VOR DER MORGENRÖTE

STEFAN ZWEIG – FAREWELL TO EUROPE is an episodic depiction of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig’s life in exile. At the height of his worldwide fame, he is driven into exile and in despair about the downfall of Europe, which he himself anticipates. The story of a refugee, a story of loss of the old and the search for a new home.

Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, New York, and Petrópolis: four stations of Stefan Zweig’s exile. While they offer him a safe haven, warm acceptance and an overwhelmingly beautiful tropical setting, they cannot help him to find peace, nor can they replace his true home. A historical film with stunning visuals about a great artist and a film about the time when all of Europe was fleeing.

Director

MARIA SCHRADER was born in 1965 in Hanover and studied Acting at the renowned Max-Reinhardt-Seminar in Vienna. One of Germany’s best-known actresses, she has worked with some of Germany’s most successful directors in such films as AIMÉE & JAGUAR (Max Färberböck), BIN ICH SCHÖN? (Doris Dörrie), EMIL UND DIE DETEKTIVE (Franziska Buch), MESCHUGGE, VÄTER and STILLE NACHT (Dani Levy), ROSENSTRASSE (Margarethe von Trotta), and SCHNEELAND (Hans W. Geissendörfer), as well as on stage in theaters in Germany and Switzerland. Most recently, she could be seen in the internationally-acclaimed DEUTSCHLAND 83. Together with director Dani Levy, she also co-directed MESCHUGGE and STILLE NACHT. LOVE LIFE (LIEBESLEBEN, 2007) marked her own directing debut, followed by STEFAN ZWEIG – FAREWELL TO EUROPE (VOR DER MORGENRÖTE, 2016).

Maria Schrader, Stefan Arndt (photo © X Verleih/Mathias Bothor) photos © X Verleih