Daniela and Benjamin Cölle Take Helm at Pluto Film (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Ed Meza @edmezavarGerman sales company Pluto Film is under new ownership following its sale by founders and former CEOs Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse to Daniela and Benjamin Cölle.Deckert and Frehse, who established the Berlin-based shingle in 2015, are stepping down to focus on the activities of their respective companies, the Leipzig-based production shingle Maja.de and Berlin film distributor Neue Visionen.The new husband and wife team will head Pluto Film as co-CEOs, with Daniela Cölle also serving as head of acquisitions.

Cölle has worked at the company since its launch, initially as festival manager.“We are very thankful to Torsten and Heino for trusting in us as new owners and CEOs,” she said. “We believe in engaging global cinema by emerging talents, both arthouse and cross-over.

We are devoted to bringing quality feature films to the international market and worldwide audiences.” Benjamin Cölle previously worked as a creative producer and teacher and researcher at Film University Babelsberg and more recently as an audience design consultant and trainer for TorinoFilmLab.

As co-CEO he will support Daniela in strategic matters: “For me it is crucial to work with both the film teams and our distribution partners on the same eye-level, as our work is a collaboration with both the filmmakers and the global and local distributors and platforms.”Despite the current business climate, the new company heads express confidence in Pluto Film’s future.“We are aware that the current market situation is challenging, not only due to the pandemic, but also because of a changing market beyond the window system,” said Benjamin Cölle. “However, in spite of the difficult year for the industry, Pluto has reported good.