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Verbrannte Erde

Scorched Earth
Panorama 2024
© still: Reinhold Vorschneider / Schramm Film
Following In the Shadows, the film Scorched Earth is the second part of Thomas Arslan’s Trojan trilogy. Twelve years after career criminal Trojan was forced to flee Berlin, the search for contracts leads him back to the city. Trojan is broke and urgently needs a new job. But Berlin has changed and his old contacts are no longer of much use. Plus, Trojan’s maxim of only ever working for cash is hard to follow in an increasingly digitalised world. So it takes some time before the middlewoman Rebecca finally offers him the prospect of a lucrative contract: a painting by Caspar David Friedrich is to be stolen from a museum. The heist unites Trojan with getaway driver Diana, his former mate Luca and the young Chris. Everything looks promising, but the shadowy client and his henchman Victor have their own plans for the painting. Soon it becomes less about the money and more about getting out alive.

Trailer/Film Excerpt

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by Thomas Arslan (Director, Screenplay)
with Mišel Matičević, Marie Leuenberger, Alexander Fehling, Tim Seyfi, Bilge Bingül, Marie-Lou Sellem, Katrin Röver, Anja Schneider, Tamer Yiğit Germany 2024 German 101' Colour World premiere

With

  • Mišel Matičević (Trojan)
  • Marie Leuenberger (Diana)
  • Alexander Fehling (Victor)
  • Tim Seyfi (Luca)
  • Bilge Bingül (Chris)
  • Marie-Lou Sellem (Rebecca)
  • Katrin Röver (Claire)
  • Anja Schneider (Nadja)
  • Tamer Yiğit (Can)

Crew

Director Thomas Arslan
Screenplay Thomas Arslan
Cinematography Reinhold Vorschneider
Editing Reinaldo Pinto Almeida
Music Ola Fløttum
Sound Design Jochen Jezussek, Christian Obermaier, Tormod Ringnes
Production Design Reinhild Blaschke
Costumes Anette Guther
Make-Up Nina Düffort
Casting Ulrike Müller
Producers Florian Koerner von Gustorf, Michael Weber, Anton Kaiser

World Sales

The Match Factory

Köln, Germany

Produced by

Schramm Film Koerner Weber Kaiser

Berlin, Germany

Photos

Lucas A. Vignale

© Valentine Torre

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1997, he began his career as an editor and then turned to directing with a focus on the music industry. He directed Tripolar 360°, a documentary about the band Usted Señalemelo. In collaboration with Gaspar Prim Díaz, he wrote and directed a short and a medium-length film for Gaspi’s YouTube channel which together have exceeded 17 million views. He wrote and directed his first short film, La Pasión, with Lorenzo Ferro. El Tren Fluvial is their debut feature film.

Filmography (Filmography)

2023 La Pasión (The Passion); short film; co-directed by Lorenzo Ferro 2026 El Tren Fluvial (The Fluvial Train)

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2026