Under house arrest in France, drowning in an international legal battle and stuck at the border between two countries. This was – at least until a few months ago – the destiny of 53-year-old Frank Schneider, a Luxembourg spy turned shady businessman, threatened to be extradited to the United States owing to his alleged involvement in the OneCoin scandal, a cryptocurrency scam worth $4 billion.
At MIA 2023, producer Alexandra Hoesdorff of Luxembourg-based Deal Productions and her team are pitching the feature doc project Waiting for Frank, helmed by Désirée Nosbusch.
An internationally acclaimed actress and TV host for thirty years, Nosbusch debuted in the field of non-fiction production with her documentary feature Succès Fox (2014). “As a director, I search for universal stories that are human at their core. In this documentary, I wanted to show the flip side to the glossy, media sensation which was the OneCoin crypto scandal, and the contrast between the glamorous, larger-than-life Ruja Ignatova [the “cryptoqueen” architect of the scam] and Frank Schneider,” tells Nosbusch in her director notes.
“Mainstream media craves the more Hollywoodian depiction of a scheme, whereas the reality of Frank’s fate is much more banal. As we get a glimpse of the former spy’s day to day life, so we understand the pressures he endures as he waits for his fate to unravel. But we also witness the collateral damage on his family, and what his extradition means, truly, to his wife and child.”
Her main goal is thus to explore “the human side of the international scandal without passing judgement,” while letting “the characters of this incredible story reveal themselves to the audience in all their contradictions and flaws.
At Rome’s Terrazzo Barbering, BDE discussed the project with Alexandra Hoesdorff, who provided us with some fresh and crucial updates. First of all, the project synopsis is already rather outdated as she revealed that Schneider disappeared as of 8 June. The next day, French authorities confirmed to the BBC that “Schneider, who was fitted with an ankle tag, had evaded his electronic surveillance.” Previously, Ignatova had boarded a low-cost flight from Sofia to Athens in 2017, never to be seen again. “When we interviewed him [some time before he went missing], he was already saying that he wouldn’t have probably waited to be extradited to the United States, and now he’s disappeared indeed,” she says.
This will obviously force Hoesdorff, Nosbusch and the team to reframe, at least in part, the focus on the project. The producer continues: “We have ideas, we have other protagonists we want to interview, we’ve a creative team eager to find the best angle of our story. For sure, the human story is at the center of it, [along with] isolation and a European citizen’s fear of being extradited to the United States and face 40 years in prison. The main question [we tackle] is: Where are we at as European citizens? Does that mean anything? Here, France and Luxembourg suddenly threaten to extradite someone to the United States. What’s the backstory behind that? [..] How are we covered? How are we protected, or are we?”
The story came to the team’s attention when Schneider was put on house arrest in France. “It was a very interesting subject [to explore]. We approached his family, and they allowed us to come to France. [Meanwhile] we’re also talking to other directors who have worked on similar films in the past, [so that they can serve] as consultants.”
Hoesdorff points out that her team also includes journalists, experts, politicians as well as people personally touched by this story, so that they can all have their say.
Finally, the producer insists that this film is not just another tale about a cryptocurrency scam: “It’s not the OneCoin story. It’s really about [the story of] a person and the European political landscape.”
At MIA, Deal Productions is seeking co-producers, broadcasters and streaming platforms. The outfit is engaged in the development, financing, packaging and production of independent pictures and TV programmes for all media and internationally, while aiming “to deliver high-quality, broadly commercial products with a feminine touch.”
The revised budget, owing to the additional investigation needed as the protagonist went missing, now stands at approximately €500,000. Hoesdorff confirmed the team will be applying for funding in Luxembourg.
