Agnieszka Holland To Direct Marlene Dietrich Biopic ‘Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home’

Agnieszka Holland will direct Berlinweh – Yearning for a Home, a feature film based on the life of the German-American actress Marlene Dietrich.

German writer Ingo Rasper has penned the screenplay, and the Berlin-based production company X Filme Creative Pool, the Czech company Marlene Film Production, and British-Irish producer Mike Downey will once again team up to produce the project. The trio previously worked with Holland on Franz (2025).

The film’s official synopsis reads: “Berlinweh tells the story of a woman who spent much of her life standing in opposition to her home country, while at the same time struggling with a deep longing to return. The film follows Marlene Dietrich across four decisive days in four different decades, portraying her in shifting cultural and political contexts: Paris in 1937, Bergen- Belsen in 1945, Tel Aviv in 1960, and once again Paris in 1983.”

“Every time I tell myself I won’t make films about real, famous people anymore and then someone emerges from the past who asks me the most important, most timely questions, in whose choices I can find my own choices and anxieties,” Holland joked in a statement.

“Marlene Dietrich was a tangle of contradictions: a glamour star, yet an outstanding actress, singer and soldier; a selfish egocentrist and a loyal, magnanimous friend and lover; a fighter for human rights, full of fears and uncertainties; a German who, in the eyes of many of her countrymen, became a traitor. We do not tell her life in a continuous, linear narrative. We look for those few turning moments in which what was most important and most universal — what resonates most strongly today in her fate — is reflected.”

Holland added: “The fate of a woman, an artist, a citizen, a human being. I am very happy for the opportunity to continue working with my friends with whom I co-created Franz. It was an exciting adventure; I’m eager for another.”

Berlinweh will be produced by Uwe Schott and Josephine Blume for X Filme Creative Pool, Šárka Cimbalová for Marlene Film Production, Mike Downey and Jean-Christophe Simon as co-producer for Parallel45 on the French side.

World sales will be handled by Films Boutique.