Maria Tsigka and Markus Halberschmidt founded FICTION PARK, believing entertainment is not a bad word, and trusting storytelling’s power to heal and inspire. That is the driving force behind FICTION PARK’s slate.
Our projects aim to attract and move international audiences. Talent has no country of origin, and FICTION PARK reaches out to writers, and directors from around the globe, aspiring to provide an ecosystem for them.
Regardless the genre, what unites their company’s line-up is stories of enduring value. FICTION PARK is a playground for passion and vision in storytelling.
The FICTION PARK Team
MARKUS HALBERSCHMIDT
Producer
Markus Halberschmidt brings in an expertise of more than 25 productions and a problem-solving demeanor into the team. He started working as a creative producer in 1996 producing shorts. In 2000 he received a producer’s award for his first international co-production, the short The end of the war by Andi Rogenhagen.
Among the films he produced over the years are international co-productions with 10 countries. His latest co-production Big father, small father and other stories(VT/FR/DE/NL) held its world premiere in Competition at the 2015 Berlinale. Markus is a member of ACE.
At FICTION PARK he is the spirited healer, with a talent to make things happen and turn ideas into action.
MARKUS HALBERSCHMIDT – Producer
MARIA TSIGKA
Producer & Screenwriter
Maria Tsigka brings in a background of almost 20 years in development and the passion for the power of storytelling. She started working in the film industry in 2001. Since then she has been involved in commercial, art-house and international films. Working as producer and head of development she has been awarded with film projects in several markets. Maria graduated EAVE in 2010 and has been selected in the prestigious INSIDE PICTURES Program in 2015.
At FICTION PARK she is the insightful force, who puts imagination into motion and has an eye for talent.
MARIA TSIGKA – Producer & Screenwriter
DAVID SRIDHARAN
Assistant & Junior Producer
David Sridharan brings in dedication to new forms of storytelling and fresh perspectives to production and distribution. His filmmaking steps began at high school when he produced the school’s image film, and went on to receive the 2016 best film school prize in NRW.
In 2018 he produced and directed two Video Projections for the Bonn opera to national and international critical acclaim, and a short film (psychological thriller), which will be part of his Bachelor thesis at the Media and Culture Studies of the Heinrich-Heine University in Düsseldorf. Following his internships in various production companies, in January 2018 David became assistant to the producers at FICTION PARK. Today he also acts as junior producer in the company.
At FICTION PARK he is the passionate learner with insights beyond his years, and the ambition to become a force to be reckoned with.
DAVID SRIDHARAN – Assistant & Junior Producer
SOPHIE SCHMALRIEDE
Graphic Designer
Sophie Schmalriede is a long-time companion of Markus Halberschmidt. They met during studies in 1994 and have been working together successfully on projects since then.
Sophie studied communication sciences and art history followed by photography / film and graphic design. She has been working as photographer and graphic designer / video editor for film productions, created stage videos for several choreographers and works as image editor and graphic designer for various artists. In parallel she is also screen designer for the WDR Newsroom in Cologne.
At FICTION PARK Sophie is a behind-the-scenes-fairy, transforming fonts, words, and graphics into project worlds.
SOPHIE SCHMALRIEDE – Graphic Designer
SIEGFRIED BACHER
Editor
Siegfried Bacher has been working in the film industry since he was a teenager. He began his career working as DOP and Editor for art and fashion projects.
For years he had been cooperating with photographer Joop Greypink and Horst Wackerbarth. Soon he also went into the production of commercials and music videos and started a cooperation with Million Dan during his working period in London between 2008 and 2019. In 2011 Siegfried started working as Postproduction Supervisor and lately as Head of Postproduction for Cologne based ITV Studios Germany.
Over the years he never lost his passion for the short format and lately teamed up with Malte Fuhrer from Scala Theatre in Cologne and started directing carnival music videos.
At FICTION PARK he is the magician-editor making projects and concepts come alive through mood trailers or teasers.
SIEGFRIED BACHER – Editor
The FICTION PARK Talent
ANDI ROGENHAGEN – Writer & Director
ANDI ROGENHAGEN
Writer & Director
Andi Rogenhagen was born in 1965 in Germany. He studied Photojournalism and Film at the University of Applied Science in Dortmund.
In 1990 Andi starts his career with directing short films and documentaries. In 1995 his documentary ”The Final Kick” receives the acknowledged German TV “Grimme Award”. His feature debut as writer & director, “Die Frau die an Dr. Fabian zweifelte” (2002) has been nominated for the “Max-Ophüls Preis”. His second feature “Ein Tick Anders” (2011) premiered at the Shanghai Int. Film Festival and won several awards. So far the novels “Heldensommer” and “Zwölfmeter” have been published. The last years Andi mainly works as writer & screenwriter. Currently “Dieses bescheuerte Herz” by Marc Rothemund, for which Andi wrote the script, is heading for place 2 in the German Cinema Top 10.
In his first cooperation with FICTION PARK Andi is working as headwriter of the Drama Fiction Series MÜLLER.
Asimina Proedrou is a screenwriter-director born in 1982 in Athens, Greece.
She studied music at the “Attic Conservatory” (piano degree in 2001), Economic Theory at the Athens University of Economics and Business (BA in 2005 and MSc in 2007) and Film Directing: BA in 2013 at the AM College (Athens), and MA in 2018 at the Raindance/Staffordshire University. She is the producer, screenwriter and director of the short film, Red Hulk (2013), which was her second short film, and has won the Grand Prix (Best Short film) awards in 2013 both in Drama IFF (Greece) and Athens IFF. The film was officially selected for more than sixty international film festivals, including Clermont-Ferrand IFF 2014, and has won nine international awards.
Asimina is currently writing the script for her debut feature film, BEHIND THE HAYSTACKS which has been selected and developed in the context of the Sarajevo Script Station 2015, the Berlinale Script Station 2016, and the First Films First (Goethe Institute) 2016-2017.
Jaap van Heusden (1979) writes and directs films that resonate the great themes of our time (immigration, mental health and the implosion of the great institutions) by telling deeply personal stories that are delivered by exceptional actors.
His films were in competition at Tribeca, Cannes, AFI Fest, Rome, IDFA, SXSW, Melbourne, Tehran, Rotterdam, the Student Academy Awards and many other festivals worldwide, picking up prices along the way. Feature films: WIN / WIN (Prix Europe Best Screenplay 2010), THE NEW WORLD (Signis Award, Emmy Award Best Actress 2014), IN BLUE (winner Dutch Academy Awards Best Director / Best Screenplay / Best Actress 2018). Currently in development is the Dutch/Canadian/Belgian coproduction IN ALASKA (supported by the NL Film Fund, Creative Europe/MEDIA, selected for Toronto IFF coprod market & for Cannes l’Atelier).
Jaap’s 4th feature film THE MAN FROM ROME will be shot this summer in the Netherlands and Germany.
You will find more infos about the work of Jaap van Heusden on his website
NADINE SCHWEIGARDT – Screenwriter
NADINE SCHWEIGARDT
Screenwriter
Nadine was born and raised near Ulm, Germany. She studied „media. design & production“ and specialised in screenwriting and film production at Hochschule Offenburg. In the course of her studies she realised several short films as a writer, producer and director. She completed her Bachelor’s degree with the comedy series „Enno Brede“, before starting her Master’s in Serial Storytelling at the ifs internationale filmschule köln. In 2017 she graduated from the MA program and started working as a writer. Currently, she is developing various series and film projects with Odeon TV, ARD Degeto, Letterbox Filmproduktion, UFA Fiction and others.
Inside FICTION PARK Nadine works as co-writer of the Dramedy Series MÜLLER.
A screenwriter/producer with more than ten years in the Film/Media industries, consultancy and research, Nick has built a career as an expert in script, story development and producing. He worked in many different international territories and have an intimate understanding of the creative process, working with companies including Weinstein Europe, Warner Brothers, Universal, Technicolor, Pressman Films, Animus, FCCE, ITV Bigtalk and many others to gain small number of screen credits for completed projects.
He also runs a small production company Threepunk Productions producing high quality short material. His first big budget Hollywood feature film (Associate Producer and script development) The Man Who Knew Infinity was released in 2016, Starring Oscar Winner Jeremy Irons and Oscar Nominee Dev Patel.
Currently Nick is developing the Horror Thriller Fiction Feature SHADOWS together with Maria Tsigka.
Tilman Singer was born in Leipzig, Germany in 1988. He produced stop motion animation shorts and commercials in the USA, France and Germany before he began his studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in 2011. Tilman has since directed several short films, commercials and music videos.
His debut film, LUZ, which was also his thesis film at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, held its World Premiere at the Berlinale 2019 and continued an incredible worldwide festival tour including Fantasia, New Horizons, Stiges, Oldenburg, Fantaspoa, Buenos Aires, Slash and Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.The film received several awards forBest Film, as well as prizes for Best Actress, Best Cinematography and Best Sound Design. LUZ rose to critical acclaim and was distributed in more than 20 countries including the USA, Canada, UK, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain. Most recently, Rolling Stone and Vulture included LUZ on their lists of Best Horror Films in 2019.
