German filmmaker Tom Tykwer is taking 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 post on his own accord.
Tykwer will head up X Filme together with Uwe Schott, a producer who has been at the Berlin-based outfit 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 Run Lola Run, The White Ribbon, and Oscar winner Amour, will continue to produce for X Filme and, as a co-founder, remains a shareholder in the company.
In a statement, he said he wanted to withdraw from the daily business of managing X Filme “so that I can concentrate more on producing again. Some exciting projects are already in the making and I’m looking forward to realizing them as a freelance producer with the X Films team.”
Ardnt and Tykwer co-founded X Filme in 1994 with directors Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy. The Berlin outfit revolutionized the German film scene of the late 1990s and early 2000s with films like Tykwer’s Run Lola Run, Becker’s Good Bye, Lenin! and Levy’s Go For Zucker!, which were critical and commercial hits that filled German cinemas and traveled around the world. Babylon Berlin, the period 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 coming to an end — a fifth season of the series, which hopes to begin production this year, is expected to be the last — X Filme is looking to return to its roots.
“We would like to encourage creative and idiosyncratic filmmakers from all over Europe to tell their stories for the cinema or in series,” said Tykwer in a statement explaining the management shuffle. “Bold and original stories that seek a wide audience have been our focus since the inception of X Films, and I continue to believe today that audiences are yearning 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 help shape the daily business together with Uwe Schott and our great team.”
Tykwer is also getting back to movie-making. The Light, his first feature since 2016’s A Hologram for a King hits German theaters in October.
