Assisted by biographer Gert Kerschbaumer, Cherry Duyns tells the eventful and tragic story of Austrian writer Stefan Zweig and his Panama Canal script that was never adapted.
Assisted by biographer Gert Kerschbaumer, Cherry Duyns tells the eventful and tragic story of Stefan Zweig, one of the most read and translated authors of the 1930s. The Austrian was based in Salzburg, but travelled all over the world. And always returned to his 'Villa Europa' again. Then WW II erupted, changing everything. Zweig took refuge with his second wife, while his 'Jewish' books were burnt. Eventually, the depressed writer settled in Petrópolis, where he ended his life in 1942. He left a lot behind.
Before the war, Zweig had been impressed by the digging of the Panama Canal. The construction turned out to be a fraudulent scandal, while many workers died of malaria. Zweig probably started his draft for a feature film as early as the 1930s. A love story, which was never adapted, against the background of the embezzlements during the construction of the canal. Episode of the Cinéma Invisible series: portraits of writers who wrote scenarios for films that were never realised.
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Director
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Set geluid
Montage
TV company
VPRO TV
NFF Archive
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