Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov‘s latest movie “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” has been picked up in a raft of international territories. The film, which is sold by Gregoire Melin’s Paris-based company Kinology, world premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

The gripping film is based on Olivier Guez’s bestselling novel by the same name which won the prestigious Renaudot Prize in 2017 in France and was published in more than 30 countries. August Diehl stars as Mengele, the notorious Nazi doctor who found refuge in South America at the end of WWII where he rebuilt his life in hiding, and was never captured. Mengele died in Brazil in 1979 without having been judged for his crimes. The movie charts Mengele’s fugitive years in South America, from Buenos Aires to Paraguay via Brazil, and ways in which he methodically orchestrated his disappearance to avoid being trialed.

“The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” has sparked a flurry of distribution deals to France (Bac Films), Germany (DCM Film Distribution), Italy (Europictures), Japan (Transformer), Latin America (Piano), Portugal (Pris Audiovisuais), Israel (Playhouse TLV), Sweden (Njutafilms), Hungary (Cirko Film), Indonesia (P.T. Falcon), Baltics (Estofilm), Benelux (Imagine Film Distribution), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Czech Republic & Slovakia (Film Europe), Ex-Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom) and Romania (Independenta Film).

In the film’s press notes, Serebrennikov said he was “intrigued” by the prospect of adapting Guez’s bestseller. “What happens to war criminals after the war ends? Is there such a thing as divine justice?, the director asked, rhetorically.

“Themes like karma, punishment, justice – these have always interested me,” Serebrennikov said, adding that he was also given the freedom to expand on the book and create scenes, for instance the conversations between Josef Mengele and his son.

Serebrennikov is a celebrated filmmaker and playwright who has presented four films in competition at Cannes, including “Limonov,” “Leto,” “Petrov’s Flu” and “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.” A dissident voice, he has clashed with the the Russian government and faced a legal ordeal that prevented him from traveling overseas for nearly five years.

The helmer’s German-language debut, “The Disappearance of Josef Mengele” was produced by CG Cinéma and Hype Studios, and co-produced by Lupa Films, Piano, LoremIpsum Entertainment, Scala Films, Bayerischer Rundfunk–Arte, Gold Rush Pictures, ArteFrance Cinéma, Red Production

Andrejs Strokins