Helene Hegemann and İlker Çatak are the first two directors in production with their German Dogma25-features. TrustNordisk will introduce the two upcoming projects to the international market at the American Film Market in Los Angeles which kicks off tomorrow November 10th.
Helene Hegemann’s BATTLEFIELD stars Campbell Caspary, River Roux, Balthazar Gyan Alexis Kuppuswamy, Samuel Schneider, Lavinia Wilson and Bernhard Schütz. BATTLEFIELD unfolds a story where three lives intersect between an MMA gym, a nightclub and a dying German village: an amateur fighter, a philosophy graduate working as a pole dancer, and a ten-year-old boy who has lost his mother. BATTLEFIELD is a film about how taking responsibility requires courage more than violence.
Helene Hegemann had her international breakthrough with her feature debut, the award-winning, AXOLOTL OVERKILL which celebrated its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival in 2017. Hegemann has also directed episodes of award-winning series such as STRAFE and ZEIT VERBRECHEN (Berlinale 2024). Besides directing, Hegemann is also a renowned novelist published in more than 20 countries as well as a theater and opera director.
BATTLEFIELD is written and directed by Helene Hegemann and co-written by Campbell Caspary and River Roux. Produced by X-Filme Creative Pool in co-production with Zentropa Germany and with support from ZDF, ARTE, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and X Verleih.
İlker Çatak’s feature film, currently titled UNTITLED İLKER ÇATAK MOVIE, will reunite Çatak with actress Leonie Benesch, who starred in his international breakthrough THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE. Benesch will be joined by Meral Perin and Oğuz Akıncı and German legendary actress Hanna Schygulla in a story about two women and a man who live in present-day Berlin, searching for happiness. One woman struggles with her unfulfilled desire to have children, the other wonders if her life might have been happier with another man, while her son must get over his wife’s death and also adopt a new perspective on his life.
İlker Çatak was nominated for an Academy Award® in the Best International Feature Film category for THE TEACHERS’ LOUNGE in 2024. This was followed by YELLOW LETTERS for which he was awarded the Golden Berlin Bear for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year. His upcoming film under the Dogma25 initiative will be his 6th feature film.
UNTITLED İLKER ÇATAK MOVIE is directed by İlker Çatak and co-written by İlker Çatak and Johannes Duncker and produced by if… Productions in co-production with X-Filme Creative Pool and Zentropa Germany and with support from ZDF, ARTE, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and X Verleih.
X Verleih will take on domestic distribution. TrustNordisk handles international sales.