Kino Lorber has acquired North American rights to Fatih Akin’s coming-of-age drama “Amrum” after the film’s premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month. The film will be released theatrically by Kino Lorber followed by a digital, educational and home video release.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Directed by Akin and co-written by Akin and frequent collaborator Hark Bohm (“In the Fade”), “Amrum” is based on Bohm’s own personal experiences growing up on Amrum Island.
The film takes place in 1945, with 12-year-old Nanning outside the house he shares with his mother, brother and aunt on the German island of Amrum when he hears the radio deliver the news that Adolf Hitler “has fallen.” Inside the house, Nanning’s very pregnant mother, Hille, lets out a piercing scream and then a gasp, as her water breaks on the kitchen floor and she gives birth to a baby. The story then follows the fallout of the news and its effect on the family.
In his positive review for TheWrap, Steve Pond compared the film favorably to “Zone of Interest.”
“It’s not as austere and deliberately unsentimental as Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes hit and Oscar winner ‘The Zone of Interest’ was two years ago, but in a way it, too, is a family drama set against the horrors of World War II and the Nazi regime. Akin, the Turkish-German director whose other films include ‘The Edge of Heaven’ and ‘In the Fade,’ does a wonderfully understated job of setting the innocence and the cruelty of childhood against a time in which the fall of fascism could have a seismic effect on a family and a country.”
“We were moved by the meditative beauty and stunning cinematography of Fatih Akin’s ‘Amrum,’ a true standout of this year’s Cannes Film Festival,” said Lisa Schwartz, Chief Distribution & Revenue Officer for Kino Lorber. “Eighty years after its conclusion, Akin captures a rarely depicted side of World War II with emotion and poignancy, and found the perfect lead in the remarkable young actor Jasper Ole Billerbeck. We’re proud to continue partnering with the team at Beta Cinema to bring this powerful film to North American audiences.”
The deal for “Amrum” was negotiated by Kino Lorber VP of Acquisitions Karoliina Dwyer and Dirk Schuerhoff, CEO of Beta Cinema.
