German filmmaker Tom Tykwer takes over as Managing Director of X Filme Creative Pool, the company he co-founded 30 years ago, replacing partner Stefan Arndt, who is stepping down from the position of his own accord.
Tykwer will lead X Filme alongside Uwe Schott, a producer who has been with the Berlin team since 2009 and has worked on many of the company's biggest productions, from Cloud Atlas to the TV series Babylon Berlin.
Ardnt, whose cinematic resume includes Lola run, The white ribbonand Oscar winner Amourcontinues to produce for X Filme and remains a co-founder shareholder of the company.
In a statement, he said he wanted to step back from the day-to-day work of managing X Filme “so I can focus more on producing again. There are a number of exciting projects already in the works and I look forward to making these a reality as a freelance producer with the X Films team.”
Ardnt and Tykwer founded X Filme in 1994 together with directors Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy. The Berlin company revolutionized the German film scene in the late 1990s and early 2000s with films like Tykwer's. Lola runBeckers Goodbye, Lenin! and Levy's Go for Zucker!critical and commercial hits that filled German cinemas and toured the world. Babylon Berlinthe historical crime series created by Tykwer and X Filme regulars Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries, set new standards for small-screen drama in Europe.
But with Babylon Berlin is coming to an end – a fifth season of the series, which hopes to begin production this year, is expected to be its last – X Filme wants to return to its roots.
“We want to encourage creative and idiosyncratic filmmakers from all over Europe to tell their stories for cinema or in series,” Tykwer said in a statement explaining the management shuffle. “Bold and original stories that aim to reach a broad audience have been our focus since the beginning of X Films, and I continue to believe today that audiences are eager to experience something new. I would like to help us sharpen this focus again and not only contribute as an author and director, but also actively shape the day-to-day affairs together with Uwe Schott and our great team.”
Tykwer also returns to filmmaking. The light, his first feature film since 2016 A hologram for a king will be released in German theaters in October.