GALA PRESENTATION – 2022 BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
Based on an extraordinary true story, the stirring WWII drama from writer/director Maggie Peren is the story of a daringly adventurous Jewish graphic artist who uses his talents to help others escape the Nazis.
Berlin, 1942. The very existence of brash, 21-year-old aesthete Cioma Schönhaus (Louis Hofmann, Land of Mine, Dark) is under threat, but he won’t let anyone take away his lust for life, especially not the Nazis. Using a mix of inventiveness and charm, Cioma creates an alternate identity for himself, that of a marine officer, allowing him to navigate around the authorities, and he soon uses these talents to falsify documents and IDs for others fleeing the Reich – saving the lives of many. Meanwhile, he throws himself into the city's nightlife with his friends Det (Johnathan Berlin) and Gerda (Luna Wedler), even catching a fragile glimpse of love in seemingly hopeless times. But the charade can’t last forever, and the risks that he has taken see him in great danger…
Buoyant and superbly performed, with an impressive original score by Mario Grigorov, THE FORGER indelibly captures a weary wartime Berlin in which decadence and depression are intermixed, and shines an indelible light on an astonishing young man who opposed the stigmatization of the Nazi era with unshakable optimism, compassion and humanity.