Yahoo Lifestyle Boutique Sales Agency Pluto Film Moves Into Production With ‘The Melting Mood of Ecstasy’ (EXCLUSIVE)
Berlin-based world sales company Pluto Film, led by Daniela and Benjamin Cölle, is marking its 10th anniversary with a shift into production as it readies its European Film Market slate.
Pluto’s Berlin Film Festival lineup is led by Mehmet Akif Büyükatalay’s psychological thriller “Hysteria,” which screens in the Panorama sidebar. The trailer debuts below.
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When a burned Quran is found on a film set, the shoot takes a dark turn and the crew is thrown into turmoil. Caught in the crossfire of accusations, 24-year-old intern Elif is drawn into a dangerous game of secrets and lies, finding herself at the heart of an all-absorbing conspiracy. The film takes a look at how Western societies view their Muslim citizens, Daniela Cölle says.
Also on the Berlin slate is the heartwarming children’s docu-roadmovie “Circusboy,” directed by Anna Koch and Julia Lemke, set to debut in the Generation section.
The film focuses on 11-year-old Santino, who is a child of the circus. He loves to spend time with his 80-year-old great-grandfather, one of Europe’s last great circus directors, who has become his best friend.
Pluto, which was founded by Heino Deckert and Torsten Frehse, has been led by Daniela and Benjamin Cölle since 2022. They work alongside colleagues Daniel Vadocký and Rebecca Hartung.
They’ve now shifted into production with their first project, “The Melting Mood of Ecstasy” (working title), a queer drama by emerging director Julian Dieterich, which secured financing in December 2024 and is slated for a 2026 release.
The film centers on queer sex worker Navid, who suffers a life altering incident, which permanently changes his appearance. As a result, Navid must redefine his identity beyond being his identical twin brother’s mirror image, while navigating the possessive desires of his clients, his brother, and his new lover.
Benjamin Cölle explains that as he previously worked as a producer in the past and Daniela Cölle’s background is in script development, the move into production seemed a natural progression. And as he recently taught at Film University Babelsberg, it was a logical first step to use his contacts at the university to look for up-and-coming filmmakers.
Talking about Dieterich’s project, Daniela Cölle underscores the fact that it is still in development, which “gives us this opportunity to be part of this process more deeply and to really shape the story, to give some kind of statement with this film, and not just accompany the project in the classical sales way.”
Benjamin Cölle adds that as well as lead producing, the company is also looking for opportunities to co-produce.
Regarding their sales slate, Benjamin Cölle says: “When Daniela and I took over the company, we really felt that we wanted to move beyond the art-house niche and go into films that have more audience potential.
“Obviously festivals are still very important to us, and we don’t want to make an abrupt change to the portfolio and still stay true to our roots as a home for high-quality political films, but we also wanted to look for projects that are a little bit more audience friendly.” He adds that they are still dedicated to films by emerging talent that are “aesthetically really out there.”
He says that he has a background in “audience design,” an area he specialized in when he was a tutor at Torino Film Lab. They will use this approach to identify films that have a potential audience and work with the filmmakers, producers and distributors to maximize that potential. He applied this approach to “Hysteria,” and will do the same with “The Melting Mood of Ecstasy” as well as other projects.
Another change in direction came last year when Pluto began to represent feature documentaries, and now they are venturing into documentary series as well, Benjamin Cölle says. “We really feel that we have to expand and broaden our portfolio because, as you know, it’s very demanding to just rely on cinema.” He adds that fiction series may also become part of their portfolio.
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