German director Anne Zohra Berrached is in production on Sind so kleine Hände, a biographical drama about the East German singer-songwriter Bettina Wegner. Mala Emde plays Wegner, stepping into a part originally intended for actress and screenwriter Wanda Perdelwitz, who died in a cycling accident in October 2025, months before filming was due to begin. The production went ahead with the screenplay she co-wrote, keeping her central to the film even after her death.
The film focuses on the years when Wegner decided to stay in the GDR while many opposition figures were leaving for West Germany. It traces how growing pressure from the authorities spilled into her private life and her family. Perdelwitz co-wrote the screenplay with Martin Behnke, and the two had developed the project together from the start. A portrait of her appears in a photograph taken on set alongside Berrached, Emde and producers Levin Hübner and Daniel Perdelwitz.
Alexander Fehling plays the writer Klaus Schlesinger, with Alina Stiegler and Ulrich Brandhoff among the supporting cast. Filming started in Berlin on 22 September and runs until 7 November in and around Magdeburg. Nineteen of the shooting days are in central Germany, with locations including Marienborn and Hötensleben, two places closely associated with the former inner German border. The shoot is therefore split between the capital and Saxony-Anhalt.
Berrached has built a reputation for dramas that deal with difficult personal choices. Her earlier features include Two Mothers, 24 Weeks and Copilot. The new film is produced by Wüste Film together with Rebelle Film, and ZDF is a co-producer in collaboration with ARTE. Several German regional and national funds are backing the production, reflecting the strong public interest in a story so closely tied to the country’s divided past, and Alamode Verleih will release it in cinemas in Germany and Austria.
The project carries extra weight because of the loss of Perdelwitz, whose screenplay now reaches the screen without her in the role she wrote for herself. For Emde, the part is a chance to play one of the best-known dissenting voices of East German music. No release date has been set yet, and the production is expected to move into post-production once the Magdeburg shoot wraps in early November. Both producers, Wüste Film and Rebelle Film, will then steer the project towards its cinema release with Alamode Verleih.
