Little Hans-Peter lives with his parents Margret and Heinz and his older brother Matthes, first with Grandma Bertha in the countryside and later with Grandma Anne and Grandpa Willi in Recklinghausen. Dark shadows soon loom over his childhood with his mother's increasing depression.
The touching childhood story of one of Germany's greatest entertainers, Hape Kerkeling.
All About Me
Caroline Link
Born in 1964 in Bad Nauheim. Studied at the University of Television & Film in Munich. Active as a director and screenwriter.
1990 SOMMERTAGE, Kurzfilm HOF 1990
1998 JENSEITS DER STILLE, Spielfilm
1999 PÜNKTCHEN UND ANTON, Spielfilm
2001 NIRGENDWO IN AFRIKA, Spielfilm
2008 IM WINTER EIN JAHR, Spielfilm HOF 2008
2012 EXIT MARRAKECH, Spielfilm
2017 DER JUNGE MUSS AN DIE FRISCHE LUFT, Spielfilm HOF 2021
2018 ALS HITLER DAS ROSA KANINCHEN STAHL, Spielfilm
2021 SAFE, TV-Serie
„finally, another screenplay by ruth toma. almost twenty years after ‘gloomy Sunday’. hape kerkeling’s childhood and youth in recklinghausen and the surrounding area. just seven years older, having grown up in herne, barely twenty minutes away by car, the time and milieu of the narrative were very familiar to me. in general, ‘der junge muss an die frische luft’ was, in a way, a ‘home movie’ for many of the people involved. the great cast, among others with sönke möhring, hedi kriegeskotte, rudolf kowalski, katharina hinzen and myself, had brought together actors and actresses from the region, which was not insignificant for the authentic tone of the production. the choice of film locations and the fantastic set invited us all to remember and rave about it again and again. although director caroline link, whose directing performance cannot be rated highly enough, was not concerned with precisely that. she was interested in the remarkable story of the development of a very young person in an environment she wanted to tell. an environment with all its tragedy and comedy. and this is where the leading actor julius weckauf comes into play. finding this young man can perhaps be described as the greatest stroke of luck in recent film history. what he has achieved, always in the closest collaboration with caroline link, of course, is simply remarkable to a high degree. for a while i ‘faltered’ at the thought of taking on a grandfather figure for the first time. when caroline link heard about it, she is said to have said at a production meeting: ‘what can i do, i can’t offer him a youthful lover!’ where she is right, she is right. in the meantime, grandpa willi is one of my favorites, and the days with caroline and julius and all the others are a particularly fond memory.”