Update June 2023:
Filming of feature film September 5 was completed by the end of April in Munich at Bavaria Studios with an illustrious cast and a very special crew, directed by Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum.
One of the lovely surprises on the project turned out to be—after my deal had already! been closed—that one my favorite actors, Sean Penn, was coproducer, represented by his newly founded company ProjectedPicureWorks.
(A few decades ago, I had served as his dialogue/dialect coach on a feature film Judgment in Berlin directed by his father Leo Penn. I will never forget. Sean flew me into New York from Los Angeles, where I was living at the time, to prepare his role with me).
Soon after, welcoming actors Lara Feith (feature film Berlin Nobody), Emre Aksizoglu (member of ensemble Maxim Gorki Theatre Berlin) as GVL recipients of grant program / kulturelle Zuwendungen—continual training in prep for international coproductions in English—as well as supporting Robert Dölle (member of ensemble at Residenztheater Munich) on an upcoming film project and commencing initial talks with Christian Friedel, lead in the award winning, arousing feature film Zone of Interest (Cannes Filmfestival 2023) directed by British filmmaker Jonathan Glazer.
2023
Feature film Seneca: On the Creation of Earthquakes with actors Lilith Stangenberg and Samuel Finzi has been chosen as a Berlinale Special for the upcoming Berlin Filmfestival.
Ernestine Kahn is currently in prep for the filming of feature film September 5, to be directed by Swiss filmmaker Tim Fehlbaum in Munich as of late February as well as supporting managing director/actor Roman Weishaupt of Theatre Chur in Switzerland on developing international ties with the English-speaking theatre world.
2022
Both feature films Daliland (w/ actor Alexander Beyer in English) and The Magic Flute (w/ actor,singer Jack Wolfe in German) celebrated their European premieres at the Zürich Filmfestival in the fall. Daliland was also presented at the Toronto Filmfestival. It was a pleasure to work in postproduction with the British leading actor/singer Jack Wolfe in German! Another feature film Paradise Highway, directed by Anna Gutto with actors Juliette Binoche, Morgan Freeman, and Veronica Ferres, celebrated it‘s European premiere in the summer of 2022 at the Locarno Filmfestival on the Piazza Grande at primetime, on the first Saturday night of the Festival! We worked during the summer of 2021 under very difficult circumstances because of Covid.... Runner starring Hannah Schiller, was presented at the Toronto Filmfestival, the International Filmfestivals in San Sebastian and Chicago, and will be shown at the Göteborg Filmfestival in early 2023.
Exciting! Feature Film The Forger/Der Passfälscher, directed by Maggie Peren, was chosen as a Berlinale Special for the Berlin Filmfestival (in February).
Dezember, 2021:
In spite of ... or because of Covid I feel very lucky ... this year I was asked to support actors on seven, very different productions:
TV series UNWANTED, feature films SENECA, RUNNERS, PARADISE HIGHWAY, DALI-LAND, DER PASSFÄLSCHER, and a short Film THE COLOR. Four of them were directed by women: Marian Mathias, Anna Gutto, Mary Harron, and Maggie Peren.
The Norwegian-German TV series was broadcast in November with leading actor Ulrich Noethen as the Bad Guy communicating in English with his Norwegian colleagues.
I prepped actors for castings and they won parts on feature films TAR, FARAWAY as well as on the TV series UNWANTED.
I worked for the very first time with actors Jonathan Berlin, Lilith Stangenberg, Milena Tscharntke, Hannah Schiller, Veronica Ferres, Yotam Ishay on production as well as with Alice Dwyer, Franziska Junge, Johanna Griebel, Markus Gertken, Jule Doege, Artjom Gilz, Konstantin Frank in prep for future projects both in English and in German.
And it was very rewarding to continue with Marlene Burow, Catherine Flemming, Francois Göske, Samuel Benito, Friederike Becht, Alexander Beyer, Jasmin Mairhofer, Marie-Lou Sellem, Anne-Marie Waldeck, and Samuel Finzi.
During the following winter months I can now focus, happily, on a very personal project of mine in cooperation with Deutsche Kinemathek Berlin with the generous support of Neustart Kultur.
2021
Thrilling! The international successful 4-part-MiniSeries Unorthodox has been nominated twice in the following categories for the GOLDEN GLOBES in 2021: Best Limited Television Series and leading actress Shira Haas as Best Performance in a Limited Series. Unorthodox has also received three nominations for the 25th Satellite Awards, again in the categories of Best Minseries, Best Actress and for actor Jeff Wilbusch as Best Actor in a Supporting Role. In addition, Showrunner Anna Winger‘s miniseries Unorthodox has received the following three nominations for the "Film Independent Spirit Awards 2021" as "Best New Scripted Series", Shira Haas as "Best Female Performance In A New Scripted Series" as well as Amit Rahav for "Best Male Performance In A New Scripted Series". The American Film Institute has included Unorthodox in their list as one of the top ten series of 2020. The miniseries was nominated twice for 2021‘s "Critic‘s Choice Awards".
Update May 3rd, 2021:
Meanwhile all leading actors on the miniseries Unorthodox have received awards for their performances : the Independent Spirit Awards for both Shira Haas (Best Female Performance in a Scripted Series) and Amit Rahev (Best Male Performance in a Scripted Series) as well as the Satellite Award for Jeff Wilbusch (Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role). Having turned into a global phenomenon our production has also been nominated for the upcoming International British BAFTA Award, received 2 nominations for the Austrian Romy Awards, and one nomination for the German Grimme Award.
Update August, 2021: In the meantime our Netflix Miniseries Unorthodox won the Grimme Award, two Industry Romy Awards for Best TV/Stream-Film and for Best TV/Stream-Series, the Peabody Award, and the Gotham Award Nomination 2020.
2020
2020 started off with a promising beginning. In January & February actors Samuel Finzi, Kai Schumann, Kim Bormann, and I were working ahead on projects in the planning for this year. Thankfully, Samuel and I were able to complete two of his. Hopefully, his third one will be produced starting in the fall of 2021.
Then came the Berlin Film Festival as enjoyable, inspiring as always....then CUT.....all projects in preproduction were postponed or cancelled.... Amazingly enough, by the end of March there was suddenly an invisible Netflix community in virtual reality that welcomed new talent on our show called Unorthodox. It truly lifted everybody’s spirits who had been involved in some way or another. Don‘t give up, there is a future....was the message! In limbo, but still in demand In April, May, and June I found myself supporting actors Johanna Wokalek, Frederike Becht, Lisa Vicari, Robin Leo, Martin Schneider, Nico Rogner.
By the beginning of summer new productions appeared unexpectedly on the horizon....suddenly I got a call on a Saturday, we needed you yesterday! How about Monday? I said quietly....
It turned out to be a very productive July, August, September, Oktober, November working with actors Sebastian Klein, Lise Risom Olsen, Samuel Benito, Sebastian Hülk, Martin Bretschneider, Pepe Harder, Marlene Burow, inbetween eight Emmy nominations for our miniseries Unorthodox and one Emmy for our director Maria Schrader. ....in virtual reality more nominations and awards.....last but not least my pillar of strength from June thru December actor Ulrich Noethen in production on the German-Norwegian TV series Furia...and now CUT....??? Again? Let‘s get thru this together, we have a chance....again...
Specials in 2019 and in 2020
The new year 2019 kicked off with the Ernst Lubitsch Award for actors Lars Eidinger and Bjarne Mädel, starring in feature film 25km/h, directed by Markus Goller. The film received nominations as Best Feature for both the German Film Award and the Bambi, winning the International Audience Award at the Berlin&Beyond Film Festival in San Francisco, concluding with Best Actor shared again by Lars Eidinger and Bjarne Mädel at 2020‘s Bavarian Film Awards.
Clip from 25km/h, directed by Markus Goller with Lars Eidinger and Bjarne Mädel.
2019/20
After a very long time, I finally received offers to work again in my ´other´ language - German - for example with Italian actress Jasmin Mairhofer, and on the German-Danish coproduction TV series Sloborn with one of the leads - Roland Möller.
Other highlights turned out to be our Mini-Series Unorthodox for Netflix, prepping Israeli actors Shira Haas, Amit Rahev, and Jeff Wilbusch in American English which would ultimately become a worldwide success during the Corona Crisis in March 2020. In early June,Unorthodox received nominations in four categories for the Deutsche Fernsehpreis as Best Limited Series, Shira Haas for Best Actress, and won two awards out of the four nominations: Best Costume and Best Production Design. Soon after Unorthodox received eight Emmy nominations in the limited series category! Outstanding Limited Series, Best Directing, Best Costumes, Best Music Composition, Best Title Music, Best Actress, Best Writing and Best Casting. Winners in three categories at 2020 Berlin TV series festival: Best Drama Series, Best Screenplay Drama Series, and Outstanding Lead Actress In A Drama Series. Furthermore, Unorthodox received two C21 2020 International Drama Awards in the categories "Best Minseries" and "Best Individual Performance In A Drama Series" for Shira Haas.
Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles. Winner Emmy Award for Outstanding Director Maria Schrader, September, 2020.
New projects started with singer-soprano Constanze Backes and Norwegian-Danish actress Lise Risom Olsen. In April 2019, we celebrated the release of singer-soprano Marie Louise Werneburg‘s first CD „Diaphenia“ (English love songs from three centuries). Feature film Freiheit/Freedom, starring Johanna Wokalek, was aired on German TV. And above all, I made it to the Cannes Filmfestival for the premiere of Terrence Malick´s feature film in competition A Hidden Life including some of "my" actors in the cast ....Alexander Fehling, Bruno Ganz, and Jasmin Mairhofer.
I continued to coach not only my loyal, "usual" suspects Lea Van Acken, Stella Maria Adorf, Francois Göske, Constantin Lücke, Arndt Schwering-Sohnrey, Marie-Lou Sellem, but was thrilled to welcome former collaborators Hanno Koffler and actor-director-producer Matthias Schweighöfer as well as newcomers Cosima Henman, Florian Bartholomäii, Edin Hasanovic, and Samuel Finzi.
The year finished with and led me into 2020 prepping Swiss-German-Italian actress-dancer Anima May up to preproduction for the Fictional Drama Short Film The Aboves and the Belows, directed by Alejandro Marcos. New projects were in development with director/performance artist Lithuanian Gintare Minelgaite and German photographer Anne Schönharting.
2020 began again with continuing to coach actor Samuel Finzi as Augustine for his very first Hollywood production feature film Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins, directed by Robert Schwentke, while getting Samuel ready to host the opening and closing ceremonies of the Berlin Filmfestival. New actors committed in spite of Corona. Among them Kim Bormann, Kai Schumann, and Robin Leo.
Tied again closely to other memorable theatre productions (directed by Elizabeth Kahn & David Sutherland) such as
1) Gleis 69 - Track 69, Erinnern an eine deutsche Familie (Commemorating a German family) at Berlin‘s Center for Art and Urbanism, or
2) Ob ich noch einmal wiederkomme? Ich möchte doch meine Kinder wiedersehen. Erinnerung an die Familie Meyerowitz. (Will I ever return? I would so very much like to see my children once more. Memories of the Meyerowitz Family), or last but not least
3) the revival of Der Zerbrochene Kelch - The Broken Cup at the Textile Museum Augsburg connected to the establishing ceremony of two memory columns at the former site of the Kahn&Arnold factory lot in the center of Augsburg.
2018
Welcoming actors Annika Blendl, Stella Maria Adorf, Livia Matthes, Marie-Lou Sellem, Gina Stiebitz, Lisa Vicari, Anne Marie Waldeck, Frederick Lau and New Talent Till Schindler...just to name a few...Both Till and François Göske mastered an American accent in English on two very different projects. In June, we finally enjoyed the Berlin premiere of Shirin Neshat’s feature Looking for Oum Kulthum. Alexander Beyer was cast in the international Mini Series The Little Drummer Girl which premiered at the London Filmfestival in the fall of 2018. Feature film 25km/h was presented at the Media Convention in May with actor Lars Eidinger and director Markus Goller as panelists, it opened in movie theatres throughout Germany in late October, and was nominated for the Ernst Lubitsch Award. Horror movie Suspiria (Angela Winkler) was presented in competition at the Venice Filmfestival. Broadcasts on German TV of British TV mini series SS-GB (Lars Eidinger), Norwegian-German coproduction The Heavy Water War – The Saboteurs ( Peri Baumeister), feature films Pope Joan (Johanna Wokalek) and The Young Karl Marx (Stefan Konarske), TV movie Wir Monster (Mehdi Nebbou).
Winter and Spring 2017
TV Mini Series The Same Sky / Der Gleiche Himmel was presented with leading actress Friederike Becht on German TV Channel ZDF during the last week of March, a British-German coproduction. TV Mini Series SS-GB was presented in England on BBC One with leading actor Lars Eidinger from late February through late March. Lars received rave reviews for his performance. Feature films Hart's War and Valkyrie were both shown again on German TV. A first were three presentations of Ernestine Kahn's work with three major leads in three very different productions at the Berlin Film Festival: Special Gala for Stefan Konarske as Friedrich Engels (British accent with a German base) in the feature film The Young Karl Marx, Friederike Becht as Sabine Cutter (German/English with American accent) in the TV mini-series The Same Sky / Der Gleiche Himmel, and Lars Eidinger as SS Officer Dr. Oskar Huth (British accent with German base) in the TV mini-series SS-GB. Nomination Prix Europa for TV Fiction mini-series The Same Sky / Der Gleiche Himmel (2016). Grimme Online Award Nomination for The Städel Museum's online course (produced like a film) presenting actor Sebastian Blomberg as host with Ernestine K as dialogue director (English Version). Broadcast of TV movie Wir Monster in Germany, dialogue coach in German for actor Mehdi Nebbou. Inbetween Augsburg/Bavaria ... Closely tied to the exhibition Kahn & Arnold - Two families as entrepreneurs, their rise, persecution, and emigration at the Stately Textile and Industry Museum (in Augsburg) as well as to the theatre production Der Zerbrochene Kelch / The Broken Kiddush Cup directed by Elizabeth Kahn & David Sutherland.
Kahn & Arnold - The Rise, Persecution and Emigration of Two Augsburg Entrepreneur Families in the 20th Century -
Exhibition at the State Textile and Industry Museum Augsburg (tim), 2017-2018 (video clip in German with English subtitles)
Summer and Fall 2017:
Hamburg Filmfestival - feature films Looking for Oum Kulthum with leading actress Neda Rahmanian and Matilda directed by Aleksey Uchitel with leading actor Lars Eidinger. Looking for Oum Kulthum was nominated for Producer's Award in Hamburg. Tokyo International Filmfestival and Cologne Filmfestival - Forget about Nick - Opening night feature film directed by Margarete von Trotta with actress Tinka Fürst. Locarno Filmfestival - feature films Freiheit / Freedom (in competition) with leading actress Johanna Wokalek and Drei Zinnen / Three Peaks (Winner of the Variety Piazza Grande Award) with male lead Alexander Fehling. Venice Filmfestival - feature Looking for Oum Kulthum directed by Shirin Neshat screened in the independent section Venice Days. Toronto Fimfestival - special screenings of both Three Peaks and Looking for Oum Kulthum. German Films Festival Paris and Hof Filmfestival (Germany) - Three Peaks Opening night film of both festivals. London Filmfestival - Special presentation of Looking for Oum Kulthum. Feature Film Freedom / Freiheit with leading actress Johanna Wokalek was also presented in 2017 at the filmfestivals in Copenhagen, Denmark, Warsaw, Poland, Haifa International, Israel, Sao Paulo International, Brazil, Goa International Filmfestival, and Hof. Förderpreis for Drei Zinnen in Hof. Deutscher Fernsehpreis for best sound design for mini series Der Gleiche Himmel.
2016
Feature film A House in Berlin finally received distribution and was screened several times at the movie theatre Babylon starting November 9th after the passing of actress Doris Egbring-Kahn on November 5th. Doris' portrait by artist Moshe Alembik was presented as the star of his show on November 6th at an exhibtion during the Jewish Arts Festival/Jüdische Kulturtage. Both events had been in the planning before her unexpected death. And she was looking forward to attending them. Oct. 3rd, Premiere of award recipient for best director/Cannes film festival,feature film Personal Shopper with actor Lars Eidinger at the Hamburg Filmfestival. September 21st, Premiere feature film SNOWDON in Munich, Germany. World PREMIERE of SNOWDON, directed by Oliver Stone with actor Rhys Ifans at The Toronto Filmfestival in early September. Feature films The Girl King (Peter Lohmeyer) and Atomic Falafel (Alexander Fehling) opened in movie theatres throughout Germany in summer 2016. Age of Cannibals / Zeit der Kannibalen premiered on German TV Channel One / ARD on June 14th. German-Israeli Coproduction and Feature Film Atomic Falafel with leading actor Alexander Fehling celebrated it's German premiere at the Jewish Filmfestival on June 12th in Berlin. The short film Tarot Reading, directed by Aneta Panek with actress Doris Egbring-Kahn (supported in part by Ernestine Kahn), opened at the Independant New York Filmfestival in April 2016, was presented at Filmfestivals in Japan (Tokio and Osaka) in May, and was screened at the Berlin Short Film Festival between June 30th - July 4th. Feature Film Personal Shopper with Lars Eidinger as Ingo won the Best Director Award for Olivier Assayas at the Cannes Filmfestival. In the early months of the year features Age of Cannibals / Zeit der Kannibalen and The Countess / Die Gräfin were presented On German-French TV channel Arte as well as Hart's War / Das Tribunal on German channel Kabel Deutschland. Homeland Season 5 (Berlin) nominated as "Best Ensemble" with Alexander Fehling as Jonas Hollander by the Screen Actors Guild of America in Hollywood.
Clip from Zeit der Kannibalen / Age of Cannibals. Produced by Studio.TV. Berlin, directed by Johannes Naber.
2015
What a year! Professionally a wonderful one, working with actors such as Rhys Ifans, Lars Eidinger, Alexander Fehling, Stefan Konarske, Hanno Koffler, Christian Friedel, and with Hannah Herzsprung, Johanna Wokalek, Silke Bodenbender. Catherine Flemming was cast as the Duchess of Kent in the British mini-series Victoria, the numerous awards for Age of Cannibals/Zeit der Kannibalen produced by Milena Maitz. Ernestine Kahn being closely tied to the films directed by Oliver Stone, Olivier Assayas, Raoul Peck or to the TV-series Homeland produced (and directed) by Lesli Linka Glatter as well as to British mini-series SS-GB directed by Philipp Kadelbach. Not to forget all the potential talent out there. In spite of living in a more dangerous world. June 21, opening of feature film Girl on Ice at Moscow Filmfestival. June 19, Zeit der Kannibalen / Age of Cannibals Recipient Best Film (Bronze) and Best Screenplay, awarded by the German Film Academy in Berlin.
May 21, feature film Girl On Ice, shot in English and Russian, opening in Hamburg, Germany. May 15, Zeit der Kannibalen nominated by the German Film Academy in 3 major categories: Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay.
In April, actor Sebastian Blomberg is nominated for the 3rd time as Best Actor in Zeit der Kannibalen, this time by the German Actors Union. In March, Ernestine Kahn on set with actor Rhys Ifans for feature film SACHA / SNOWDON, directed by Oliver Stone.
In February, actor Sebastian Blomberg, nominated for the 2nd time, recipient Best Actor, Johannes Naber Best Director, Stefan Weigl Best Screenplay for Zeit der Kannibalen, actor Devid Striesow nominated as Best Actor for the 2nd time, by the German Film Critics Association during the Berlin Filmfestival.
January - June 2015, the English version of the documentary feature on German artist Ernst Barlach is presented in an exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in California. (produced by Havelstudios Berlin with Ernestine Kahn as Dialogue Director and narrated by actors Leslie Malton and Mario Adorf).
In 2015 Ernestine Kahn became a member of the Friends of the German Film Academy, as well as of the GVL (Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten / Society for the Evaluation - Distribution of Residuals).
2014
began with 3 trips: to Moscow in prep for the shoot of feature film Girl on Ice, rehearsing with Russian and German cast both in English and Russian, inbetween Berlinale opening on February 10th of feature film Zeit der Kannibalen / Age of Cannibals, German/English, then shoot of Girl on Ice in Northwestern Russia til mid-April as well as coaching via Skype actors in New York, London, Cologne and Berlin. Including, in March, the exhibition opening about artist and experimental filmmaker Hans Richter, curated by Timothy Benson from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, at the Gropius Bau in Berlin. Another highlight in the fine arts was the Panel discussion with artists Katharina Fritsch, Taryn Simons, Jeff Koons, hosted by curator Hans Ulrich Obrist - Imagining the future of the museums for the Friends of Berggruen Museum Berlin, (June 2014) assisting artist Katharina Fritsch on the Panel in English. In May, extremely successful opening of Zeit der Kannibalen in movie theatres throughout Germany. During the summer four feature films were presented again on German TV channels: Escape from Tibet (Zwischen Himmel und Erde), Pope Joan (Die Päpstin), Valkyrie (Operation Walküre) und Albert Schweitzer. Johanna Wokalek starred as the female lead "Charlotte Salomon" in the opera commissioned by the Salzburg Festival based on the feature film "Charlotte" from 1980 (Ernestine Kahn had served as Dialogue Coach. It was her second job). On July 20th (very important date in German history) the English Version of the creative documentary RADICAL EVIL received the Avner Shalev-Yad Vashem Chairman's Award for Artistic Achievement at the International Filmfestival Jerusalem. In November both Devid Striesow and Sebastian Blomberg received The Günther Rohrbach Award for Best Actor. Doris Egbring-Kahn enjoyed her premiere of Cynthia Beatt's film "The House in Berlin" at Berlin's Sony Center. (EK had supported Cynthia's project as a casting consultant). Werner Daehn attended opening night of feature "Field of Lost Shoes" in Los Angeles and was cast as "Vicente" in the NBC TV-Series "Constantine". 2014 concluded with actor Pasquale Aleardi celebrating his New York debut on Broadway as "Billy Flynn" in the musical "Chicago".
2013
started for Ernestine Kahn as dialogue coach (to actor Devid Striesow) and dialogue consultant to independent feature film directors such as Johannes Naber, Stefan Krohmer, Academy Award winner Stefan Ruzowitzky on multi-lingual European coproductions or as dialogue/dialect consultant to executive producer, creator, writer Charles Randolph for HBO's pilot The Missionary, much in the style of German director Hans Christian Schmid's Storm (2009) or the American produced digital TV series Hplus (Kahn coached actress Hannah Herzsprung 2011 in preproduction), presented by acclaimed Hollywood producer-director Byran Singer.
In the more recent past and present, new talent—unknown and well-known—young European actors and actresses have asked Ernestine Kahn to work with them on individual projects such as the feature films Vijay and I (2012), Escape from Tibet / Zwischen Himmel und Erde (2011), The Child, and Will, or on the Reading in English Hommage to Max Rheinhardt at the Salzburg Festival 2011 and HBO's TV series Strike Back. Just to name a few: Moritz Bleibtreu, Alexander Fehling, Hannah Herzsprung, Natalia Avelon, Clemens Schick, etc.
2012
In 2012, the Deutsche Filmförderungsanstalt / German Federal Filmboard and Ernestine Kahn started working together on supporting actors, who have the potential for international careers or who already have gained experience on international feature film productions to develop their professional skills in English. Among them Peri Baumeister and Werner Daehn.
2009
During 2009, five feature films were premiered at major cinemas that Ernestine Kahn contributed to as dialogue/dialect coach: Valkyrie, with Tom Cruise, Kenneth Branagh, Christian Berkel, Matthias Schweighöfer, directed by Bryan Singer; The Countess, with Julie Delpy, Daniel Brühl and William Hurt, directed by Julie Delpy; Storm, with Kerry Fox and Anamaria Marinca, directed by Hans-Christian Schmid; Pope Joan (Die Päpstin), with Johanna Wokalek, David Wenham and John Goodman, directed by Sönke Wortmann; and Albert Schweitzer, with Barbara Hershey, Jeroen Krabbé and Jeanette Hain, directed by Gavin Millar.
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