German Newsletter

Esteemed clients, dear friends of ARRI,


Enclosed please find the new edition of the ARRI Film & TV newsletter announcing the theatrical release of Jungle Child, a film by director Roland Suso Richter based on the bestseller written by Sabine Kuegler, as well as the release of the second film about the adventures of Hexe Lilli, Hexe Lilli - The Journey to Mandolan, based on the children's book from Knister and filmed by Director Harald Sicheritz.

Enjoy the read!

All the best,

Angela Reedwisch and Walter Brus 

OPENING IN GERMAN THEATERS ON February 17, 2011: Jungle Child

Director: Roland Suso Richter Screenplay: Natalie Scharf, Beth Serlin, Florian Schumacher, Richard Reitinger Based on a Novel by : Sabine Kuegler DoP: Holly Fink Production Company: UFA Cinema in co-production with Degeto Film Editor: Bernd Schlegel German Distributor: Universal Pictures International Germany DI Producer: Andreas Mummert DI Grading: Traudl Nicholson Re-recording Mixer: Christian Bischoff Title Design: Lutz Lemke   ARRI Services: Lab, Digital Intermediate, TV-Mastering (HD), Sound, Title Design, DCP Mastering

The script for Jungle Child is based on the novel of the same name by Sabine Kuegler. It is directed by Roland Suso Richter (Mogadishu Welcome, The Miracle of Berlin). The director of photography is Holly Fink. The producers are Nico Hofmann, Jürgen Schuster, Wolf Bauer, Thomas Peter Friedl and Natalie Scharf. Jungle Child continues UFA Cinema's series of lavish screen adaptations of bestselling novels. Jungle Child is a co-production with ARD Degeto.

UFA Cinema relied on ARRI Film & TV to complete the entire post-production process: from processing in the film lab through production of the Digital Intermediate, HD mastering, sound design, and titles, to completing the Digital Cinema Package - everything was done at ARRI.

Left: Sabine Kuegler (Stella Kunkat), her father Klaus (Thomas Kretschmann) and her mother Doris (Nadja Uhl ); Right: On Set in Malaysia © 2010 UFA Cinema, Artwork © 2010 Universal Pictures International

Sabine is eight years old when she emigrates with her mother and two siblings to Papua New Guinea. Her father is a linguist and is on the verge of a breakthrough. He has managed to snag one of the most coveted research contracts in his field - but as a result, the whole family will have to live far from civilization in the jungle for several years. Of them all, Sabine is happiest about this. She seems made for this new environment full of adventure and quickly feels at home. What the family did not realise is that they will be caught in the middle of a tribal war. While it does not concern them directly, they increasingly find themselves being sucked into the conflict. At first the family finds it difficult to understand the reasons for the fighting and are forced to realise that the foreign culture assigns a different value to love and hate, to life and death. So a process of rapprochement begins in which both sides must learn from each other. When Sabine and her brother find a young native boy, Auri, who belongs to the enemy tribe, severely injured in the jungle, and the German family takes him in, this puts them all in serious danger, as this act could be decisive in whether there is war or peace between the two tribes. But Sabine and Auri immediately develop a special bond and a deep friendship. They grow up together, and over time the bond between the teenagers is so deep that Sabine is sure that nothing can separate them and she wants to stay with Auri, even if fate has a different future in store for them. When Sabine returns to Germany at the age of 16, she finds herself confronted with a completely new, alien society and its inherent challenges, and embarks on a search for belonging and security - a search, ultimately, for herself. 

OPENING IN GERMAN THEATERS ON February 17, 2011: Hexe Lillie - The Journey to Mandolan

Director: Harald Sicheritz Screenplay: Bettine and Achim von Borries Based on children's books by: Knister DoP: Thomas Kiennast (AAC) Production Company: blue eyes Fiction, TRIXTER Productions Editor: Alexander Dittner German Distributor: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures   ARRI Services: DCP Mastering ARRI Rental: Camera, Lighting, Grip

The magical story Hexe Lilli - The Journey to Mandolan was created under the direction of Austrian filmmaker Harald Sicheritz (Poppitz, Hinterholz 8). The children's film was produced by Corinna Mehner, Martin Husmann, and Michael Coldewey. Cinematographer Thomas Kiennast captured the visual beauty of exotic India. This second part of The Adventures of Hexe Lilli is a production of blue-eyes fiction and TRIXTER Productions, and is brought to the cinema by Disney distribution.

Disney commissioned ARRI Film & TV to complete the Digital Cinema Mastering. ARRI Rental provided the camera (ARRICAM Studio & Lite, 3-Perforation), lighting, and grip equipment.

Left: Lilli (Alina Freund) in Mandolan; Right: Dragon Hektor and genie Suki © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Things are going haywire in the distant kingdom of Mandolan. There's a curse on the Crown, and Grand Vizier Guliman (Jürgen Tarrach), who can't mount the throne because of the spell, calls Hexe Lilli (Alina Freund) in his desperation. He wants her to use her magic powers to defeat the curse so he can finally mount the throne and assume his place as ruler of Mandolan. Lilli and her loyal companion, the corpulent little dragon Hektor (voice: Michael Mittermeier) have hardly arrived when she learns that the power-hungry Grand Vizier deceived her: he had the legitimate King Nandi (Michael Mendl) imprisoned by the evil sorcerer Abrasch (Ercan Durmaz).

Luckily Lilli can count on her magical powers along with the help of the clever street urchin Musa (Tanay Chheda). Lilli, Hektor, and Musa begin an adventurous journey that takes them in rickety tuk-tuks and on the backs of majestic elephants to the gates of the Forbidden City, where Lilli must gather her courage and free King Nandi, then return as fast as she can to Mandolan to prevent Guliman from taking the throne. And to make things even worse, Lilli also has to worry about Hektor: his love for the bewitching genie Suki (voice: Cosma Shiva Hagen), and the mysterious purple dots on his green dragon body become problems for them all...