FFF is funding the project within the framework of the International Films and Series program with 500,000 euros. This was decided by the awards committee for the Promotion of International Projects last Friday.
GEFESSELT (AT) will be a six-part true crime series. The material is based on the true story of Marianne Atzeroth-Freier, who 30 years ago, against resistance within her own ranks, solved the Hamburg acid barrel murders. The so-called acid barrel murderer hid the bodies of his female victims in acid barrels, which he buried in his garden. He was hunted down by the courageous efforts of this woman, who was not a member of the investigating team, but who, as a contact person for the relatives of the kidnap victims, took up the trail of the perpetrator on her own authority. Dietmar Güntsche will produce the material with Neue Bioskop Television for Amazon as an Amazon Original. Ulrike Schölles and Nadine Grünsteidel are producers.
The director will be Florian Schwarz, who among other things directed sensational films in the Tatort series (WEIL SIE BÖSE SIND, IM SCHMERZ GEBOREN) and is making his international series debut here. The scripts are by author Dinah Marte Golch and writers Mark Monheim and Max Eipp, who have also won numerous awards. The basis for the fiction film adaptation is years of intensive research into the so-called acid barrel murders. Key sources include interviews with relatives and contemporary witnesses as well as case files and a non-fiction book by journalist Heinrich Thies.
Almost half of the filming will take place in Bavaria. Partners involved include Weltkino and Studio Hamburg Enterprises. FFF Bayern is funding GEFESSELT with 500,000 euros. Further funding has, thus far, come from FFHSH and MDM.
Following the Amazon Original series LUDEN, which the FFF awards committee recommended for funding in December, GEFESSELT forms another example of collaboration between Munich and Hamburg filmmakers.
The cast will be announced separately. For further inquiries about the project, please contact the Amazon press team.
The funds for the International Films and Series program are provided by the Free State of Bavaria as the majority shareholder of FFF Bayern. The FFF awards committee for the PROMOTION OF INTERNATIONAL FILMS AND SERIES decides on the allocation.
FFF Supervisory Board Chair and Digital Minister Judith Gerlach: “I am pleased that the demand from broadcasters and platforms for high-quality films and series remains high. Production companies have developed excellent hygiene concepts in recent months and done exemplary work. The Bavarian State Ministry for Digital Affairs has done its part by providing the appropriate downtime funds. As a result, major series productions in Bavaria, such as the true-crime series GEFESSELT now being funded by FFF Bayern, can also be successfully implemented under Corona conditions.”