BETA CINEMA ANNOUNCES FIRST SALES FOR JOSEPH GOEBBELS BIOPIC “FÜHRER AND SEDUCER”

Munich, February 12, 2024. Ahead of the film’s market premiere at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin, Beta Cinema announces all-rights deals to first major territories: Spain (A Contracorriente), Portugal (Films4You), Scandinavia (Mis Label), Benelux (Dutch Film Works), Czech Republic (Donart Film), former Yugoslavia (Discovery) Japan (AT Entertainment) and Australia & New Zealand (Moving Story Entertainment). Wild Bunch will release the film in the German-speaking territories.

Führer and Seducer follows Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s notorious Minister of Propaganda, in his last seven years by Hitler’s side. While Hitler is at the height of his power, Goebbels is the creator of the pictures of the flag-waving crowds and of the anti-Semitic films "Jud Süß" and "Der ewige Jude", preparing the people for the mass murder of the Jews. After the defeat at Stalingrad and the situation becoming increasingly hopeless in late 1944, Goebbels plans the most radical propaganda act, his last staging, with Hitler's suicide, the murder of his family and his own suicide.

Thomas Weber, Professor of History and Int. Affairs at the University of Aberdeen & Visiting Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University is historical advisor to the film. He states, “Führer and Seducer deconstructs the propaganda of Joseph Goebbels. The film is based on the latest historical research. It reveals to viewers the tricks by which and to what murderous effect Goebbels created seemingly authentic images, speeches, and film sequences that have become so burned in our minds that they have become our frame of reference when discussing the Third Reich and the Shoah. The film deconstructs Goebbels more effectively than a documentary format could, since documentaries easily fall prey to the audio-visual legacy Nazi propagandists left behind. Joachim Lang puts an end to the underestimation and trivialization of Goebbels’ Nazi propaganda without ever diminishing the responsibility of millions of Germans for the crimes of the Third Reich.”

Several contemporary witnesses granted their full support after having seen the film upfront: Holocaust survivor Margot Friedländer states, “The movie really touched me - it's very important, because what happened can happen again so quickly. People can be manipulated and seduced so easily. The danger starts when people no longer respect other people. Everyone should be aware of the danger and watch out. Only those who are aware of the danger of seduction can consciously deal with all the influences from the media. We must stand up for our democracy and freedom and maintain respect for every single person.” Charlotte Knobloch, former president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, states, “Führer and Seducer is a masterpiece, we only wonder why it was not produced ten or twenty years ago. The light it sheds on the historical figures of the Nazi era opens up a new and challenging perspective for the viewer – because it also demands reflection on ourselves ..."

“My film shows the perpetrators as human beings with all negative attributes”, states writer and director Joachim A. Lang. ”Only the fictional form permits the viewer closeness to the characters and their deceitful depravity. I hope the spectators will experience the insidiousness of propaganda emotionally and therefore perceive the real threat much more strongly than it is possible in documentary form. The world is unraveling, many countries are in danger of following incendiary leaders and seducers, today's demagogues who deceive by any means, jeopardizing democracies and human rights. What happened is not dead, it is not gone, it follows, pursues us if we choose to ignore it. This is why our film is so important. With my work and all my energy, I want to contribute to what is most important of all: that what happened never happens again.”

Führer and Seducer is written and directed by German writer, director and historian Joachim A. Lang. Among many others, Lang directed Mack The Knife – Brecht’s Threepenny Film with Lars Eidinger (Dying) in the lead role in 2018 and the German Television Award-winning film George in 2013. He also produced and directed numerous documentaries, feature films and shows for German TV.  Lang's work has been awarded numerous film and television prizes, including the German-French Journalism Prize, Bavarian Television Prize, Eurovisioni, German Television Prize, World Gold Medal at the New York Film Festival and the Special Golden Prague Award.

Robert Stadlober (Summer Storm, Das Boot), who also stars in Josef Hader’s Andrea Gets A Divorce in this year’s Berlinale Official Selection, plays the leading role of Joseph Goebbels. Highly popular Austrian actor Fritz Karl (Sisi) co-stars as Adolf Hitler and Franziska Weisz (The Swarm, Stations of the Cross) stars as Magda Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s “mother of the Volk”. Führer and Seducer is produced by Till Derenbach and Michael Souvignier for Zeitsprung Pictures, the company behind the popular Netflix series Kleo and Oktoberfest: Beer & Blood and multiple award-winning biopic Dear Thomas. The film is co-produced with Sandra Dujmovic (SWR), Maya spol.s.r.o. and Act/HQ. It was funded by Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, DFFF Deutscher Filmförderfonds, MFG and Slovak Audiovisual Fund.

Beta Cinema hosts market screenings on Thu, Feb 15 at 11am at CinemaxX10 and on Sat, Feb 17 at 4:20pm at CinemaxX 12.