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PRODUCTION Belgium

Sam Garbarski returns to Germany

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- In Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland, the director looks at the peculiar fate of some exiled German Jews who decide to stay in Germany after the war

Sam Garbarski returns to Germany
Director Sam Garbarski

Last week saw the start of filming for Auf wiedersehen Deutschland [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, Sam Garbarski’s new film. The German-born, Belgian-based director boasts a catalogue of titles that includes The Rashevski Tango (2003), Irina Palm [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
interview: Sébastien Delloye
film profile
]
(in competition at the 2007 Berlinale), A Distant Neighbourhood [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
film profile
]
(2010) and Vijay and I [+see also:
trailer
interview: Sam Garbarski
film profile
]
(presented at Locarno in 2013, as part of the Piazza Grande screenings), amongst others.

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Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland begins in Frankfurt in 1946 and follows David Behrmann and his six friends in transit in a displaced persons’ camp, with just one end goal: America! But to emigrate, you need money – lots of money. Of course, it takes motivation to make money. Weaving a web of incredible tales, they go door-to-door selling household linen to Germans. But while their business is flourishing, David’s dark past catches up with him. Why did he have a second passport? What was he doing in Hitler’s private residence in Obersalzburg? David Behrmann is grilled by an enigmatic American Nazi hunter, Major Marleen Frederick… Torn between her distrust of and inevitable attraction to David, Marleen has a difficult task ahead of her, especially with David inventing stories that he, himself, believes. And yet another decision needs to be reached: can such a beautiful country really be left in the hands of the Germans?

The film sees Garbarski reunite with German actor Moritz Bleibtreu, who got top billing in the director’s previous film, Vijay and I. Filming will take place in Luxembourg until the end of April, then in Germany, where it should wrap on 14 May. As with Garbarski’s other films, Auf Wiedersehen Deutschland is being produced by Luxembourg's Samsa Film and Belgium's Entre Chien et Loup, with IGC Films as co-production partners in Germany, as well as RTBF and BeTV domestically. It has received support from the CCA, Bruxellimage, the Luxembourg Film Fund, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, the Medienboard Film Fund, the Hamburg Film Fund and Eurimages. The film will be sold internationally by The Match Factory.

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(Translated from French)

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