Former Wiedemann & Berg Managing Director and producer Justyna Muesch is joining forces with ex-colleague Sofie Scherz-Fleischer (known as Scherz) and director Alireza Golafshan to launch Munich-based independent production company Story Garden.

They are being joined in the venture by Thomas Herberth and Florian Brüning at the Munich and Vienna-based company Horse&Fruits Film Productions, which they created with Golafshan some 10 years ago.

The new company will focus on developing and producing high-end films and series for the German-speaking market, across all genre.

Producer Muesch, production and line producer Scherz and Golafshan have been working together successfully for years.

Over the summer, they released their third joint project, Golafshan’s comedy Alles Fifty Fifty, which won the Bavarian Film Award for Best Director in 2024. Previous collaborations include The Goldfish in 2019 and JGA: Jasmin.Gina.Anna in 2021.

Under the venture, documentary producers Herberth and Brüning will roll the Munich-based operations of Horse&Fruits into Story Garden, while the Vienna office will continue to operate under the Horse&Fruits banner.

The duo’s current productions include on Sheep, an innovative series about talking sheep for ZDF and ORF. Story Garden and Horse&Fruits Vienna are also planning German-Austrian co-productions.

“After wonderful experiences with great partners I’ve been lucky enough to work with so far, I’m thrilled to have found the ideal setup to start our own company with Sofie, Alireza, Thomas and Florian,” said Muesch.

“In addition to the projects Alireza will be directing, we want to discover new talents. Thomas and Florian also bring expertise in high quality documentaries, so we complement each other perfectly.”

Muesch was Managing Director and producer at Wiedemann & Berg Film until the end of 2023, where recent credits include the dramas Dark and The Three Investigators – Legacy Of The Dragon as well as the 2023 German hit Weekend Rebels (aka Weekend Warriors).

Apple announced over the summer that it was getting behind a U.S. remake of the latter title, produced by The SpringHill Company and Plan B.

Sofie Scherz-Fleischer has over 15 years of professional experience as a production and line producer and was most recently executive producer on the feature film Alles Fifty Fifty.

As production manager at Wiedemann & Berg Film and Wiedemann & Berg Television, she oversaw films including Jga – Jasmin.Gina.Anna, The Three Investigators and The Legacy of the Dragon, The Goldfish and Nightlife, Germany‘s most successful film of 2023