Gian-Piero Ringel produced and co-produced films by Wim Wenders, Robert Redford, Jim Jarmusch, Michael Glawogger, Angela Schanalec, Erik Skjoldbjærg, Bobbie Peers, Karim Aïnouz, Michael Madsen, Margreth Olin, and Filippos Tsitos. His films premiered in competition at all major film festivals including Cannes, Venice, Toronto and at the Berlinale. Gian-Piero Ringel is a BAFTA and Academy Award nominee and winner of the German and European Film Award.
Ringel Film was founded in 2011 by producer Gian-Piero Ringel and his business partner Wim Wenders. The company was initially registered as Neue Road Movies Zweite GmbH and renamed in 2016 to Ringel Film. Gian-Piero Ringel is since then the sole owner and managing director. He also co-founded Neue Road Movies GmbH with Wim Wenders in 2006 and was a managing partner there for 10 years.
In addition to being a member of the European, British and German Film Academy, Ringel is a board member of the German Producers Guild, where he oversees innovation initiatives. He is also the co-founder of the FilmTech Office, a co-working space for creatives and entrepreneurs in film, storytelling and tech.
Axis
IN DEVELOPMENT - Miniseries
AXIS is a political thriller about a neo-Nazi dropout. Andreas is forced by the German secret intelligence to risk his new life in Berlin. He is sent back to his little brother, back to his family, back to the old clique. He is supposed to infiltrate the old comrades and thus prevent the rise of the "New Germany" political party.
Creator and Director: Sven Bohse
Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
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Mercy
IN DEVELOPMENT
Set in Nairobi, Mercy tells the story of two very different women: Anna, a foreign correspondent, and the dynamic powerhouse that is Mercy, a local woman from the slums, and their push-me, pull-you relationship is at the core of this emotionally powerful story, against a backdrop of Aids in Africa.
Directed by: Emily Atef
Produced by: Gian-Piero Ringel
Producers: Catherine Townsend, Alexandra Stone
Executive Producers: Mo Abudu, Charles Steel, Stephan Mallmann
Production: Ringel Film, Cowboy Films (UK), Streetcar Productions (UK)
Der Hund (The Dog)
IN DEVELOPMENT
The story of two underdogs in the pressure cooker world of elite cooking: The dog is exceptionally talented. An orphan boy who came crawling out of a cellar half starved, who can cook so well it breaks your heart. And for Mo he is a brother. When the two of them start working at the restaurant El Icon, the dog begins his ascent to become an award-winning chef.
Writer & Director: AKIZ
Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
Katte
IN DEVELOPMENT
Brandenburg 1729 – Frederick William, the King of Prussia, considers 17-year-old Crown Prince Frederick, with his artistic disposition, to be too effeminate. He thinks he's found a fitting drill master in the dashing Lieutenant Hans Hermann von Katte. In the heart of the Crown Prince grows a longing for freedom and individuality. Frederick simultaneously struggles for Katte's love, for his father's recognition, and for the possibility of leading a self-determined life. But these goals do not fit together. Frederick has to make a decision.
Writer & Director: Kolja Malik
Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
Pyromaniac
A pyromaniac ignites his first fire in a peaceful village. In the weeks to come it is followed by a series of fires, spreading fear in the small community. An inferno lurks under the surface as a local policeman uncovers the unthinkable truth: the pyromaniac is one of the local firemen, and the son of the fire brigade’s chief. The film is an intimate portrait of the pyromaniac and the fireman, as they dual for control of the young boy’s mind.
Directed by: Erik Skjoldbjærg
Written by: Bjørn Olaf Johannessen
Produced by: Edward Dreyer, Aage Aaberge
Co-Produced by: Gian-Piero Ringel, Anna Croneman, Sigrid Strohmann
Production: Glør Films, Ringel Film
The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez
A beautiful summer´s day. A garden. A terrace. A woman and a man sit at a table beneath the trees. A conversation unfolds about sexual experiences, childhood memories, the essence of summer and the differences between men and women. It illustrates both, feminine perspective and masculine perception. With The Beautiful Days of Aranjuez, Wim Wenders stages the play by his longtime friend Austrian author Peter Handke.
Starring: Reda Kateb, Sophie Semin, Jens Harzer und Nick Cave
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Produced by: Paulo Branco, Gian-Piero Ringel, Wim Wenders
Production: Neue Road Movies, Alfama Films Production (FR)
Every Thing Will Be Fine
Based on an original script by Norwegian Bjørn Olaf Johannessen, Wim Wenders tells the story of the author Tomas (James Franco) in Every Thing Will Be Fine. One day a car accident transforms his life. Even though he is not directly to blame for this tragedy, it still causes his relationship with his girlfriend to break apart. Tomas falls into a deep hole. He seeks retreat in his writing and tries to start his own family with a new love. The film looks at Tomas’ attempt to give his life meaning again and recounts his search for forgiveness. It is not time alone that heals wounds but the courage to face up to things and to forgive. Especially oneself.
Starring: James Franco, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Marie-Josée Croze and Rachel McAdams
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Written by: Bjørn Olaf Johannessen
Produced by: Gian-Piero Ringel
Executive Producers: Jeremy Thomas, Hussain Armashi, Erwin M. Schmidt, Vince Jolivette
Co-Producers: Ronald J. Gilbert, Stephan Mallmann, Mathieu Robinet, Maria Ekerhovd
Production: Neue Road Movies, BAC Films (FR), MER Film (NO)
Dirk Ohm: The Disappearing Illusionist
In mid–winter the illusionist Dirk Ohm (August Diehl) arrives in the small town of Grong, a place ridden by the disappearance of a young local woman – Maria. Dirk soon finds himself searching for Maria side by side with the villagers of Grong; and slowly he falls in love with the missing woman. Dirk Ohm – the illusionist is told in a magical and poetic landscape. It challenges our perception of what’s real and what’s not, who we are when we are present and who are we when we are gone. The film is inspired by the real-life disappearance of German illusionist Dirk Ohm in Grong, North Trøndelag, in 2003.
Directed by: Bobbie Peers
Starring: August Diehl, Sara Hort Ditlevsen
Written by: Bjørn Olaf Johannessen
Produced by: Maria Ekerhovd
Co-Producers: Gian-Piero Ringel, Lizette Jonjic
Production: Mer Film (NO), Ringel Film, Migma Film (SWE)
Cathedrals of Culture
“If buildings could talk, what would they say about us?” Cathedrals of Culture offers six startling responses. This 3D film project about the soul of buildings allows six iconic and very different buildings to speak for themselves, examining human life from the unblinking perspective of a manmade structure. Six acclaimed filmmakers bring their own visual style and artistic approach to the project. Buildings, they show us, are material manifestations of human thought and action: the Berlin Philharmonic, an icon of modernity; the National Library of Russia, a kingdom of thoughts; Halden Prison, the world’s most humane prison; the Salk Institute, an institute for breakthrough science; the Oslo Opera House, a futuristic symbiosis of art and life; and the Centre Pompidou, a modern culture machine. Cathedrals of Culture explores how each of these landmarks reflects our culture and guards our collective memory.
Directed by: Robert Redford, Michael Glawogger, Michael Madsen, Margreth Olin, Karim Aïnouz and Wim Wenders
Produced by: Erwin M. Schmidt, Gian-Piero Ringel
Production: Ringel Film, Neue Road Movies, Lotus Film
Only Lovers Left Alive
Set against the romantic desolation of Detroit and Tangiers, an underground musician (Tom Hiddleston), deeply depressed by the direction of human activities, reunites with his resilient and enigmatic lover (Tilda Swinton). Their love story has already endured several centuries at least, but their debauched idyll is soon disrupted by her wild and uncontrollable younger sister (Mia Wasikowska). Can these wise but fragile outsiders continue to survive as the modern world collapses around them?
Starring: Tom Hiddleston, Tilda Swinton, Mia Wasikowska, John Hurt
Directed by: Jim Jarmusch
Produced by: Jeremy Thomas, Reinhard Brundig
Executive Producers: Peter Watson, Bart Walker, Jean Labadie, Stacey Smith, Christos Konstantakopoulos
Co-Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel, Marco Mehlitz, Christine Strobel, Carter Logan
Production: Recorded Picture Company, Pandora Film, Snow Wolf Production, ARD Degeto, Lago Film, Neue Road Movies
Unfair World
Sotiris is a detective working for the police in Athens. One day he decides to switch to vigilante justice: if someone goes to prison or is released from custody he now decides solely relying on his own perception of justice. When he kills a corrupt security man in order to prove the innocence of an inmate, the cleaning lady Dora is the only witness of this crime. In spite of his dependence from her and her lacking compassion he still sees her as his only accomplice. And while the honest Sotiris falls in love with the ruthless Dora, he does not realise that his boss increasingly suspects him to be the murderer.
Directed by: Filippos Tsitos
Producer: Alexandra Boussiou
Co-Producer: Gian-Piero Ringel
PINA
PINA is a film for Pina Bausch by Wim Wenders. The feature-length dance film was shot in 3D with the ensemble of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch and shows the exhilarating and inimitable art of the great German choreographer who died in the summer of 2009, inviting the viewer on a sensual, visually stunning journey of discovery into a new dimension: right onto the stage of the legendary ensemble and together with the dancers beyond the theater, into the city and the surrounding industrial landscape of Wuppertal – the place that was the home and center of Pina Bausch’s creative life for more than 35 years.
Directed by: Wim Wenders
Produced by: Gian-Piero Ringel and Wim Wenders
Executive Producer: Jeremy Thomas
Production: Neue Road Movies
Orly
Loosely-linked scenes in the hall of Paris' Orly airport. A man and a woman, both French but living abroad, meet each other by chance. A mother and her almost adult son are going to the funeral of her ex-husband, his father. A young couple is embarking on its first big trip. And a woman reads a letter from the man she has recently left. They are all waiting for their flight. The departure hall is a place of transit. People are between the here and there, between the "not yet" and the "no more". Schanelec places four couples amid the crowds of waiting passengers; the camera observes them, often from a distance. But their conversations can be heard; the ear is closer than the eye. Intimate islands of dialogue amid hectic activity. A farewell film.
Directed by: Angela Schanelec
Produced by: Gian-Piero Ringel, Angela Schanelec
Production: Ringel Film, Nachmittagfilm, La vie est belle Films
Palermo Shooting
Finn (Campino), a successful photographer, lives both a prominent and hectic life in the Rhein City of Düsseldorf. His nights are restless, his mobile phone never quiet and the music in his earphones his most valued passenger.
When his existence is turned upside down after a fashion shooting with Milla Jovovitch he lets everything behind with short notice. He flies to Palermo and strolls through the ancient part of the town fascinated by the entire city and its mysteries. Curious, willing to take risks and increasingly on the boarder of collapse, he starts loosing himself in threatening dreams. When he feels he is being followed by a mysterious shooter, who is after his life, he meets the beautiful Flavia. But before Finn can open up to love he will have to face death.