The film, which won the best director award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, centres on key episodes in the life of Nobel Prize-winning German writer Thomas Mann.
The story explores Mann’s relationship with his daughter Erika—an actress, journalist and rally driver—as they embark on a road trip across postwar Germany at the height of the Cold War, travelling from US-dominated Frankfurt to Soviet-controlled Weimar.
Pawlikowski co-wrote the script with Hendrik Handloegten.
The film stars Hanns Zischler as Mann and Sandra Hüller as Erika.
The cinematography is by Poland's Łukasz Żal, and the creative team also includes Polish costume designer Aleksandra Staszko, editor Piotr Wójcik, production designers Katarzyna Sobańska and Marcel Sławiński, and composer Marcin Masecki.
Fatherland is a co-production involving Germany's Nine Hours, Poland's Extreme Emotions, Italy's Our Films and France's Chapter 2, in collaboration with Italy's Circle One and Pawlikowski's Apocalypso Pictures, with support from Arte and Pathé.
The film has secured distribution across Europe as well as in North and Central America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Israel, Mexico and India.
(mk/gs)