''Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank'' (also known as ''Anne Frank's diary'') is a 2016 German

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

directed by German filmmaker

Hans Steinbichler Hans Sebastian Steinbichler (born 1 November 1966) is a German film director and screenwriter. Biography Steinbichler grew up in Kothöd in Upper Bavaria. He got his Abitur at the Ludwig-Thoma-Gymnasium Prien am Chiemsee. Then he studied juri ...

and written by

Fred Breinersdorfer Fred Breinersdorfer (born 6 December 1946 in Mannheim) is a German screenwriter, producer and film director. Life Fred Breinersdorfer, born 1946 in Mannheim, Germany, studied law and sociology from the universities in Mainz and Tübingen and ...

. It stars

Lea van Acken Lea van Acken (born 20 February 1999) is a German actress. Career Lea van Acken had her first appearance on stage at the Karl May Festival in Bad Segeberg in 2011. She was the leading actress in the 2014 drama film ''Stations of the Cross'' d ...

as the titular character,

Martina Gedeck Martina Gedeck (; born 14 September 1961) is a German actress. She came to broader, international attention due to her roles in films such as '' Mostly Martha'' (2001), ''The Lives of Others'' (2006), and ''The Baader Meinhof Complex'' (2008). Sh ...

Ulrich Noethen Ulrich Noethen (born 18 November 1959) is a German actor who has appeared in many movies and TV films. He starred in ''Comedian Harmonists''. He also played Heinrich Himmler twice, in ''Der Untergang'' and '' Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrs ...

, and Stella Kunkat. The film is based on Anne Frank's famous diary and tells the story of Anne Frank, the Jewish girl who went into hiding with her family in

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...

and became a victim of the

Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. The world premiere was held at February 16, 2016 in a special presentation for young people during the

66th Berlin International Film Festival The 66th Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2016, with American actress Meryl Streep as the President of the Jury. The Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement was presented to German cinematographer Michael ...

. It was listed as one of eight films that could be the German submission for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 89th Academy Awards, but it was not selected. The film was theatrically released in Germany on March 3, 2016, by

Universal Pictures International Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

. It received a largely positive reviews from critics, with many praising van Acken's performance as Anne Frank, and grossed over $31 million.

Plot

During the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, in the 1930s to 1940s, Anne Frank (

) gets a diary as a present for her 13th birthday. When the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

occupy the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, she goes into hiding with her family and other

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

. During that time she writes down all her thoughts about the situation in her diary. Later the Jews are betrayed and brought to concentration camps.

Cast

Production

Shooting of Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank at Merweideplein

The filming began on January 26, 2015 in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. Further work was done until March 2015 in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

. Some scenes were shot on original locations in

, for example the Merwedeplein, where the Frank family lived before they went into hiding. The exterior shots of the Prinsengracht 263 were produced in the nearby Leidsegracht. The original Anne Frank House could not be used for this purpose because its look has changed since the 1940s. The producers Michael Souvignier and Walid Nakschbandi acquired the worldwide and exclusive rights for films about Anne Frank's diary. They produced the film in cooperation with Universal Pictures. The work was supported by the

Anne Frank Foundation The Anne Frank Foundation ( nl, Anne Frank Stichting) is a foundation in the Netherlands originally established to maintain the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. This foundation also advocates the fight against antisemitism and racism and publishes t ...

, so the producers could use the whole archive. The director Hans Steinbichler regards this film as a production for the younger generation. He said he wanted to make the story completely subjective and to transform the written texts of the diary into speech. It was listed as one of eight films that could be the German submission for the

at the 89th Academy Awards.

Release

The world premiere was held at February 16, 2016 in a special presentation for young people during the

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tagebuch Der Anne Frank, Das 2016 films Films about Anne Frank German biographical drama films Holocaust films 2016 biographical drama films 2010s German-language films 2010s German films Films directed by Hans Steinbichler