KURT
On July 15, 2021, the last take was made on Til Schweiger's emotional film adaptation of Sarah Kuttner's bestseller of the same name.
The film sensitively tells the sad and beautiful story of the harrowing fate of a young patchwork family - and how love can overcome even the worst misfortune.
Kurt (Til Schweiger) and Lena (Franziska Machens) buy a house to be closer to Kurt's six-year-old son (Levi Wolter) with ex-wife Jana (Jasmin Gerat) when the boy is killed in an accident. The grief threatens to break up the harmonious patchwork family. But then it is the bittersweet memories of tender and funny moments with their child, of driving lessons on dirt roads, monsters under the bed, scuttled cars and raunchy jokes that bring comfort to his family and above all remind Kurt that love never dies. Tears crying and tears laughing were never so close as in this tragicomedy.
The discovery of young talent Levi Wolter for the role of little Kurti, who regularly makes adults laugh with his cheeky jokes in the film, caused a stir. His father, the "big" Kurt, is played by Til Schweiger, who is also responsible for production, direction, screenplay and editing. Lena, his life partner, is portrayed by Franziska Machens, who has been part of the ensemble of the Deutsches Theater Berlin since the 2013/14 season and is a new discovery in audience film on the big screen. Jasmin Gerat, who has already worked with Til Schweiger on "Kokowääh," completes the likeable patchwork family as Kurt's biological mother Jana. For Kurt's father Wolfgang, the experienced stage and film actor Peter Simonischek ("Toni Erdmann") could be won as the ideal cast.
The other roles are also brilliantly cast: Heiner Lauterbach mimes the oddball but lovable neighbor of the little family, Marie Burchard can be seen as Lena's sister Laura, little Kurti's teacher is played by Steffen Wink, Herbert Knaup takes on the role of the mortician Mahlow, the empathetic therapist Dr. Engen is portrayed by Teresa Hader and Nina Proll plays Kurt and Jana's confident couples therapist. Rounding out the excellent German cast are Emilio Sakraya (soon to be seen in Til Schweiger's film project "Saving the World We Know"), Aleksandar Jovanovic ("The Good Liar - Das alte Böse", "Kalte Füße"), Sami Nasser ("Tribes of Europa", "4 Blocks") and Tamer Trasoglu ("Die Hochzeit", "Vier gegen die Bank").
The original screenplay for KURT was written in collaboration between Til Schweiger and Vanessa Walder based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Kuttner.
KURT is a production of Mr. Brown Entertainment Filmproduction and Warner Bros. Film Productions Germany in co-production with Barefoot Films and Erfttal Film- und Fernsehproduktion.
Warner Bros. Pictures is expected to release KURT in German theaters in 2022.
Production began on May 28, 2021 and took place over a total of 34 shooting days at locations in Berlin and Brandenburg, Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. In Brandenburg, the production stopped at various locations in Potsdam as well as east of it in the community of Stahnsdorf. In Brandenburg, filming took place mainly in the small town of Ketzin in Havelland as well as in the Uckermark region near Röpersdorf. Further shots were made in Hamburg as well as in the municipality of Großensee and in Schwedeneck in Schleswig-Holstein. The production is supported by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg as well as Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the German Federal Film Board and the German Federal Film Fund.