Variety has been given exclusive access to first-look footage from Fatih Akin’s horror film “The Golden Glove,” which has its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Akin has previously won the Golden Globe, Berlin’s Golden Bear, Venice’s Special Jury Prize, and Cannes’ screenplay award.
Set in Hamburg’s St. Pauli district in the 1970s, the film tells the true story of serial killer Fritz Honka. Akin’s screenplay is based on the novel of the same name by Heinz Strunk.
The action centers on Honka’s favorite bar, the Golden Glove, where schmaltzy German songs move the boozy barflies to tears and drinking is a reflex against pain and longing.
At first glance, Honka – played by Jonas Dassler – is a pitiful loser. The man with the broken face carouses through his nights in the Golden Glove, chasing after lonely women. None of the regulars suspects that this apparently harmless guy is actually a prolific killer.
The film, which has its premiere in Berlin on Feb. 9, is produced by Nurhan Sekerci-Porst, Akin, and Herman Weigel for Bombero International, with world sales handled by The Match Factory.
Akin’s films include “Head-On” (2004), which won the Golden Bear at Berlin, “The Edge of Heaven” (2007), which won best screenplay for Akin at Cannes; “Soul Kitchen” (2009), which won the Special Jury Prize at Venice; “The Cut” (2014), which competed at Venice; and “In the Fade” (2017), which was in competition at Cannes, winning best actress for Diane Kruger, and won the Golden Globe for best foreign-language film.