German Films

Heino Deckert (photo courtesy of ma.ja.de )
PRODUCER PORTRAIT
After graduating from the German Film & Television Academy Berlin
(dffb), Heino Deckert founded the production company
ma.ja.de. filmproduktion in 1991. He has since produced more
than 50 documentaries, including films by such renowned directors as
When he was studying at Berlin’s German Film & Television Academy
(dffb) in the 1980s, Heino Deckert would have never expected
that he would become an internationally respected figure in the world
of documentaries or make a career as a producer.
“The only thing I didn’t make at the dffb were documentaries,” he
recalls. “I worked more in the field of experimental and short films.
I had never intended to become a producer, but my background of
studies in Law made colleagues convince me to take on this task.”
Sergei Loznitsa, Pirjo Honkasalo, Vitali Mansky, Hartmut Bitomsky and
Thomas Heise. In 1995, Deckert founded d.net, an informal union of
seven European colleagues joining forces to exchange ideas and initiatives.
Since its launch, d.net’s producers have collaborated on 30
international co-productions. In 2005, Deckert founded ma.ja.de.
fiction to become involved in international feature film productions
under the banner of “Documentary Filmmakers Go Feature”. The
first fiction film was Khadak by documentary filmmakers Peter
Brosens and Jessica Woodworth, which premiered at the 2006 Venice
Film Festival and was awarded the Lion of the Future as Best Feature
Film Debut. Deckert has also been actively involved in distribution
since 1999, launching his own world sales arm for documentaries,
Deckert Distribution, in 2003. He holds a share in Cologne-based
Blinker Filmproduktion in addition to ma.ja.de. filmproduktion, which
has offices in Leipzig and Berlin. Among the awards received are
Leipzig’s Silver Dove (for Kinder. Wie die Zeit vergeht) and
the Luigi di Laurentiis Award (Khadak) as well as an Oscar ® nomination
for Rabbit à la Berlin (Mauerhasen). His documentary
productions include: Diese Tage in Terezin (dir: Sibylle
Schoenemann, 1997), Pinochet’s Children (dir: Paula Rodriguez,
2002), Melancholian kolme huonetta (The Three Rooms
of Melancholia, dir: Pirko Honkasalo, 2004), Nasha Rodina
(Gagarin’s Pioneers, dir: Vitali Mansky, 2005), Im Glueck.
Neger (dir: Thomas Heise, 2006), Tailor Made Dreams (dir:
Marco Wilms, 2006), Staub (Dust, dir: Hartmut Bitomsky, 2007),
Kinder. Wie die Zeit vergeht (Children. As Time Flies,
dir: Thomas Heise, 2007), Revue (dir: Sergei Loznitsa, 2008),
Material (dir: Thomas Heise, 2009), Rabbit à la Berlin
(Mauerhasen, dir: Bartosz Konopka, 2009, short), Ehre (dir:
Aysun Bademsoy, 2010, in post-production) and Vivan Las
Antipodas! (dir: Victor Kossakovsky, 2010, in pro duction).
ma.ja.de.’s fiction projects include: Khadak (dirs: Peter Brosens and
Jessica Woodworth, 2006), Altiplano (dirs: Peter Brosens and
Jessica Woodworth, 2009), My Joy (dir: Sergei Loznitsa, 2010),
Tony Ten (dir: Mischa Kamp, 2010, in production) and Good
Friday Is A Friday (dir: Thomas Heise, in development).
Contact:
ma.ja.de. filmproduktions GmbH
Marienplatz 1 · 04103 Leipzig/Germany
phone +49-3 41-9 83 96 96 · fax +49-3 41-2 15 66 39
email: leipzig@majade.de · www.majade.de
BETWEEN FACT & FICTION
A portrait of ma.ja.de. filmproduktion
In 1991, Deckert set up the production company ma.ja.de. filmproduktion
with two partners – the company’s name is composed
of the first letters of the trio’s surnames.
Early on, he saw that international co-production was the right
strategy for the type of films he wanted to produce, whether it was
German films with foreign financing or becoming the German partner
on the projects of foreign filmmakers.
german films quarterly producer portrait
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