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German Filmmaker Hark Bohm Dies at 86 a Month After Akin’s Amrum Release

A formative mentor in German cinema, he helped build festivals, film education in Hamburg.

Overview

  • Hark Bohm died in Hamburg on November 14, 2025 at age 86, shortly after the theatrical release of Amrum.
  • Amrum was directed by Fatih Akin from Bohm’s screenplay, drawn from his childhood on the North Sea island during the war’s final days.
  • Bohm’s 1976 feature Nordsee ist Mordsee became a touchstone of German coming-of-age cinema, following earlier works begun in the early 1970s.
  • He co-founded key institutions including the Filmverlag der Autoren and the Deutsche Filmakademie, helped launch Hamburg’s film festival and film studies program, and received an honorary Lola in 2018.
  • He mentored generations of talent, adopted the future actor Uwe Bohm, collaborated with Akin on Tschick and the award-winning In the Fade, and late in life confronted his father’s Nazi past, a theme central to Amrum with some critics questioning the adaptation’s fidelity to his script.