Diane Kruger, Fatih Akin Reunite for ‘Amrum’

Diane Kruger is re-teaming with her In the Fade director Fatih Akin on the new German period drama Amrum, which began principal photography in Hamburg today.

The film follows a family living in a small village on Amrum Island in rural northern Germany in early 1945, in the final days of World War II. The story is based on the childhood memories of Akin’s In the Fade co-screenwriter, German author and director Hark Bohm. Bohm had initially planned to direct the film himself before handing the reins over to Akin, who co-wrote the Amrum screenplay.

The movie is a coming-of-age story of Nanning, a 12-year-old boy (played by Jasper Billerbeck) and his best friend Hermann (Kian Köppke). Laura Tonke (When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before) plays Nanning’s mother, Hille Hagener. Kruger plays Tessa Bendixen, a farmer’s wife. Matthias Schweighöfer (Oppenheimer), Detlev Buck (Same Same But Different) and Lars Jessen co-star, with Bohm playing a supporting role as “the old man by the sea.”

“What began as a Hark Bohm film now becomes my twelfth feature film and an extraordinary mission,” said Akin. “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.”

Akin’s bombero international is producing the film together with Warner Bros. Germany and Rialto Film. Warners will release the film in German cinemas next September. Beta Cinema has picked up international sales rights on the film and will be shopping Amrum to buyers at the Cannes Film Market next month.

Kruger won best actress in Cannes in 2017 for her role as a woman whose husband is killed by neo-nazis in Akin’s German courtroom drama In the Fade. Since that success, the two have discussed working together on a new project, including a planned TV mini-series on the life of Marlene Dietrich, with Kruger to play the German cinema legend.

Kruger has another film in Cannes this year. She co-stars alongside Vincent Cassel and Guy Pearce in David Cronenberg’s horror thriller The Shrouds, which will premiere in competition.

Akin won the Berlin Golden Bear for Head-On in 2004 and took best screenplay in Cannes for The Edge of Heaven (2007). His filmography includes the German box office hits Soul Kitchen (2009) and Rheingold (2022).