“If you can’t find freedom within yourself, you won’t find it anywhere”: “Kruso” is about the male friendship between Ed(Jonathan Berlin) and Kruso (Albrecht Schuch), who run the restaurant “Zum Klausner” on Hiddensee as part of a group of dropouts. The Baltic Sea island becomes a lifeline for people in search of a new perspective on life. Against the magical backdrop of the island landscape, in the closed society of the dishwashing and waitressing staff of a restaurant, individual human destinies and the great upheavals of a political system condense into the story of a great friendship whose dream is bolder than political systems. As more and more people leave the GDR in the summer of 1989, the “Klausner” also becomes increasingly empty and the protective ark turns into a “sinking ship”, with only Kruso and Ed left on board at the end.

Detailed “Kruso” bonus material such as interviews with the main actors can be found on DasErste.de.

“Kruso” lead actor Albrecht Schuch was honored for his performance with the German Television Award and the Golden Camera 2019 as “Best Actor”. Read more here and here.

“Kruso” is a UFA Fiction production in co-production with MDR and ARD Degeto for Das Erste, funded by Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, supported by the Lithuanian Film Centre. Jana Brandt and Stephanie Dörner(MDR) are in charge of editing, Claudia Grässel is editor at ARD Degeto. Producers are Benjamin Benedict and Nico Hofmann, producer is Martin Bromber. The director is Thomas Stuber (“Herbert”, “Tatort: Verbrannt”), the screenplay was written by Thomas Kirchner (“Der Turm”). Nikolai von Graevenitz is responsible for the camera. Albrecht Schuch plays Kruso, Jonathan Berlin can be seen as Ed. Other roles are played by Andreas Leupold, Peter Schneider and many more. Filming took place in Lithuania and elsewhere until the beginning of October 2017.