We are next of kin

Story

The story of a family in crisis: Hans-Christian Schmid’s film of the eponymous autobiographical novel by Johann Scheerer retells the kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma for the first time from the point of view of the family. One morning in 1996, the life of 13-year old Johann (Claude Heinrich) is turned on its head. »We have to deal with an adventure« – with these words he is woken by his mother Ann Kathrin. »Jan Philipp has been kidnapped«. With his father’s abduction, for the first time in his life the teenager experiences real fear – for 33 nightmarish days. The police turn the house into a hi-tech crisis centre and become lodgers. The strange house-share is rounded off by lawyer Schwenn (Justus von Dohnányi), an old family friend, and Christian Schneider (Hans Löw), another friend with whom Johann gets on particularly well. While one ransom handover after another fails, Johann and his mother are disturbed by his father’s despairing letters. And it becomes ever clearer that the life of Jan Philipp Reemstma will only be saved by working against the police strategy.

 

 

Presented by

Director

HANS-CHRISTIAN SCHMID (*1965 in Altötting) is one of Germany’s most renowned directors, with films like 23 (1998), Crazy (1999), Lichter (2003), Requiem (2006) and Was bleibt (2011). His work has won many awards, including five German Film Prizes.