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The Playmaker has closed several distribution deals for the World War II drama “Never Alone,” directed by Klaus Härö.

“Never Alone” has been picked up for distribution in Bulgaria (Beta Film), India (BookMyShow), Latin America (Encripta) and Spain (Twelve Oaks). As previously announced, the rights in North America were acquired by Menemsha. The film was released in Finland in January by Nordisk Films.

“Never Alone,” based on the life of Abraham Stiller, tells the story of Jewish refugees seeking safety in Finland during World War II. As Nazi influence grows, Stiller, a Jewish leader in Helsinki, must risk everything to protect his community.

The cast is led by Ville Virtanen, Nina Hukkinen and Rony Herman. The film is produced by Ilkka Matila of Mrp Matila Röhr Prods., in co-production with Samsara Filmproduktion, Taska Film, Penned Pictures and Hobab.

It is supported by the Finnish Film Foundation, the Austrian Film Institute,...

September 5 is a perfectly fine thriller, telling the story of the ABC team that broadcast the 1972 Munich Olympics hostage situation to over 900 million people around the world. It has both the feel of a made-for-tv movie (back when they were good) and a traditional "process" thriller, and it succeeds in both regards. Where it falters, though, is when it wrestles with the ideas at the core of the film, opting for an apolitical approach that rings hollow.

The 1972 Munich Olympics saw an American sports broadcasting crew unexpectedly tasked with covering a hostage situation involving Israeli athletes.

Release Date November 29, 2024Runtime 91 MinutesGenres Drama, ThrillerCast Robert Porter Templeton, Georgina Rich, Solomon Mousley, Daniel Adeosun, Rony Herman, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Peter Sarsgaard, Marcus Rutherford, Corey Johnson, Ben Chaplin, John Magaro, Benjamin WalkerDirector Tim FehlbaumWriters Moritz Binder, Tim Fehlbaum

In a way, it feels like an apt metaphor for our times: September 5 is...

Tim Fehlbaum and John Palmer are bringing a fresh approach to one of history's more shocking events in September 5. The true-story-based thriller marks an interesting departure from Fehlbaum's past work in the sci-fi genre with 2011's Hell, which was produced by disaster genre vet Roland Emmerich, and 2021's Colony, which was led by American Star's Nora Arnezeder and Dune: Prophecy's Sarah-Sofie Boussnina. For Palmer, on the other hand, the movie continues his streak of grounded stories with Sean Penn's Flag Day and Asphalt City.

September 5 details the horrific events that actually happened during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, in which a group of eight Palestinian militants killed two members of the Israeli Olympic team and took nine others hostage. The film primarily puts the focus on Roone Arledge and the rest of the ABC Sports team, who find themselves scrambling to shift their coverage from sports broadcasting to live...

John Magaro and Leonie Benesch are at the heart of one of the world's most harrowing events in September 5. While he's been acting for the better part of 20 years, Magaro has found more mainstream success over the past decade with everything from Netflix's The Umbrella Academy and Orange is the New Black to the Sopranos prequel movie, The Many Saints of Newark, and Oscar-nominated drama Past Lives. After primarily working in her home country of Germany, Benesch has found international success with the Oscar-nominated Teacher's Lounge and PBS/BBC One's Around the World in 80 Days series.

September 5 takes viewers into the decisive moment that forever changed media coverage and continues to impact live news today in which an American sports broadcasting team quickly adapted from sports reporting to live coverage of the Israeli athletes taken hostage during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics. Magaro, who previously appeared in Steven Spielberg's similar-subject thriller Munich,...

Releasing in theaters on December 13, September 5 is a gripping historical thriller that starts off as a sports movie. Starring Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin, September 5 dives into the Munich Massacre, which is the name given to the hostage crisis that occurred at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich, West Germany. At the event, the Palestinian militant group known as "Bloody September" infiltrated the Olympic Village, killing two Israeli athletes and capturing nine others.

The film, September 5, places the spotlight not on the terrorists, athletes, or West German police involved in the Munich Massacre, but rather on the ABC sports team who followed the crisis in real time. September 5 foregrounds questions of narrative and journalistic ethics without ever losing the tension and pacing of a thriller. After releasing at the 81st Venice Film Festival on August 29, 2024, fans of historical dramas and thrillers alike have the chance to watch September 5 in a limited theatrical release this winter.

Peter Sarsgaard and Ben Chaplin are returning to the world of true-story filmmaking with September 5. The former is an Emmy and Golden Globe-nominated actor known for his work both on screen and on Broadway, having starred in everything from Shattered Glass to the Natalie Portman-led Jackie and Dopesick. Chaplin also has an extensive filmography of acclaimed titles, some of which include Terrence Malick's The Thin Red Line, Oliver Stone's Snowden and HBO's The Nevers.

September 5's story is set during the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, specifically focusing on an American sports broadcasting team that was forced to quickly adapt from sports reporting to live coverage of terrifying events when Israeli athletes are taken hostage. Sarsgaard stars in the movie as Roone Arledge, the legendary TV executive who was a key figure in the coverage, while Chaplin stars as Marvin Bader, mentor to the young and ambitious producer Geoffrey Mason...

Klaus Härö’s “Never Alone” draws from real events and people during the Nazi years to tell the tale of a man who stood his ground with his ideals. Abraham Stiller (Ville Virtanen) runs a thriving textile business in Helsinki. He and his wife, Vera, are Jews who migrated from Tsarist Russia decades ago. The couple is part of local influential circles, having connections within the police as well. But how far does this immunize them or the Jewish refugee couple they take under their wing and give jobs?

What undoes the film, and whittles away some of its power is the frame narration rendered in trite, uninspired monochrome. A journalist is interviewing the businessman about his past. She questions him about Finland’s deportations of Jews in the 1940s despite it not being occupied by Germany. When she brings up the case of one deportee who survived the post-war trials,...

September 5 gets a new trailer, teasing what's to come from the intense historical thriller. Directed by Tim Fehlbaum, the upcoming film chronicles the terrorist attack at the 1972 Munich Olympics from the perspective of an American sports broadcasting crew. The film, which stars Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch, and Benjamin Walker, screened at both the Venice and Telluride film festivals and earned positive reviews. As of writing September 5 enjoys a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Paramount Pictures now releases the first trailer for September 5, revealing more about the film. Check it out below:

More to come...

Source: Paramount Pictures

September 5 (2024)

The 1972 Munich Olympics saw an American sports broadcasting crew unexpectedly tasked with covering a hostage situation involving Israeli athletes.

Director Tim FehlbaumRelease Date November 29, 2024Writers Moritz Binder, Tim FehlbaumCast Robert Porter Templeton, Georgina Rich, Solomon Mousley, Daniel Adeosun, Rony Herman, Leonie Benesch, Zinedine Soualem, Peter Sarsgaard, Marcus Rutherford, Corey Johnson,...

Sometimes films highlight little-known events in their country of origin that wind up catalyzing a re-evaluation of their nation’s history. Finnish director Klaus Härö’s “Never Alone” is shaping up to be that sort of film. It follows the deportation from Finland of eight Austrian-Jewish refugees by the Gestapo during World War II and the work of Abraham Stiller, a pillar of the Helsinki Jewish community, who tried to stop it from happening.

Despite Finland’s uneasy alliance with Nazi Germany during the early years of the war, Jewish citizens of Finland had their government’s protection in spite of some Finnish officials who would have preferred to comply with the Gestapo’s requests to expel them all.

It’s the first cinematic treatment of this subject, which producer Ilkka Matila says was too painful a story for the Finnish state and the entire society to speak about publicly.