The shoot for the adaptation of the novel We Are Next of Kin [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
interview : Hans-Christian Schmid
fiche film], written in 2018 by young German musician and first-time author Johann Scheerer, has started, helmed by director Hans-Christian Schmid, who wrote the script for this family drama together with Michael Gutmann. Schmid, best known for films such as Crazy (starring Robert Stadlober and Tom Schilling) and Requiem [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
interview : Hans-Christian Schmid
interview : Hans-Christian Schmid
interview : Sandra Hueller
fiche film] (starring Sandra Hüller), is producing the film together with Britta Knöller and their production company, 23/5 Filmproduktion.

Through the unusual and enthralling perspective of a 13-year-old, the film tells the story of the abduction of Jan Philipp Reemtsma, which actually took place in 1996. Johann Scheerer, Reemtsma's son, converted his experience into a novel. He paints the portrait of a family in a state of emergency, and describes how his and his mother's home changed into an operations centre for the police and the attorney. The film will deal with the feelings of incertitude, fear and boredom that dominated the days during which the family waited and hoped for news about their husband and father. Like the novel, Schmid's feature is supposed to be a coming-of-age drama, an important testimony of a crime and a declaration of love from a son to his father.

The filming of We Are Next of Kin will take place until the end of May on location in Hamburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. The role of young Johann will be played by Claude Heinrich, while other important parts will be taken on by Adina Vetter (as his mother), Justus von Dohnányi, Hans Löw, Yorck Dippe, Enno Trebs and Fabian Heinrichs.

Cinematographer Julian Krubasik (Relativity [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film]) will do the camera work for the film, which is a co-production between 23/5 Filmproduktion and NDR, BR and ARTE. The movie is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the German Federal Film Fund, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Film- und Medienstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg. Pandora Film will be in charge of the theatrical release in Germany, and The Match Factory handles the international sales.