AMRUM Luminaries

Nanning (Jasper Billerbeck) is a kind-hearted 12-year-old who enjoys exploring the beautiful North Sea island of Amrum where he lives with his high-strung mother Hille (Laura Tonke) and pragmatic Aunt Ena (Lisa Hagmeister). After Hille gives birth to a baby brother, she refuses to eat any food but white bread, butter and honey. But it’s 1945, and these foods are in short supply due to wartime rationing. Nanning resolves to find these prized goods for his beloved mother and undertakes a quest across the picturesque island — even crossing the mudflats to the mainland during low tide. All the while, Nanning discovers more about his family, his community and his country, which is on the verge of defeat in World War II, despite what he has been told, or what’s reported in the news or what his mother fervently believes. Sensitively directed by acclaimed filmmaker Fatih Akin from an autobiographical screenplay by German actor/director Hark Bohm, AMRUM delicately depicts the dawning of conscience, when those too young to know better begin to awaken to the ills and evils of the world and their own role in it. –Todd Hitchcock