The Publisher

The Publisher / Der Verleger

The Publisher


Freedom Film Festival Poster

Freedom Film Festival Poster by Wiktor Sadowski © American Cinema Foundation


The Holloway File
Database of Russian and Ex-Soviet Union directors

Germany (2001)

About The Film
Based on the life of German press magnate Axel Springer, here called The Publisher, this television biography presents the ambiguous story of a complex public life, a "Citizen Kane" for postwar Europe. Springer's media empire is created from nothing, and becomes a national voice during the 1953 revolt in east Germany. Later condemned as a right winger by radical students, Springer was in fact a maverick conservative whose goal and passion-reunifying divided Germany-discomfited the right in Europe and the United States.

Director's filmography
Among his two dozen movies for television, Bernd Bölich also notably directed the mini-series "Riding the Storm" ("Sturmzeit" 1999). Der Verleger won 3Sat Audience Award at the Baden-Baden Days of Teleplay 2001.

180 min., color Digibeta
German with English subtitles

Director: Bernd Böhlich
Screenplay: Bernd Böhlich, based on a scenario by Paul Hengge and the biography "Der Fall Axel Springer" by Michael Jürgs
Director of Photography: Reza Aria
Editor: Sayyad
Production: Ziegler Film / NDR / WDR
Executive Producer: Regina Ziegler
Cast: Heiner Lauterbach, Susanna Simon, Sylvester Groth, Anica Dobra, Jürgen Hentsch