News

VARIETY: twoAugust 27, 2013. Georg Maas' "Two Lives" will represent Germany in the foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards. The decision was made Tuesday in Munich by an independent jury, which was appointed by the national film org German Films.

The film is based on the true story of a German woman, Kathrine Evensen (played by Juliane Kohler), who leads a happy life with her family and mother (played by Liv Ullmann) in Norway. But with the fall of the Berlin Wall she is confronted with her secret Stasi past.

The nine-person jury, under the chairmanship of Dagmar Hirtz, commented: " 'Two Lives' convincingly portrays a strand of German history which is otherwise not very well known: the Norwegian 'Lebensborn Children.' The legacy of the Third Reich guiltily interlinks itself with the manipulation of the secret police of the GDR. The intensive interaction between Juliane Kohler and Liv Ullmann, and the expressive cinematography are impressive."

Pic, which was produced by Dieter Zeppenfeld of Zinnober Film and Rudi Teichmann of B&T Film, will be released in Germany on Sept. 19, and in France at the beginning of 2014.

twotwoNorway's Helgeland Film also produced the pic, in cooperation with Degeto Film, ApolloMedia and the Norwegian investor FUZZ. The production was funded by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Filmforderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the German Federal Film Fund, MEDIA Development, the Norwegian Film Institute and Vestnorsk.

World sales agent Beta Cinema has sold the rights to France, Israel and Poland, so far.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will announce the five nommed films on Jan. 16. The awards take place on March 2.

Other foreign-language contenders announced include "Soongava — Dance of the Orchids" (Nepal), "Boy Eating the Bird's Food" (Greece), "The Notebook" (Hungary) and "Child's Pose" (Romania).