The spectrum of the award-winning LICHTBLICK FILM productions includes feature films and documentaries for cinema and television. Since it was founded in the mid-1980s, LICHTBLICK FILM has worked with filmmakers, partners and television stations in over 40 countries (including BBC, PBS, CH4, FR3, RAI, TVE, DRS, ORF, CBC, NKT, HO, RTBF and many others) to tell substantive, gripping and entertaining stories in a personal and innovative way.
The team consists of the producers Carl-Ludwig Rettinger and Joachim Ortmanns, expanded in 2014 by producer Lino Rettinger. The core team also includes Yvonne Gottschalk as production manager.
Our award-winning documentary film productions include Mika Kaurismäki's Tigrero (with Samuel Fuller and Jim Jarmusch), which won the Fipresci Prize at the Berlinale, or Jenseits von Tibet by Solveig Klaßen, which won the Bavarian Documentary Film Prize and won the Joris Ivens Award the IDFA was nominated. Massacre by Monika Borgmann, Hermann Theißen and Lokman Slim was also awarded the Fipresci Prize at the Berlinale and the Special Jury Prize at the Visions du Réel in Nyon. The Champagne Spy by Nadav Schirman won Best Documentary at the Israeli Film Academy Awards, the John Schlesinger Award in Palm Springs and was nominated for the European Film Awards. After the international success of David Wants to Fly by David Sieveking (Berlinale, Visions du Réel, BAFICI, Hotdocs, Moscow IFF), his film Vergiss Mein nicht won the Semaine de la Critque in Locarno and the Hessian Film Prize, with cinema releases in Germany, the USA, the Netherlands, France, Switzerland, Austria and Poland. The Böhms – Architecture of a Family by Maurizius Staerkle Drux was similarly successful in cinemas and at festivals. The Red Chapel by Carl-Ludwig Rettinger is currently being released in cinemas.
Our television documentaries The Fall of the Elephant (Volker Anding), The Final Kick (Andi Rogenhagen) and The Big Pink (Kolin Schult) were awarded the renowned Adolf Grimme Prize. Documentary series were also successful, eg: losing weight in Essen, Adolf Grimme Prize and nomination Rose d'Or, Montreux. The freestyle of your life by Gerhard Schick is currently in the television evaluation.
The window program Kanal 4 (1988 – 1998?) enabled the midnight program of RTL and SAT. 1 unusual television formats. LICHTBLICK produced the media comedy series Donner'sTag, which was awarded the Adolf Grimme Prize, and Talk 2000 – the legendary talk show with host Christoph Schlingensief. Among the illustrious guests were names such as Hildegard Knef, Sophie Rois, Beate Uhse and Harald Schmidt.
In terms of fiction, the spectrum ranges from television, debut and cinema films to international co-productions. Productions such as Little Thieves, Big Thieves by Alejandro Sadermann (including the Sundance Film Festival), The End of Patience by Florent Siri (including the Prix Cyril Collard), Russian Wedding by Pavel Lungin and Divine Intervention by Elia Suleiman have been realized and brought to the cinema. both of which received the Special Jury Prize in Cannes. Feature film debuts include Solo by Thomas Durchschlag, which won the Interfilm Jury Prize at the Max Ophüls Film Festival and Best Young Actress (Lavinia Wilson) and screened in the Tiger Awards competition in Rotterdam, and Autopiloten by Bastian Günther, who was released on the Berlinale premiered received the MFG Star and was nominated for Best TV Feature at the Banff World Television Festival. Wolfgang Fischer's mystery thriller What You Don't See and Bastian Günther's Houston were highly acclaimed at festivals around the world and were also released in German cinemas. Easy Love, a documentary feature film by Tamer Jandali, was the opening film of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Berlinale, and was awarded the NRW Film Prize in 2019. Natja Brunckhorst's debut feature film, Alles in besterOrder, starring Corinna Harfouch and Daniel Sträßer, is currently awaiting its theatrical release. a documentary feature film by Tamer Jandali, was the opening film of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Berlinale, and was awarded the NRW Film Prize in 2019. Natja Brunckhorst's debut feature film, Alles in besterOrder, starring Corinna Harfouch and Daniel Sträßer, is currently awaiting its theatrical release. a documentary feature film by Tamer Jandali, was the opening film of Perspektive Deutsches Kino, Berlinale, and was awarded the NRW Film Prize in 2019. Natja Brunckhorst's debut feature film, Alles in besterOrder, starring Corinna Harfouch and Daniel Sträßer, is currently awaiting its theatrical release.