GDR: Last News

Emily Atef’s latest feature is something of a curate’s egg, a well-made foray into high-end romantic lit that’s saddled with some off-putting baggage about the reunification of Germany post-1989. The Berlin Film Festival competition entry is clearly personal to the novel’s writer, Daniela Krien, who was born, mid-’70s into the former GDR, and it does offer a layer of quirky detail, such as an unnerving car crash involving what looks to be Trabant. But for a film that shows a lot of naked flesh and spends a lot of time documenting a young woman’s complicated sexual awakening, the political table-talk can be distracting and even wearying, notably on the occasion when a whole (recently reunited) family bursts into “The Song of The Peat Bog Soldiers.“

Peter Caranicas Deputy Editor Law firm Granderson Des Rochers (GDR) has announced that Jackson Abbeduto, formerly an exec at Google’s YouTube and Universal Music Publishing, has joined the firm’s New Media Practice as senior counsel. Abbeduto joins a collective of former in-house attorneys, led by Elizabeth Moody, working in the arena of digital music and tapping into opportunities to create new revenue streams for artists and songwriters. In addition to licensing deals on behalf of tech companies including Roblox, Hydrow, Styngr and Wave XR, GDR has been at the forefront of the legal implications of the current AI-generated music trend – helping creators and tech companies navigate the emerging landscape and ensuring that the artists and creators are appropriately compensated.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Munich-based sales agency Beta Cinema has launched the international trailer (below) for “In a Land That No Longer Exists,” which has its international premiere on Oct. 21 in the competition section of the Rome Film Festival. Aelrun Goette’s feature debut, which was released in Germany on Thursday by Tobis, is inspired by the director’s own experiences in East Germany during the late 80s, when she worked as a model for fashion magazine Sibylle, the so-called “Vogue of the East.” The action takes place in East Berlin in the early summer of 1989, a few months before the fall of the Wall. Eighteen-year-old Suzie is thrown headfirst into the vibrant fashion scene in socialist East Germany when a photograph of her ends up on the cover of Sibylle.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorCrime show “Divided We Stand,” which will premiere in Germany on the public broadcaster ARD on Feb. 22 with the title “ZERV,” screened this week at the European Film Market in the Berlinale Series Market Selects section.

Google Maps users have been left baffled after spotting a house built in the middle of a busy airport runway. A user posted to Reddit with the image of the property located at Berlin Schönefeld airport, sparking a debate over what it was used for.The post has received over 100 responses posing many theories - including that is was formerly a police station or used by the Luftwaffe.