The 2008 Oscar for "Best Foreign Language Picture" went to the Austrian film Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters). Written and directed by Stefan Ruzowitzky, the Austrian-German production (filmed in part in Berlin) is based on the true story of WWII concentration camp prisoners given the task of forging millions of pound and dollar notes to support the German war effort. Karl Markovics plays the Jewish prisoner Salomon "Sally" Sorowitsch, a master forger from the Berlin underworld of the 1930s. Sally is arrested and put in prison years before he ends up using his counterfeiting talents at the Sachsenhausen concentration camp just outside of Berlin. Another film character (the only "real" one), Adolf Burger, the eyewitness author of the book upon which the film is based, joined director Ruzowitzky on the red carpet at the Academy Award ceremonies in Hollywood. Die Fälscher won out over nominated films from Israel, Kazakhstan, Poland and Russia.

DVD: Die Fälscher is currently available only on the German DVD (Region 2, PAL). A subtitled UK DVD is scheduled for release on March 17, 2008. No announcement has been made about a US (Region 1) DVD release. Learn more about this film:

DVD Review: Die Fälscher / The Counterfeiters

Web: The Counterfeiters (Official site)
Web: Die Fälscher (Austrian site)
Web: New York Times Review

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