New Bertelsmann Content Alliance Projects
The Content Alliance welcomes fall with four major projects: The documentary “Sturmfahrt” presents extreme sailor Boris Herrmann on TV Now from October 4. The musical “Ku’damm 56” premieres in Berlin on November 28. The true-crime documentary “Der Fall Frauke Liebs” will air at the end of 2021, and the TV series “Faking Hitler” also starts this year.
Since the beginning of 2019, the Bertelsmann Content Alliance has bundled Bertelsmann’s German content businesses and developed cross-divisional formats. Successes such as “Expedition Arktis,” “Packen wir’s an!” and the handling of the Wirecard scandal demonstrate the medial and journalistic power of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance. Now the content alliance kicks off the fall season with four major projects: the documentary “Sturmfahrt”; the musical “Ku’damm 56”; the true-crime documentary “Der Fall Frauke Liebs”; and the TV series “Faking Hitler.
‘Sturmfahrt – Boris Herrmann auf der härtesten Segelregatta der Welt’ (‘Storm Ride – Boris Herrmann on the World’s Toughest Sailing Regatta’)
Boris Herrmann is a celebrity among sailors and the only German who managed to complete the famous route of the Vendée Globe sailing regatta. 80 days non-stop, all alone, once around the world. Little sleep, food from plastic bags, amidst storms and the relentless ocean. A three-month extreme experience. Boris Herrmann is also known as a climate activist: he brought climate activist Greta Thunberg to New York with his sailboat. The 90-minute documentary “Sturmfahrt – Boris Herrmann auf der härtesten Segelregatta der Welt” (‘Storm Ride – Boris Herrmann on the World’s Toughest Sailing Regatta’) shows the days on board the sailing ship from Herrmann’s perspective. Up close and dynamic. Fleshed out with the stories that this kind of race entails, fellow sailors, friends and family also talk about how the journey touched them and how such a unique extreme challenge can be put into perspective. “Sturmfahrt” is a UFA Documentary production and will be available on the streaming service TV Now (renamed RTL + from November 3) from October 4Meanwhile, the book “Allein zwischen Himmel und Meer” (Alone between the sky and the sea) was published by C. Bertelsmann on September 20. In the book, Boris Herrmann, together with Andreas Wolfers, for the first time describes in detail his experiences and emotions during the 80 days alone at sea.
‘Ku’damm 56 – Das Musical’
Back in 2016, the TV three-parter “Ku’damm 56” captivated an audience of millions on TV, and it is still one of the most successful German productions on streaming platforms. Initiated and produced by BMG and UFA Fiction, the musical featuring stories about dance school owner Catherina Schöllack and her three daughters will celebrate its premiere on stage at Berlin’s Theater des Westens on November 28. It’s about new beginnings, first love and determining one’s own destiny –funny at times, tragic at others, with lots of dancing, quarrelling and love. The stage version of “Ku’damm 56 - The Musical” was developed by the songwriting team Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer, who have worked with such successful artists as Rosenstolz, Max Raabe and Sarah Connor in the past, in collaboration with Annette Hess, multiple Grimme Award winner and author of the story. The musical is produced by BMG and UFA Fiction, under the supervision of Dominique Casimir (BMG), Marc Lepetit, Nico Hofmann and Benjamin Benedict (UFA). The 18-song soundtrack to the musical was released on CD and vinyl on September 10.
‘Stern Crime: Der Fall Frauke Liebs’
The documentary “Stern Crime: Der Fall Frauke Liebs (The Frauke Liebs Case),” produced by UFA Show & Factual, sheds light on the still-unsolved murder of nursing student Frauke Liebs. The young woman disappeared without a trace in the night of June 20-21, 2006, in Paderborn, Germany, following a public screening event during the Soccer World Cup. After her disappearance, Frauke Liebs repeatedly sent text messages to her friends and family for seven days and even called them several times, most recently on the night of June 27. Then there is silence. Finally, on October 4, 2006, her body is found. To this day, no one knows what happened to Frauke. “Stern Crime: Der Fall Frauke Liebs” reveals the investigation’s findings and hears what Frauke Liebs’ family members have to say. The documentary will air exclusively on TV Now (then called RTL+) at the end of 2021, and later on Vox. “Stern Crime: Der Fall Frauke Liebs” is the second true-crime format (after “Der Maskenmann”) that UFA Show & Factual is producing for TV Now based on the extensive research and interviews of the G+J true-crime magazine “Stern Crime.”
‘Faking Hitler’
The six-part series tells the ludicrous story of the forged Hitler diaries. How could it happen that a reporter for “Stern” and an art forger from the Swabian province triggered the biggest German media scandal of the post-war period? Lars Eidinger (“25 km/h,” “Mackie Messer – Brecht’s Threepenny Film”) stars as “Stern” journalist Gerd Heidemann, and Moritz Bleibtreu (“Abgeschnitten,” “Der Baader Meinhof Komplex”) as art forger Konrad Kujau. In the new series, this well-known episode of German media history is expanded to include current topics such as fake news, the trivialization of National Socialism, and how easy it is to seduce people. In this expanded narrative, the young editor Elisabeth Stölzl (Sinje Irslinger) is blackmailed by young Jewish activist Leo Gold (Daniel Donskoy) about her father’s (Ulrich Tukur) Nazi past. Eventually, the two join forces to try and prevent the publication of the diaries ... “Faking Hitler” will be available to stream on TV Now (then RTL+) later this year.
“Faking Hitler” is a UFA Fiction production for TV Now . The title is based on Stern’s award-winning podcast “Faking Hitler – die wahre Geschichte der Hitler-Tagebücher (The true story of the Hitler diaries),” which reconstructs the case journalistically based on original tape recordings.
