Fatih Akin’s 1945 Drama ‘Amrum’ Kicks Off Principal Photography
Fatih Akin’s WWII coming-of-age tale Amrum has begun shooting in Hamburg with newcomer Jasper Billerbeck joining German stars Laura Tonke and Diane Kruger in the cast.
The feature, which was first announced in 2022, is set on Germany’s North Sea island of Amrum in the spring of 1945, in the final days of World War Two.
It revolves around a 12-year-old boy called Nanning who goes seal hunting, fishing at night and toils in the fields to help his mother feed the family. When peace is declared, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.
The screenplay is based on the childhood memories of German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm, a long-standing friend of Akin.
The pair previously collaborated on the screenplay of Turkish-German director Akin’s award-winning 2017 feature In The Fade.
“What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my twelfth feature film and an extraordinary mission: Amrum is the journey of young Nanning, who in the last week of WWII every day uncovers a little more of the dark secret of his family, until he is driven out of paradise at the end,” said Akin.
Newcomers Billerbeck and Kian Köppke play Nanning and his friend Hermann respectively.
Tonke (When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before, AEIOU) plays the young boy’s mother, with Lisa Hagmeister (System Crasher) in the role of his aunt.
Long-time Akin collaborator Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, In The Fade) takes on the role of a local farmer’s wife.
Other cast members include Detlev Buck (Same Same But Different), Matthias Schweighöfer (Oppenheimer, Army Of The Dead, Hinterland) and Lars Jessen as well as Bohm (The Golden Glove, If Not Us, Who?).
The historical drama marks a change in scene for Akin after his recent gangster drama Rheingold (2022) which was his successful theatrical release in Germany to date.
Amrum will shoot in Hamburg, on the island of Amrum and in Denmark.
It is produced by Bombero International and Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany, in co-production with Rialto Film.
Beta Cinema holds all international rights and will launch sales on the picture in Cannes.
The production is funded by the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF), MOIN Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM), Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Württemberg and supported by the Bavarian Film Prize.
