Skip to main content
The Forger film image, director Maggie Peren

The Forger

Der Passfälscher

This event has passed

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

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre

The Blue Trail
The Blue Trail film image; woman admiring a giant garden sculpture of a human face

The Blue Trail

Dir. Gabriel Mascaro
86 min

In a near-future Brazil, elderly citizens are forcibly relocated to live out their days in a senior housing colony. When 77-year-old Tereza learns that she will soon be taken away, she embarks on a fantastical odyssey into the Amazon.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema Granville Island Stage

Shifting Baselines

Dir. Julien Elie
100 min

Towering rockets rise as wetlands vanish in this sly black-and-white documentary about SpaceX’s conquest of Boca Chica, Texas. With sci-fi aesthetics and observational calm, the film exposes how cosmic dreams begin with the quiet erasure of Earth.

International Village 8
A Poet
A Poet film image; man shouting while running

A Poet

Dir. Simón Mesa Soto
120 min

When embittered poet Oscar Restrepo takes a job at a local high school, he meets Yurlady, a talented student from a poor background. Seeking to help her cultivate her art, he draws her into the poetry world — to disastrous and comedic results.

International Village 9

La Salsa Vive

Dir. Juan Carvajal
103 min

An exuberant celebration of salsa that traces the genre's evolution from New York City in the 1960s and 70s to Cali, Colombia — the salsa capital of the world. Carvajal’s documentary highlights the rich legacy of this musical form and the joy it inspires.

International Village 7
Memory of Princess Mumbi
Memory of Princess Mumbi film image; two people leaning on each other sitting in a falling-apart jungle city

Memory of Princess Mumbi

Dir. Damien Hauser
80 min

Can a filmmaker depict the future without AI? Damien Hauser crafts a genre-blending Afro-speculative fable about love, war, and the future of storytelling in a resurrected African kingdom. A micro-budget epic fueled by digital invention and heart.

Fifth Avenue Cinema - 19+ only International Village 9

Winter Light

Dir. Cho Hyun-suh
90 min

Da-bin has a broke mother, a runaway brother, and a sister who’s going deaf, but gets by thanks to his best friend and caring girlfriend. Poignant and poetic, this is a film that explores the pain of adolescence and the stress of competing loyalties.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

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)