnd Buena Vista Social ClubGurinder Chadha Bend it like Beckham And Ken Loach Sweet sixteen.
In addition to feature films and documentaries, Wenders also produces 3D art installations through Road Movies, including recent works on the works of Edward Hopper and Claudine Dry.
“He may be almost 80 years old, but Wim has the energy and curiosity of a 20-year-old,” says Schmidheiny. “We just want to help him make as many films as possible and help introduce them to the world.”
