ZDF/ ARTE

Otfried Preußler – I am Krabat

With over 50 million books sold, Otfried Preußler is one of the most successful German authors of the 20th century. His children’s classics such as “Der Räuber Hotzenplotz” and “Die kleine Hexe” are still read and loved today. But behind the facade of the author lies a tragic life story, of which little was known until recently: traumatic wartime experiences and many years in Russian captivity. Using rare archive excerpts and statements by experts such as Preußler’s daughter Susanne Preußler-Bitsch and the biographer Tilman Spreckelsen, the film shows Preußler’s moving story and his years-long attempts to process these experiences in his book of life “Krabat”. Thomas von Steinaecker, known among other things for his books and ARTE productions “Werner Herzog – Radical Dreamer” and “Stockhausen – Music for a Better World,” shows a previously undiscovered side of the famous children’s author in his film.