Alone in Berlin tackles love, anger, grief and hope in times of resistance
- The bestselling novel by acclaimed German author Hans Fallada is being adapted again for the big screen
Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks [+see also:
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film profile], Calvary [+see also:
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interview: John Michael McDonagh
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film profile]) are starring in the German-French-British co-production Alone in Berlin (Jeder stirbt für sich allein) [+see also:
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film profile], which has started principal photography in Berlin. Directed by Swiss writer-actor-director Vincent Pérez (Once Upon an Angel [+see also:
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film profile]), the film is based on a true story that acclaimed German writer Hans Fallada turned into a fictional novel in 1947. His bestselling book was already adapted for the big screen in 1975 by German filmmaker Alfred Vohrer, who shot the movie with famous German actress Hildegard Knef and Carl Raddatz in the leading roles.
Berlin, 1940: while many Germans are celebrating the victory over France, a middle-aged working-class couple is disillusioned, as their only son has been killed on the front line. His futile death is a wake-up call for them to fight the Nazi regime. As they start to secretly distribute postcards around private buildings, factories and train stations in order to call for resistance, a Gestapo inspector starts to investigate and is hot on their trail.
The script for Alone in Berlin has been written by Pérez and German writer-director Achim von Borries (Love in Thoughts), whose co-writing credits also include Good Bye Lenin! [+see also:
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interview: Wolfgang Becker
film profile]. Behind the camera are several French talents such as DoP Christophe Beaucarne (Irina Palm [+see also:
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interview: Sam Garbarski
interview: Sébastien Delloye
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interview: Jaco Van Dormael
interview: Jaco Van Dormael
film profile]), production designer Jean-Vincent Puzos (Amour [+see also:
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interview: Michael Haneke
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interview: Jalil Lespert
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film profile]). The film will be shot in Berlin, Cologne and Görlitz until the beginning of June.
Stefan Arndt and Uwe Schott, of Berlin-based production outfit X Filme Creative Pool, are co-producing the historical resistance drama with French producer Marco Pacchioni, of Master Movies, who bought the rights to the novel with Vincent Pérez seven years ago. Further producers on board include former Focus Features CEO James Schamus as well as Christian Grass and Paul Trijbits from FilmWave, who will handle the UK rights for the film.
The project is supported by the German Federal Film Board, the German Federal Film Fund, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, Eurimages, the Mini Traité and Creative Europe. In Germany, Alone in Berlin will be released by X Verleih. World sales for the title are handled by Alison Thompson, former president of Focus Features International.
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