How does a free and critical artist become a collaborator of an authoritarian regime? An artist’s life, a pact with the devil, and the dangerous illusions of the silver screen. Acclaimed German writer Daniel Kehlmann will present his latest novel about cinematic art, power, beauty, and barbarity, inspired by the life of one of cinema’s greatest directors, G. W. Pabst, who fled to Hollywood to resist the Nazis, only to later return to his homeland to create propaganda films for the German Reich.

In partnership with Goethe-Institut Prag

Daniel Kehlmann is a leading German-Austrian writer whose work interconnects history, fiction, and philosophical themes. He entered the literary spotlight with his novel Measuring the World (2006), which became an international bestseller. Other significant works of his include Me and Kaminski (2008), Fame (2010), and Tyll (2020), the latter of which was nominated for the International Booker Prize and is now being adapted into a miniseries for Netflix. In his latest novel, The Director (2025), he tells the story of Austrian filmmaker Georg Wilhelm Pabst (1885–1967), born in Raudnitz, Austria-Hungary (now Roudnice nad Labem, Czech Republic), who was one of the pioneers of silent film. The novel explores Pabst’s career and the dilemmas he faced under the Nazi regime, posing questions about artistic freedom, censorship, and the relationship between art and power.