kalekone Film: “We Want to Make Young, Loud, Radical Films”

If you had to give a single movie recommendation – what would it be?

Katharina Kolleczek: One movie that totally blew me away was “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. In this movie, a classic family drama is told in a completely new way. To get the audience, who have actually seen this story so many times before, to think about it and let them experience it in a completely different way – I thought that was simply fantastic. That's also what we intend to do for our films: We want to make a romcom or a crime thriller, but repackaged.

Lea Neu: My recommendation is “The Worst Person in The World”. The film portrays a young woman very closely; you can really empathize with her inner turmoil and her worries. At the same time, the film makes very good use of its creative possibilities – with great animation and upbeat music. Both films are courageous and have dared to do something – this also characterizes our work.

All on the same wavelength: courageous creative professionals and financing partners

You are a production company that wants to make “young, diverse, dynamic” films and series. Why is that so important to you?

Lea: It's important to us because, as viewers, we want these kinds of films. We always approach our projects with the thought: What would we like to see? Young, dynamic, loud, sharp, radical - that's what we want as viewers, but also as filmmakers.

Katharina: Above all, we want the audience to have a good time with our films and be taken on a cinematic journey. Secondly, we also want to provoke, make people think and show a new perspective. We want to entertain, but at the same time move people.

Who do you work with to produce content that corresponds to these ideas?

Lea: We work with creatives who have something to say, who are brave themselves and who bring a perspective to the films that we don't have ourselves. When it comes to funding, we are always on the lookout for partners who are willing to give creatives the confidence to be bold and provocative and try something new.

Which of your past projects are you particularly proud of?

Katharina: The film “Dead Girls Dancing” was very groundbreaking for us. It's about a group of friends who are on a road trip in Italy and decide to take a mysterious backpacker with them. For us, the production went exactly as we would like our work to go in the future: BR and Bayerische Filmförderung were strong partners, and at the same time we were able to bring in Paris-based global distributor Totem Films and later Mubi. Just as our three protagonists went on a journey, our film also went on a journey: We were able to celebrate a split world premiere at the Munich Film Festival and the Tribeca Film Festival in New York. To realize something here that will be seen internationally – that's exactly what we want to do.

Lea: For us, “Dead Girls Dancing” was a great starting signal for the future. It was a special honor for us to receive the VGF Young Producer Award for it, which was presented to us at the Berlinale last year. That meant a lot to us and enables us to realize more projects like this.

Equality, creativity and transparency characterize the way kalekone Film works

You not only want to make a statement with your productions, but also with your company structure. What basic working conditions are important to you?

Katharina: We want to work fairly and transparently. We also want to offer creatives a lot of artistic freedom. This is our strength: we can work very well with different directors and writers. And we see ourselves as a team that decides together which financing partners to approach and whether a material needs to be revised or whether it has been fully developed.

Lea: Many companies are going through a process and understand that they need to position themselves differently in order to keep good people - fortunately. When we started working in the film industry, it would have been impossible to fit a private appointment into a filming phase. You were then completely out of the loop for a month or two. There was little consideration for individuals. One example: When you're filming for a month, every woman has her period once – then only having the option of a porta-potty on set makes your work more difficult. All in all, it's not very family-friendly or easy to reconcile with private life. We try to be more flexible, to see people as a whole and to know that you also go through personal development. We also take great care to work in an ego-free way. This “geniusism” that allows an unfair and disrespectful way of working has simply fallen out of time for us.

How do you perceive equal opportunities for women in the industry?

Katharina: When I started in film, I quickly noticed that the decision-making positions were mostly held by men. I think that needs to be loosened up, that you need diverse perspectives on a set to get a good result in the end. Film is the most collaborative art form, so many people work on a project. It's about valuing what everyone brings to the table and using it for the project.

Lea: I'm already noticing a certain change in thinking on the subject of equality, something is bubbling and moving. At the same time, the facts tell us that men and women in the industry are not yet equal. There are studies on the production volume of female-run production companies that show that it is far smaller than that of male-run companies. And the budgets that are managed are also much smaller.

German financing system: Many partners in a film project also mean many opinions

You also attach particular importance to artistic freedom in your productions. Why is that important to you?

Lea: We have a financing system in Germany that means that many partners are involved in a project. You start looking for partners such as broadcasters, distributors and world sales companies at an early stage and our job is then to coordinate the different interests and requirements. As a result, there are many opinions and the creative vision is often watered down. That's a blessing and a curse: On the one hand, we have this possibility of funding in this country, but it sometimes also puts the brakes on artistic freedom. We try to support the vision of creative people. To do this, we need sponsors who place their trust in us. And that's our job: to find accomplices who want to make a difference in the industry and are on the same wavelength as us.

How much does your network in Bavaria as a media location help you to realize your passion projects?

Lea: Thanks to our studies at the HFF here in Munich, we have a large network that we can fall back on. We now have good contacts with BR, the Munich Film Festival and other production companies. The industry in Bavaria is collegial, the distances are short and the exchange is uncomplicated - that helps us a lot. We are also very lucky to have Bavarian film funding, which is simply not comparable with other federal states.

What are you working on right now? What can we look forward to soon?

Katharina: Our movie “Dead Girls Dancing” can be seen in the ARD Mediathek from May 25th. This year we are taking the first steps towards a new series project. We are also currently developing and preparing several film projects – we want to start shooting two feature films in 2026.

Lea: For example, we have just finished filming a German-Ukrainian feature film that we shot in Munich and Vilnius with a crew of German, Ukrainian and Lithuanian filmmakers. It is about a young Ukrainian who has built a new life in Germany and takes in his family in his shared room in Schwabing when the war of aggression begins. Above all, it is about the search for identity in our currently politically fragile world. Next up is the editing – and we are very much looking forward to seeing where this project takes us.