Robert Thalheim’s Don't Be a Stranger in post-production
by Teresa Vena
- In his upcoming neo-Western, the German director stages a romanticised vision of the American way of life
German filmmaker Robert Thalheim’s new feature, Don't Be a Stranger, is now in post-production. The shooting of the drama took place earlier this spring in Germany, in the region of Baden-Württemberg, and the feature is expected to be completed in November.
Thalheim is a Berlin-based author, director and producer with a career spanning more than twenty years who has been active in cinema and television as well as theatre. Among his most successful productions at the box office are the two parts of Old Agent Men, featuring an ensemble of well-known German actors such as Henry Hübchen and Michael Gwisdek. His stories are characterised by action-oriented frameworks.
With Don't Be a Stranger, he chooses the setting of a modern-day Western to talk about topics such as family, identity and solidarity. At the center of the plot is an American teenager named Charlie who was hoping he would spend a few months partying in the vibrant German capital, but instead finds himself somewhere in the countryside, far from Berlin, living on a farm run by a middle-aged man, his daughter and his elderly mother, who has dementia. There, he soon discovers the hardships of farm work, which he is urged to assist with. Moreover, he is confronted with his host's romantic notion of America and his idealisation of the cowboy way of life.
Robert Thalheim wrote the script together with the equally experienced Nicole Armbruster (The School of Magical Animals 4), and he is also one of the four producers supporting the project through their company, Kundschafter Filmproduktion, alongside Andreas Banz, Matthias Miegel and Jasmin Saunders. The creative crew behind the camera includes cinematographer Henner Besuch, with whom Thalheim and his production outfit have already worked on other films, such as Kundschafter des Friedens 2, as well as production designer Cosima Vellenzer (Nö, We Were Just Playing) and editor Stefan Kobe (Kundschafter des Friedens 2, The Man Who Ate the World).
The film features an international ensemble cast. While the role of Charlie is played by the upcoming German actor Salimou Thiam, his counterpart the farm owner, Fränk, is played by the more experienced Sascha Geršak (Nothing Bad Can Happen, 5 Years). The supporting cast includes Susanne Bredehöft (Women as Lovers), Sonja Weißer (Thanks for Nothing), Katharina Behrens (from the series A Better Place), Ludger Bökelmann (Thanks for Nothing), Waldemar Kobus (The Captain), Gisela Aderhold (Blood & Gold), Joel Basman (The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch, Lubo) and Felician Hohnloser (The Shipwrecked Triptych).
Don't Be a Stranger is produced by Kundschafter Filmproduktion (Berlin) in collaboration with the broadcasters SWR and Arte. The film has received financial support from the MFG, the FFA Filmförderungsanstalt and the DFFF Deutscher Filmförderfonds. Its theatrical release is planned for 2027. Port-au-Prince Pictures is handling distribution.
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