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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Germany / Slovakia

Hannu Salonen’s Adam’s Eight recreates a legendary rowing triumph from 1960

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- The sports drama has started shooting and revisits the unlikely journey of Karl Adam and his Ratzeburg crew, who defied the odds to win Olympic gold in Rome

Hannu Salonen’s Adam’s Eight recreates a legendary rowing triumph from 1960
Christiane Scholz (MOIN Filmförderung), Moritz Wolff, Jakob Schmölzer, Leonard Kunz, Felix Cramer (DoP), Nick Romeo Reimann, Andreas von Gropper (Mayor of Ratzeburg), Vito Wiesner, Oliver Masucci, Hannu Salonen, Felix Kammerer, Ivo Beck, Oscar Krause, Leon Kleinschmidt and Till Neumann on the set of Adam's Eight (© Ninety-Minute Film/Wanda Dujour)

German-based Finnish director Hannu Salonen has begun shooting Adam’s Eight (Adams Acht), a sports drama about one of the most remarkable moments in Olympic history. The film tells the true story of Karl Adam, a gym teacher from a small town who reinvented himself as the “rowing professor” and who, together with his young, eight-man crew of complete outsiders, achieved an unexpected triumph by winning gold at the 1960 Rome Olympics.

The story begins in post-war Schleswig-Holstein, in the small town of Ratzeburg, right on the border with East Germany, where rowing was still regarded as an elitist sport dominated by conservative structures. Adam, a gym teacher with no professional rowing background, introduced radical training methods and technical innovations that were initially met with scepticism. At the heart of the drama is rower Hans Lenk, torn between his sporting career in the West and his love for Ulla, who lives across the border in the GDR on the other side of Lake Ratzeburg. As Adam struggles with his own past and faces resistance from those unwilling to embrace change, the team must contend with personal rivalries, ideological divides and the weight of Cold War tensions. By pushing beyond their physical and emotional limits, Adam gradually forges his young crew into an exceptional unit. Against all odds, they rise from obscurity to achieve one of the greatest outsider triumphs in German sporting history.

The cast is led by Oliver Masucci (The Royal Game [+see also:
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, Dark) as visionary coach Karl Adam, with Felix Kammerer (All Quiet on the Western Front [+see also:
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interview: Edward Berger
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]
) portraying the introspective rower Hans Lenk. Svenja Jung (The Empress, Fly [+see also:
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) plays his great love Ulla, while Leonard Kunz (The Most Beautiful Couple [+see also:
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interview: Sven Taddicken
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]
) appears as Manfred Rullfs, the powerhouse of the crew. Nick Romeo Reimann is Moritz von Groddeck, and Vito Wiesner takes on the role of coxswain Willi Padge. The rest of the crew is portrayed by Leon Kleinschmidt, Jakob Schmölzer, Till Neumann, Oscar Krause and Moritz Wolff. For authenticity, the production is making use of restored original wooden boats and is working with numerous professional rowers, including Olympic and world champions. The ensemble is further strengthened by Axel Milberg, Heino Ferch, Katrin Röver and Stephanie Amarell.

The script is co-written by Domenik Pockberger and Stephan Falk. Adam’s Eight marks Salonen’s next feature after Vares – The Sheriff [+see also:
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film profile
]
, although he is best known for commercially successful series such as the Netflix original Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood, Turmschatten and I Am Scrooge. He also previously directed another sports drama, the TV film Birth of a Champion, about German tennis legend Boris Becker’s first Wimbledon victory at the age of 17. Shooting is taking place on original locations in and around Ratzeburg as well as in Slovakia. The cinematographer is Felix Cramer, the production designer is Anna Strohmeier, and the production manager is Stefan Hoffmann.

Adam’s Eight is being produced by Ivo-Alexander Beck for Berlin-based Ninety-Minute Film, in co-production with Adams Acht, René Frotscher for Sunday Filmproduktion, and Majestic Filmproduktion. The project is backed by MOIN Filmförderung, the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and the Slovak Audiovisual Fund (AVF). Majestic Filmverleih is set to release the film in German cinemas on 10 September 2026.

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