International premiere
The Shadow Hour
Christian writer, journalist, and poet Jochen Klepper lives with his Jewish wife and his stepdaughter, who is also Jewish, in Germany during the Third Reich. He is one of the most significant chorale writers of the 20th century, but that doesn’t shield him from an existential conflict with the National Socialist system. In late 1942, his wife and stepdaughter are refused permission to leave the country, and their deportation to a concentration camp appears imminent. When Adolf Eichmann forces him to choose between his career and his marriage, Klepper makes an unheard-of decision: a decision that thousands of Germans in mixed marriages made with him. So quietly that even today only a few have heard of it.
In this outstanding debut director Benjamin Martins chooses an unconventional cinematic approach to convey the sense of being trapped in a cruel political environment.
Christoph Gröner
Log in to add film to shortlist
Danke tote Katze (2019), Schattenstunde (The Shadow Hour, 2021)
Programme presented by