BETA CINEMA JOINS FORCES WITH FATIH AKIN FOR AMRUM – STARRING JASPER BILLERBECK, LAURA TONKE AND DIANE KRUGER

Beta Cinema has teamed up with multi-award-winning director Fatih Akin and is launching international sales in Cannes for his upcoming film AMRUM, which starts shooting in Hamburg today: Amrum island, spring 1945: seal hunting, fishing at night, toiling in the fields - nothing is too dangerous or too arduous for 12-year-old Nanning to help his mother feed the family in the final days of WWII. With the longed-for peace, however, completely new conflicts arise, and Nanning must learn to find his own way.

The story of AMRUM is based on the childhood memories of renowned German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm. Long-standing friends, Fatih Akin and Hark Bohm had written the screenplay for the award-winning Akin film In The Fade together a few years ago. The decision to direct this very personal and poetic story of his friend, is very special to Fatih Akin, "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".

The main roles in AMRUM are played by 12-year-old Jasper Billerbeck as Nanning and 11-year-old Kian Köppke as his friend Hermann. Nanning's mother, Hille Hagener, is played by Laura Tonke (When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before, AEIOU), her sister, Aunt Ena, by Lisa Hagmeister (System Crasher). The role of the farmer's wife Tessa Bendixen is played by Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds, In The Fade), Detlev Buck (Same Same But Different) plays the fisherman Sam Gangsters, Matthias Schweighöfer (Oppenheimer, Army Of The Dead, Hinterland) is Uncle Theo, Lars Jessen is Grandpa Arjan and Hark Bohm (The Golden Glove, If Not Us, Who?) is the old man by the sea.

Internationally successful filmmaker Fatih Akin, born in Hamburg in 1973, won the Golden Bear at the 2004 Berlinale with Head-On. After completing his film studies, he made two short films, a documentary about his parents' migration from Turkey to Hamburg and three feature films. His next major international success came with the drama The Edge of Heaven (2007), which won the Best Screenplay Award at the Cannes Film Festival, followed by the European Film Award and the German Film Award. Audience-darling Soul Kitchen (2009) won the Special Jury Prize in competition at the Venice Film Festival. In 2003, Fatih Akin founded the film production company corazón international.

In 2012, he founded the production company bombero international, which exclusively produces his films. The first bombero production was The Cut, which celebrated its world premiere in 2014 in competition at the Venice International Film Festival. In 2016, Fatih Akin shot In The Fade with Diane Kruger and Denis Moschitto in the leading roles. The film received numerous awards, including the prize for Best Actress (Diane Kruger) in Cannes and the Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also selected as the German entry for the 2018 Oscars, nominated in five categories for the German Film Award and finally won in two categories. The Golden Glove celebrated its world premiere in competition at the 2019 Berlinale. The gangster drama Rheingold (2022) was Fatih Akin’s most successful theatrical release in Germany to date.

AMRUM is being filmed in Hamburg, on the island of Amrum and in Denmark. AMRUM is produced by bombero international and Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany, in co-production with Rialto Film. Beta Cinema holds all international rights.

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.

AMRUM will be released in German cinemas in September 2025, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.