Cannes: Fatih Akin's ‘Amrum' Sells Wide Ahead of Festival Bow
Beta Cinema has closed multiple international deals for Fatih Akin's Amrum ahead of its world premiere in Cannes on Thursday, selling the German period drama to France (Dulac Distribution), Spain (A Contracorriente), Japan (Bitters End), Benelux (Cherry Pickers), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Cinemart), Former Yugoslavia and Bulgaria (MCF) and Brasil (Imovision).
Diane Kruger co-stars in the feature, which Akin co-wrote with German director and screenwriter Hark Bohm, based on Bohm's own childhood memories of growing up in the final weeks of World War 2 on the secluded North Sea island of Amrum. Life is hard on the island, but for 12-year-old Nanning (newcomer Jasper Billerbeck) it feels like paradise on earth. When the war ends, however, darker secrets about his family come to the surface. Laura Tonke, Lisa Hagmeister, Kian Köppke, and Matthias Schweighöfer co-star.
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Warner Bros. Pictures Germany will release Amrum in Germany-speaking territories on Oct. 9.
Akin's last time in Cannes was with In the Fade in 2017. The thriller, also inspired by real events, starred Kruger as a women who seeks revenge after her husband and son are killed by neo-Nazis. The role won Kruger Cannes' best actress honor. Akin had its international breakthrough in 2004 with Head-On, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin film festival. His 2007 feature The Edge of Heaven won Cannes' best screenplay award and 2009 comedy Soul Kitchen took a special jury prize in Venice.
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