Mareike Wegener’s film ECHO tells the story of Detective Harder, who takes on her first case after surviving a bomb attack during a police mission to Afghanistan. The remains of a girl are discovered in a moor near the ficticious German town of Friedland. But Harder’s investigation falters from the outset – not least due to the discovery of a live bomb dating to the Second World War, which throws the Friedlanders and Harder herself into turmoil.

Starring Valery Tscheplanowa, Ursula Werner, Andreas Döhler, Felix Römer, and Oskar Keymer.

ECHO is a Petrolio production in co-production with WDR and received support from Film and Media Fund NRW, Young German Film Committee, German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media, and German Federal Film Fund. The German distributor is Grandfilm.

X is among the twelve films nominated for the German Short Film Award. The selection committee's statement reads:

"Two men in the heart of the Ruhr area: One has long since fulfilled his destiny, the other has still not found it. Like an X, their paths cross underground - both of them ready to give their soul. In her film, Mareike Wegener merges a wide variety of motifs and perspectives to create a fascinating play on myths. At the center are two protagonists whose real lives determine these motifs and actions. And so the miner tradition, Mephisto motif, blues myth and working class charm come together harmoniously to create a loving narrative between documentary and fiction, which not only nostalgically conjures up the spirits of the Ruhr region, but also adds a beautiful and disarmingly sympathetic variant to the diversity of cinematic narrative forms."

Mareike Wegener's film X is set to celebrate its world premiere at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. The 30-minute film is part of the German Competition and will screen on May 5 and 6 (online - due to the pandemic).

X is a cinematic ritual aimed at appeasing the ancestral spirits of the industrial workforce. The film is inspired by the lives of the filmmaker's father and grandfather, who also play the lead roles.

X was shot shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic in Bocholt, Duisburg, Witten, Recklinghausen and Gelsenkirchen, among other places. Writer and director Mareike Wegener was accompanied by Hannes Lang and Johannes Klais, who were responsible for the images and sound. Eckhard Wegener and Dieter Becker, among others, can be seen in front of the camera.

X was made with the support of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW and the BKM Short Film Fund.

Carmen Losmann’s new film OECONOMIA will be released in German cinemas on October 15th and in Austria on November 6th. After celebrating its world premiere in the Forum section of this year’s Berlinale, the documentary was invited to CPH:DOX and Sheffield Doc | Fest, where it screened in competition and received rave reviews.

OECONOMIA reveals the rules of capitalism by showing that paradoxically the economy only grows when we create debt, that profits are only possible when money is owed, that the debtor is in fact its key player. This zero-sum game places us and our entire world in the logic of an endlessly perpetual increase in capital – no matter how much the cost.

OECONOMIA is Petrolio’s second feature-length documentary production and it is distributed by NEUE VISIONEN. The film was awarded the Gerd-Ruge-Grant and co-produced by the German broadcaster 3sat. The production was supported by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, BKM and DFFF.
Please visit oeconomia-film.de for more information on the schedule and related events.

The shooting of Mareike Wegener’s new film is completed: ECHO tells the story of detective Harder, who survived a bomb attack while deployed on a police mission in Afghanistan. In order to reintegrate into her job as an investigator she is sent to find out the identity of a bog body found near a peaceful community called Friedland. But the towners have their own problems and hardly care about Harder’s inquiry, especially after a dud shot from WWII is found in von-Hüning’s moat and yet another explosion becomes probable.

The cinema-destined film, which will be distributed by grandfilm, was shot in and around Cologne. Writer and director Mareike Wegener worked with Sabine Panossian (DP), Peter Rösner (Sound), Ina Timmerberg (Production Design) and Gitti Fuchs (Costume Design). Valery Tscheplanowa, Ursula Werner, Andreas Döhler, Felix Römer, Oskar Keymer, Marina Galic and Roland Silbernagl star.

ECHO is realized as a co-production with WDR (commissioning editor: Andrea Hanke) and received support from Film and Media Fund NRW, Young German Film Committee, German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media and German Federal Film Fund.

Carmen Losmann’s new film OECONOMIA will premier at the 70th edition of Berlinale in the Forum section. The episodic documentary reveals how the rules of the contemporary capitalist game systematically precondition growth, deficits and concentration of wealth.

With a running time of 89 minutes OECONOMIA is Carmen Losmann’s second feature-length documentary. She continued to work with cinematographer Dirk Lütter and editor Henk Drees, a creative liaison which led to the success of her debut WORK HARD PLAY HARD.

OECONOMIA was awarded the Gerd-Ruge-Grant and co-produced with German public broadcaster ZDF / 3Sat. The production was supported by Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Kuratorium junger deutscher Film, BKM and DFFF.

The shooting of Mareike Wegener’s new film is completed: X is the letter that Ecke fails to scrawl on the lotto playslip and X marks a place where a special skill is given to him. Somewhere between breathing and singing, scars and traces, memory and fiction is where the hybrid short film X stages a ritual in honor of the spirits of the Ruhr area.

The 30-minute piece was shot during the fall in cities like Duisburg, Witten, Recklinghausen and Gelsenkirchen. Writer and director Mareike Wegener was accompanied by Hannes Lang and Johannes Klais who are responsible for imagery and sound. Eckhard Wegener and Dieter Becker are among the characters portrayed in the film.

X is produced with the support of the Film and Media Fund NRW and the German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media.

After celebrating its world premiere in competition for short and medium-length films at the Visions du Réel Festival in Nyon, Switzerland, Hannes Lang’s new film RIAFN screened at Trento Film Festival where it was awarded with the “Silver Gentian” for the best artistic-technical contribution to the main competition. The short film was also awarded with the price for the best contribution to the NRW competition at the 65th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

The jury statement reads: “What a prologue offered by the initial constricted camera movement into a dark underpass. As if swallowed by an oral cavity, we are spat out again by the magnificent cinemascope images into the green expanse of the Alps. This spatial experience is juxtaposed with a vocal and acoustic resonance space in which the isolated calls of the shepherds and the ringing of the cowbells condense into a fantastic conversation between man, nature and cattle. With impressive precision and rhythm, Hannes Lang makes the incomprehensible tangible to the eyes in RIAFN – in images that literally „call“ for the big screen.“

The short film was made with the support of the IDM Südtirol, the Film und Medienstiftung NRW, the Office for Culture of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, the BKM and the Ministry for Culture and Science NRW and was produced by Petrolio in co-production with ZDF in collaboration with ARTE.