24/04/2024 - The World War II-set drama is based on the childhood memories of German actor-writer-director Hark Bohm

This week, Beta Cinema boarded Fatih Akin’s latest effort, a World War II-set drama titled Amrum. The German firm will be launching sales at the upcoming Marché du Film, running in Cannes from 14-22 May.

In detail, the story of this new picture is based on the childhood memories of renowned German actor, director and screenwriter Hark Bohm. Long-standing friends Akin and Bohm wrote the screenplay for the award-winning Akin film In the Fade [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
film profile] together a few years ago.

The plot unfolds on the titular island in spring 1945. Seal hunting, fishing at night, toiling in the fields… Nothing is too dangerous or too arduous for 12-year-old Nanning as he strives to help his mother feed the family in the final days of World War II. With the arrival of the much-longed-for peace, however, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.

“What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my 12th feature and an extraordinary mission: Amrum is the journey of young Nanning, who, every day during the last week of World War II, unearths a little more of the dark secret of his family, until he is driven out of paradise at the end,” said Akin.

The Hamburg-born filmmaker won the Golden Bear with Head-On [+see also:
trailer
film profile] in 2004. His next major international breakthrough was the drama The Edge of Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile] (2007), which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by the European Film Award and the German Film Award. In 2009, his feature Soul Kitchen [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] won the Special Jury Prize in competition at the Venice Film Festival. More recently, The Golden Glove [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Jonas Dassler
film profile] celebrated its world premiere in the competition of the 2019 Berlinale, and the gangster drama Rheingold [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] (2022) proved to be Akin’s most successful theatrical release nationwide to date.

The leading roles in Amrum are played by 12-year-old Jasper Billerbeck as Nanning and 11-year-old Kian Köppke as his friend Hermann. Nanning’s mother, Hille Hagener, is played by Laura Tonke (When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before [+see also:
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interview: Sonja Heiss
film profile], AEIOU) and her sister, Aunt Ena, by Lisa Hagmeister (System Crasher [+see also:
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interview: Nora Fingscheidt
film profile]). Meanwhile, the role of the farmer's wife, Tessa Bendixen, is played by Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds [+see also:
trailer
film profile], In the Fade), Detlev Buck (Same Same But Different [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) plays the fisherman Sam Gangsters, Matthias Schweighöfer (Oppenheimer [+see also:
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trailer
film profile], Army of the Dead, Hinterland [+see also:
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trailer
interview: Stefan Ruzowitzky
film profile]) is Uncle Theo, Lars Jessen is Grandpa Arjan, and Hark Bohm himself (The Golden Glove, If Not Us, Who? [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) is the old man by the sea.

The project is now being filmed in Hamburg, on the titular island and in Denmark.

Amrum is being produced by Bombero International and Warner Bros Film Productions Germany, in co-production with Rialto Film. Beta Cinema holds all international rights. The feature has also received backing from the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg and the Bavarian Film Prize.

The picture will be released in German theatres in September 2025, distributed by Warner Bros Pictures.