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The Forger film image, director Maggie Peren

The Forger

Der Passfälscher

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North American Premiere

After his family is deported, Cioma Schönhaus, a young Jewish man living in 1942 Germany, ekes out a living at a munitions factory and enjoys Berlin’s nightlife under a fake naval officer ID. He puts his skills as a graphic artist to use for a former Nazi bureaucrat, forging passports and IDs to help Jewish people escape the country. Adapting the story from Schönhaus’ memoir, director Maggie Peren gives her film the same immaculate attention to detail as Cioma does his forgeries, contrasting the dimly lit Berlin of Jewish people struggling with food rations with the decadence of the Nazis.

Cioma (played with winsome charm by Louis Hofmann) waltzes through the city with reckless abandon, impersonating military personnel to dance with women at bars, and endeavouring to live life to its fullest instead of hiding. The film balances the playful atmosphere of his ingenuity and aplomb against the sombre backdrop of Nazi Germany and the looming danger Cioma faces with each forgery and elegant lie.

 

Media Partner

Director
Cast

Louis Hofmann, Jonathan Berlin, Luna Wedler, Nina Gummich, Marc Limpach, André Jung

Credits
Country of Origin

Germany/Luxembourg

Year

2022

Language

In German with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
116 min
Action & Suspense Drama Human Rights & Social Justice Women Directors

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Credits

Producer

Alexander Fritzemeyer, Martin Kosok

Screenwriter

Maggie Peren

Cinematography

Christian Stangassinger

Editor

Robert Sterna

Production Design

Eva-Maria Stiebler

Original Music

Mario Grigorov

Director

Maggie Peren headshot, The Forger director

Maggie Peren

Maggie Peren is an award-winning writer and director born in Heidelberg, Germany. After studying literature and psychology in Munich, she wrote her first screenplay Forget America (2000). In 2003, she received the German Film Award for Before the Fall (2004), followed by numerous screenplays for which she won national and international awards. In 2011, she presented her second directorial work, The Color of the Ocean. The refugee drama premiered in Toronto and was awarded several prizes worldwide. Her thriller short film Nocebo (2014) won the Student Academy Award for Best Foreign Film.

Filmography: Stellungswechsel (2007); The Color of the Ocean (2011); Hello Again – A Wedding a Day (2020)