Sanctuary

Sanctuary (German original title: Freistatt) is a German drama film from 2015. It was directed by Marc Brummund, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Nicole Armbruster. Produced by Rüdiger Heinze and with music composed by Anne Nikitin, the film was released on 25 June 2015.

The film tells the story of fourteen-year-old Wolfgang, who is in constant conflict with his stepfather in the summer of 1968. Sent through the youth office to a Christian educational institution called Freistatt, Wolfgang encounters a regime resembling a military barracks there: the supervisors are to be addressed as "brother", the boys are made to perform hard labour in a peat bog, and when one of them breaks the rules the whole group is collectively punished. Refusing to submit to housefather Brockmann, who runs the institution with a harsh hand, or to the overseers, Wolfgang is punished with escape attempts, beatings and hunger; his efforts to reach his mother come to nothing.

Louis Hofmann played the lead role; the cast also includes Alexander Held, Stephan Grossmann, Katharina Lorenz, Max Riemelt, Uwe Bohm and Langston Uibel. The film was one of eight productions shortlisted by Germany as a possible submission for Best Foreign Language Film at the 88th Academy Awards; the selection ultimately went to Labyrinth of Lies.