Marcus H Rosenmüller has completed filming on Beim Griechen, a tragicomedy based on award-winning author and journalist Alexandros Stefanidis’ autobiographical bestseller Beim Griechen – Wie mein Vater in unserer Taverne Geschichte schrieb, which recounts the true story of his Greek father and the family restaurant that became a unique meeting place in post-war Germany.

The film follows Christos, a young Greek man who arrives in Germany in 1966 as a guest worker, despite the fact that the country’s wartime violence left him an orphan. Together with his wife, Maria, he opens the Europa in Karlsruhe, which soon becomes a legendary meeting place for people from different backgrounds, fuelled by Christos’s boundless imagination, grandiosity and unwavering belief in bringing people together. Pop singer Udo Jürgens is among the regular guests and may even have found inspiration there for one of his greatest hits. Yet, as Christos devotes himself to his dream of bringing the world together, he increasingly neglects his own family. Only when it is almost too late does he realise that he is putting their happiness at risk for the sake of his dream.

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Stage actors Nicolas Sidiropulos and Violeta Lupis play Christos and Maria in their first leading roles in a feature film. The cast is rounded off by Milan Peschel (The Palace, My Brother, My Love) as Toni, Fahri Yardım (Axiom, Land of Dreams) as Cem and Smudo (Patty's Catchup) as Werner, alongside Rick Kavanian (Manitou's Canoe), Despina Pajanou, Pasquale Aleardi (The Small and the Wicked), Adam Bousdoukos (Smuggling Hendrix), Jasin Challah (Everything's Fifty Fifty) and Alexandra Maria Lara (Daughters). Philipp Boos plays singer Udo Jürgens.

The film draws on the real-life story of Stefanidis’ father, Christoforos Stefanidis, whose experiences were recounted in the author’s 2010 book. After initially opening El Greco in Karlsruhe in 1970, Christoforos went on to run Alexis Zorbas before establishing Der Grieche on Berliner Platz in 1982, with the family restaurant remaining operational until 2009. It became a gathering place for people from across German society, with figures including Joschka Fischer, Nena, Petra Kelly, Udo Jürgens and Willy Brandt among those said to have frequented it, turning the restaurant into an unlikely stage for German contemporary history.

Rosenmüller directs from a screenplay by Stefanidis, Christian Lyra and Sebastian Wehlings, written in collaboration with Stefan Betz and Christian Limmer. The filmmaker, whose recent credits include the box-office hit Extrawurst and Pumuckl und das große Missverständnis, shot the film over 34 days between 13 July and 1 October in Munich, Berlin and Greece. Jo Heim served as director of photography, with Franziska Aigner as casting director.

Beim Griechen is a German production being staged by Andreas Richter for Munich-based Roxy Film, in co-production with Warner Bros Film Productions Germany. The film is supported by the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg and the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF). Warner Bros Pictures will release the movie in German cinemas in 2027.