Holland to Direct Dietrich Biopic 'Berlinweh'
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- Agnieszka Holland will direct 'Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home,' a biographical film about Marlene Dietrich, with world sales handled by Films Boutique
- The film follows Dietrich across four decisive days in four decades — Paris 1937, Bergen-Belsen 1945, Tel Aviv 1960, and Paris 1983 — rejecting a continuous linear narrative in favor of turning-point moments
- Holland described Dietrich as 'a tangle of contradictions,' calling her both a glamour star and soldier, a selfish ego-centrist and loyal friend, and 'a German who, in the eyes of many of her countrymen, became a traitor'
- Producers Uwe Schott and Josephine Blume of X Filme Creative Pool, Šárka Cimbalová of Czech company Marlene Film Production, and British-Irish producer Mike Downey are reuniting with Holland after collaborating on 'Charlatan,' 'Green Border,' and 'Franz'
- The screenplay is by Ingo Rasper, with Jean-Christophe Simon attached as co-producer via Parallel45 on the French side
- The producers explicitly framed the project as standing for 'European cinema that reaches far beyond national borders' at a time when 'cultural dialogue and moral courage are once again being tested'
Why it matters: Holland reunites with the X Filme, Marlene Film, and Mike Downey team behind three of her recent politically charged European films ('Charlatan,' 'Green Border,' 'Franz'), and the producers' explicit invocation of 'cultural dialogue and moral courage' signals the Dietrich project is being positioned as commentary on present-day Europe, not just a portrait of a 20th-century icon.
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