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Speer Goes to Hollywood

Berlinale Special 2020
© Hanns-Peter Frentz
Albert Speer is an enigma. The highest-ranking Nazi in Nuremberg to be spared the death sentence, Speer was one of Hitler’s closest confidants and his chief architect, tasked with rebuilding Berlin as the capital of a global empire. As Reichsminister of Munitions, Speer was responsible for 12 million slave labourers. And yet, even now, he has the reputation of being “the good Nazi” – a myth he carefully constructed himself. Speer Goes to Hollywood meets its protagonist in 1971, while Speer was working on a screenplay for Paramount Pictures, based on his bestselling wartime memoir “Inside the Third Reich”. Based on months of audio cassettes, recorded by screenwriter Andrew Birkin, it features Speer’s callous attempt to whitewash his past in a feature film. The audio narrative is supplemented by rare archival footage, taken before and during World War II and later, during Speer’s retirement as a semi-reclusive country gentleman.
by Vanessa Lapa Israel 2020 English, French, German 97’ Black/White & Colour Documentary form

Crew

Director Vanessa Lapa
Screenplay Vanessa Lapa, Joëlle Alexis
Editing Joëlle Alexis
Music Frank Ilfman
Sound Design Tomer Eliav
Production Manager Jeremy Portnoi
Producers Vanessa Lapa, Tomer Eliav
Associate Producer Sylvain Goldberg
Executive Producers Stanley Cohen, Manu Schöngut, Cathy Schöngut, Johnny Kneller, Philippe Laub, Yossi Landesman, Guido Hettinger
Co-Producers Björn Koll, Felix Breisach

Produced by

Realworks

Photos

Vanessa Lapa

She is a journalist who has produced over 100 news reports and documentaries for Israeli TV. In 2006, she founded Realworks, an independent production house specialising in documentary film. Its projects include Olmert: Concealed Documentary, about Israel’s former prime minister, and The Decent One, a glimpse into the mind of SS chief Heinrich Himmler, based on his personal diaries, which was officially selected for Panorama at the Berlinale.

Filmography

2009 Olmert: Concealed Documentary 2014 Der Anständige 2020 Speer Goes to Hollywood

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2020