Sol Bondy

Sol Bondy, born in 1979, has one of those backgrounds that just sounds cool—London, Spain, Berlin? Yeah, he basically collected cities before most people finished high school. These days, he’s a big shot producer in Berlin, racking up awards like it’s his day job (well, it kind of is). He jumped out of Berlin film school (dffb) in 2010, and immediately got some buzz with Reported Missing, which snagged an EFA nomination. Not long after, he co-founded ONE TWO FILMS with Jamila Wenske and Christoph Lange, diving headfirst into the chaos of international co-productions. No exaggeration—over ten of their films have made it to cinemas, and some aren’t just “good for Europe,” they’re legit global hits. You’ve probably heard of Pan Nalin’s Angry Indian Goddesses, which grabbed Audience Awards in both Toronto and Rome—yeah, not too shabby. Then there’s Juho Kuosmanen’s The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki, which straight up stole the show at Cannes and even landed a European Film Award. Oh, and don’t sleep on Isabel Coixet’s The Bookshop, which took home a Goya, or Jennifer Fox’s The Tale, starring Laura Dern—a Sundance sensation that even got Primetime Emmy nods. Bondy’s not just a behind-the-scenes guy, either. Screen International called him a “Future Leader,” Variety put him on their “10 Producers to Watch” list, and he’s part of the German and European Film Academies. On top of all that, he somehow finds time to teach at about a million film schools—Met, Raindance, FAMU Prague, Film University Potsdam, dffb Berlin—you name it. Basically, if you’re into films, you’ve probably felt his influence, even if you didn’t realize it.