Agnieszka Holland to Direct Marlene Dietrich Biopic ‘Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home’

Polish director Agnieszka Holland has revealed details about her next feature film project, a biographical film about Marlene Dietrich, “Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home.” World sales are handled by Films Boutique.

Holland was Oscar nominated for “Europa Europa” (1990), and also directed Oscar-nominated films “In Darkness” (2011) and “Angry Harvest” (1985).

“Berlinweh” is being produced by the same team that backed Holland’s “Franz,” Berlin-based production company X Filme Creative Pool, the Czech company Marlene Film Production and British-Irish producer Mike Downey. It is based on a screenplay by Ingo Rasper.

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The film follows Dietrich across four decisive days in four different decades, portraying her in shifting cultural and political contexts: Paris in 1937, Bergen-Belsen in 1945, Tel Aviv in 1960, and once again Paris in 1983.

Holland said, “Every time I tell myself I won’t make films about real, famous people anymore… and then someone emerges from the past who asks me the most important, most timely questions, in whose choices I can find my own choices and anxieties.”

She added, “Marlene Dietrich was a tangle of contradictions: a glamour star, yet an outstanding actress, singer and soldier; a selfish ego-centrist and a loyal, magnanimous friend and lover; a fighter for human rights, full of fears and uncertainties; a German who, in the eyes of many of her countrymen, became a traitor.

“We do not tell her life in a continuous, linear narrative. We look for those few turning moments in which what was most important and most universal — what resonates most strongly today in her fate — is reflected. The fate of a woman, an artist, a citizen, a human being.”

Uwe Schott and Josephine Blume of X Filme said, “At a time when cultural dialogue and moral courage are once again being tested, ‘Berlinweh’ stands for the kind of European cinema that reaches far beyond national borders. Agnieszka Holland’s transnational body of work perfectly align with Marlene’s journey between nations, languages and identities.“

The film is produced by Schott and Blume for X Filme Creative Pool, Šárka Cimbalová for Marlene Film Production, Downey and Jean-Christophe Simon as co-producer for Parallel45 on the French side.

Cimbalová and Downey said, “After the success of our collaboration on ‘Charlatan,’ ‘Green Border’ and ‘Franz,’ the idea of working with Agnieszka again is irresistible. ‘Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home’ brings together so many of the themes that are crucial to this rich exploration of one of the 20th century’s most fascinating icons. The screenplay we are working on provides a sharp lens into her fierce independence, her dedication to anti-fascism, and at the same time highlighting her willingness to risk everything for her convictions – all the while dismantling traditional gender norms. What’s not to like?”