The Turncoat

Mini Series

Video
“Firstly, this is quite a surprise and secondly, after reading the book, a sensation. 'The Turncoat' is a brilliant novel, adding an impressive work to Lenz’s output, and thus to German postwar literature.” (Volker Weidermann, DER SPIEGEL, 27.02.2016)
Summer 1944. Walter Proska (Jannis Niewöhner) is about to return to the Eastern Front when his train is blown up by partisans. Together with a scattered bunch of German soldiers, cut off from the front, he awaits certain death while the commands of his superior Willi Stehauf (Rainer Bock) are becoming more and more senseless and inhuman. Proska's encounter with the young Polish partisan Wanda (Malgorzata Mikolajczak) and his friendship with his comrade Kürschner (Sebastian Urzendowsky) increasingly make him doubt the validity of his oath of allegiance. As the Red Army draws closer, Proska becomes a prisoner of war and can only save himself by defecting to the enemy.
Category
Mini Series
Genre
Period Drama
Awards
Golden Bird Prize for Best TV Movie at the Seoul Drama Awards 2020, Bavarian Television Awards for Rainer Bock (Actor) and Bernd Lange (Script), New York TV+Film Festival Award for Best Film, German Television Academy Award nominations for Jannis Niewöhner (Lead Actor), Rainer Bock (Supporting Actor) and Simone Bär (Casting)
Premiere
April 1 online first
Broadcaster
NDR, ARD Degeto, SWR
Editor
Christian Granderath, Sabine Holtgreve, Carolin Haasis, Manfred Hattendorf
Sales
Beta Film
Funding
Polish Film Institute, FFF Bayern, MFG Filmförderung Baden-Württemberg
Cast
Jannis Niewöhner
Malgorzata Mikolajczak
Sebastian Urzendowsky
Rainer Bock
Bjarne Mädel
Leonie Benesch
Florian Lukas
Katharina Schüttler
Ulrich Tukur
Alexander Beyer
Adam Venhaus
Shenja Lacher
Marek Solek
Holger Handtke
Cinematographer
Arthur Reinhart
production design
Magdalena Dipont & Robert Czesak
Costume Design
Lisy Christl
Cutter
Marco Pav D'Auria, Robert Rzesacz
Composer
Antoni Lazarkiewicz
Casting
Simone Bär
Screenplay
Bernd Lange & Florian Gallenberger
Executive producer
Stefan Raiser, Felix Zackor
Director
Florian Gallenberger