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Ulrich Muhe stars in "The Lives of Others," a drama about how the Stasi, the East German secret police, begin watching a popular playwright in 1984. The film is a nominee for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. (Image courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics)
First-time director changes his homeland -- and gets an Oscar nomination
February 22, 2007
First-time film director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck may well have changed Germany.
St. Paul, Minn. — His film, "The Lives of Others," is the first drama to delve into the way the Stasi, the East German police, spied on ordinary citizens during communism.
The film has been hugely successful in Germany, and is receiving acclaim from U.S. critics. It opens in the Twin Cities this weekend.
Von Donnersmarck is in the U.S. to attend the Oscar ceremony, where "Lives of Others" is up for Best Foreign Language award.
Von Donnersmarck told MPR's Euan Kerr his film resonates with people because it's about invasion of privacy.
Audio
- First-time director changes his homeland -- and gets an Oscar nomination (feature audio)
- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck talks about how he came to make "The Lives of Others"
- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck talks about how he was sued by a former Stasi officer for libel
- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck talks about how tough it was to get a distributer for the film
- Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck talks about how his film may have changed Germany
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