BORN TO FAKE
100 min, Documentary
„Fake News have been made by generations before me. One thing is certain: we were the last real craftsmen."
– Michael Born
In 1996, one of the biggest media scandals in German history shook the public: Michael Born, a self-made journalist, had faked over twenty TV reports for the rising world of private broadcasters between 1990 and 1996.
Some were clumsy, others bizarre: child labour for IKEA in India, drug addicts licking toads to get high, or the Ku Klux Klan operating in rural Germany. All of it completely made up.
How could this happen? Was Born a whistleblower who subversively exposed the tabloid system, a victim of that very system – or simply a brazen con artist?
BORN TO FAKE retraces the story of Michael Born – assembled from hundreds of hours of raw footage and the memories of those who knew him.
The film not only tells the story of an unprecedented media scandal, but becomes a media critique in its own right. A film about deception, truth – and the question: Why do we believe what we see?
A grandiose Documentary!
BR, Capriccio
In the film by Erec Brehmer and Benjamin Rost, Michael Born has his say again.
ARD, Tagesthemen
The film bridges the gap between the past and the present without spelling it out 1 to 1.
Deutschland Radio Kultur, Susanne Burg
A must for classroom teaching, documentary film lovers, all news consumers, and a present in which anyone can now falsify whatever and however they want.
Artechock Magazin, Axel Timo Purr
It’s a truly important documentary that asks: Why do we believe everything we see?
Filmfest München
A discovery at the Filmfest Munich was BORN TO FAKE, a reckoning with the nebulous structures of TV news and an insight into a media system fixated on sensationalism.
Schwäbische Zeitung, Margret Köhler
BORN TO FAKE is an important contribution to the current social discourse, aiming to inspire people to critically reflect on their own perceptions of the media.
Jury-Statement, One Future Price at Film Fest München
Entertaining, revealing, enlightening – Born to Fake succeeds as a documentary on multiple levels, which is exactly what makes it so brilliant.
Film-Rezensionen.de, Maximilian Schröter
The film bridges the gap between the past and the present without spelling it out 1 to 1.
Deutschland Radio Kultur, Susanne Burg
A must for classroom teaching, documentary film lovers, all news consumers, and a present in which anyone can now falsify whatever and however they want.
Artechock Magazin, Axel Timo Purr
It’s a truly important documentary that asks: Why do we believe everything we see?
Filmfest München
A discovery at the Filmfest Munich was BORN TO FAKE, a reckoning with the nebulous structures of TV news and an insight into a media system fixated on sensationalism.
Schwäbische Zeitung, Margret Köhler
BORN TO FAKE is an important contribution to the current social discourse, aiming to inspire people to critically reflect on their own perceptions of the media.
Jury-Statement, One Future Price at Film Fest München
Entertaining, revealing, enlightening – Born to Fake succeeds as a documentary on multiple levels, which is exactly what makes it so brilliant.
Film-Rezensionen.de, Maximilian Schröter
Director: Erec Brehmer, Benjamin Rost
DOP: Julian Krubasik, Pius Neumaier
Editor: Erec Brehmer
Production: Mark Szilágyi
Music: Alexander Vicar
Sound: Benjamin Rost
Sounddesign and Mix: Volker Armbruster, Timo Letzgus
Grading: Fabian Spang
100 min, MFG Filmförderung, SWR, MSZ Filmproduction and Consulting
Festivals:
38. Filmfest München FFMUC - Neues deutsches Kino - Official Selection + nominated for Fritz-Gehrlich-Preis
73. Münchner Filmkunstwochen at Neues Rottmann KinoAwards: