Jan 13, 2014: Last weekend, UFA Cinema's The Physician (German title: The Medicus) once again attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers to movie theaters in Germany.
In its third week, the elaborately produced epic based on Noah Gordon's bestseller is #1 in the box-office charts of both Germany and Spain - ahead of Part Two of The Hobbit.
Since its brilliant box-office release on Dec 25, 2013 the adventure epic has attracted more than 2.3 million viewers in Germany alone. El Médico (The Physician) is also #1 at Spain's box offices. (Source: Film- und Medienstiftung NRW)
The Physician was shot on original locations in Morocco and at Cologne's MMC studios where sets for the Shah's palace, a madrasa (school) and a hospital in Isfahan were constructed at MMC's stage 53, famous for being the tallest sound stage in the world.
The VFX studio Pixomondo, also from Cologne, was responsible for digital processing of around 160 shots from the film. This resulted in the 11th century Isfahan being completely constructed by digital technology and landscapes and digital crowd scenes created.
The Physician is a production of UFA Cinema in co-production with ARD Degeto and Beta Cinema. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW funded the film's production with 2 million Euros (USD 2.75m) and is supporting its release with 200,000 Euros (USD 275,000).
Other funding institutions involved are Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF).
Photo: The famous Ibn Sina (Ben Kingsley). This scene was shot at MMC's 85 ft tall stage 53 in Cologne. © 2012 UFA Cinema GmbH
