''September 5'' is a 2024 German

historical drama A historical drama (also period drama, period piece or just period) is a dramatic work set in the past, usually used in the context of film and television, which presents history, historical events and characters with varying degrees of fiction s ...

thriller Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics i ...

film directed, co-produced, and co-written by Tim Fehlbaum. Starring

Peter Sarsgaard John Peter Sarsgaard (; born March 7, 1971) is an American actor. He studied at the Actors Studio, before rising to prominence playing atypical and sometimes villainous roles in film and television. He made his film debut with '' Dead Man W ...

John Magaro John Robert Magaro (born February 16, 1983) is an American actor. He has acted in the films '' Not Fade Away'' (2012), '' The Big Short'' (2015), '' Carol'' (2015), ''Overlord'' (2018), '' First Cow'' (2019), '' Showing Up'' (2022), ''The Mistre ...

Ben Chaplin Benedict John Greenwood (born 31 July 1969),''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916–2005.''; at ancestry.com better known as Ben Chaplin, is a British actor. He is best known for his roles in films, including '' Feast of Ju ...

, and

Leonie Benesch Leonie Benesch (; born 22 April 1991) is a German actress. She has played roles in various film and TV productions including ''Babylon Berlin, '' ''The Crown'', ''Around the World in 80 Days'' and '' The Teachers' Lounge.'' For her role in the lat ...

, the film chronicles the Munich massacre of 1972 from the perspective of the

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

crew and their

coverage Coverage may refer to: Filmmaking * Coverage (lens), the size of the image a lens can produce * Camera coverage, the amount of footage shot and different camera setups used in filming a scene * Script coverage, a short summary of a script, writ ...

of the events. The film premiered at the

81st Venice International Film Festival The 81st annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 28 August to 7 September 2024, at Venice Lido in Italy. French actress Isabelle Huppert served as Jury President for the main competition. Italian actress an ...

on August 29, 2024, and was released in Germany by

Constantin Film Constantin Film AG is a German film production company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions. Constantin has releas ...

on January 9, 2025. It received positive reviews from critics and several accolades, including nine Lolas and nominations for

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award (also known as an Oscar) for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best ...

at the

97th Academy Awards The 97th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), took place on March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles. During the gala, the AMPAS presented Academy Awards (commonly r ...

and Best Motion Picture – Drama at the

82nd Golden Globe Awards The 82nd Golden Globe Awards was an annual awards ceremony for excellence in film and American television productions of 2024. The winners were revealed during the live telecast, aired on CBS on January 5, 2025. The event was hosted by comed ...

Plot

During the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. It was the ...

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, the

crew presides over the coverage of the spirited and relatively uneventful Games. When

Mark Spitz Mark Andrew Spitz (born February 10, 1950) is an American former competitive swimmer and nine-time Olympic champion. He was the Lists of Olympic medalists#Medalist with most medals by Olympiad, most successful athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympi ...

wins gold in the swimming event over a

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

competitor, ABC Sports president

Roone Arledge Roone Pinckney Arledge Jr. (July 8, 1931 – December 5, 2002) was an American sports and news broadcasting executive who was president of ABC Sports from 1968 until 1986 and ABC News from 1977 until 1998, and a key part of the company's rise ...

dramatizes the win by cutting to his competitor's reaction and planning to introduce the subjects of the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

during a live interview with the Jewish Spitz. When Marvin Bader, the head of operations, questions the decision, Arledge reminds him of the importance of emphasizing emotions over politics to make an effective broadcast. During the night, gunshots are heard in the distance. The crew listens to police broadcasts, aided by Marianne, the crew's local translator, and gradually learn that a terrorist attack is occurring: Militant group

Black September Black September (), also known as the Jordanian Civil War, was an armed conflict between Jordan, led by Hussein of Jordan, King Hussein, and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), led by chairman Yasser Arafat. The main phase of the fight ...

has broken into the apartment housing the Israeli team and taken the athletes hostage, demanding the release of hundreds of

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

prisoners. Seeing an opportunity for a compelling story, Geoffrey Mason, the head of the control room, quickly organizes the crew to pivot to cover the hostage crisis instead. Along with Arledge, he takes pragmatic steps to turn the story into a gripping sensation, negotiating more advantageous time slots and even forging identification so that a crewmember can access the now-restricted Olympic village. Although most of the crew is enthusiastic and confident that the conflict will be resolved quickly and successfully, a dismayed Bader reminds Mason and Arledge that the lives of real people are at stake and warns them of the potential impact on the terrorists' narrative. Throughout the day, the crisis worsens due to failed negotiations and mistakes from an unprepared local police force. Countless news stations jockey for the latest news and glimpses of the standoff, inciting Mason to become more competitive with covering the story. At one point, the crew realizes that the terrorists are watching their program, which foils an attempted rescue. Law enforcement storms the control room and threatens the crew at gunpoint to turn off the broadcast, but Mason ultimately refuses. The terrorists are eventually transported with their hostages to the military airport of

Fürstenfeldbruck Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it had a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base. Geography F ...

, and Mason sends Marianne there for coverage, cynically including sound equipment in case a shootout takes place. Marianne, at the airport with other news crews, reports to Mason that the hostages are rumored to be free, which is apparently confirmed by

ZDF ZDF (), short for (; ), is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. Launched on 1 April 1963, it is run as an independent nonprofit institution, and was founded by all federal states of Germany ( ...

. Bader implores Mason to hold off on reporting until the information is confirmed, as the other stations will follow suit, but Mason is unwilling to lose the scoop and has the news announced, albeit with the caveat that reports are still ongoing. Bader is furious but is pacified when Mason soon receives an official facsimile claiming a confirmation from the

German chancellor The chancellor of Germany, officially the federal chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, is the head of the federal government of Germany. The chancellor is the chief executive of the Federal Cabinet and heads the executive branch. Th ...

. As the crew celebrates and Mason pivots to planning interviews with the survivors, Bader leaves to celebrate with Arledge. As he watches a live, televised ABC interview with Conrad Ahlers, acting as a spokesperson for the German government, Ahlers speaks of the resolution to the crisis in an optimistic future tense. Realizing that the reports the studio received were all incorrect, a horrified Bader contacts an inside source and learns that the rescue attempt failed and all the hostages were in fact murdered. Sobered, Mason has

Jim McKay James Kenneth McManus (September 24, 1921 – June 7, 2008), better known professionally as Jim McKay, was an American television sports journalist. McKay was best known for hosting ABC's '' Wide World of Sports'' (1961–1998). His intro ...

correct the live broadcast. Arledge nevertheless commends him for an excellent job, while Marianne mourns that yet more innocent lives were lost on German soil, and she and countless other reporters had been at the airport, focused only on getting a scoop while lives were being lost. The crew heads home, and after closing up, Mason lingers to view the studio's bulletin board featuring photos of the victims. An epilogue reveals that the event was the first time a terrorist attack had been broadcast on live television and was viewed by an audience of approximately 900 million, making it one of the most viewed broadcasts in history.

Cast

, the president of

as Geoffrey Mason, the head of the control room in Munich *

as Marvin Bader, the head of operations at ABC Sports *

as Marianne Gebhardt, a translator for the crew who speaks German *

Zinedine Soualem Zinedine Soualem (born 17 April 1957) is a French actor. He has appeared in at least five films directed by Cédric Klapisch. Personal life Soualem is Algerian by ancestry, and was at one point married to the actress Hiam Abbass Hiam Abb ...

as Jacques Lesgards * Georgina Rich as Gladys Deist * Corey Johnson as Hank Hanson * Marcus Rutherford as Carter Jeffrey * Daniel Adeosun as Gary Slaughter * Benjamin Walker as

Peter Jennings Peter Charles Archibald Ewart Jennings (July 29, 1938August 7, 2005) was a Canadian-American television journalist. He was best known for serving as the sole anchor of ''ABC World News Tonight'' from 1983 until his death from lung cancer in 200 ...

, reporter * Rony Herman as David Berger, an American/Israeli weightlifter who is taken hostage * Paul Böhme as Masked Man / German Athlete Additionally,

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

anchor

appears through

archival footage Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...

from '' Wide World of Sports''.

Production

''September 5'' makes extensive use of archival footage from ABC's coverage of the

and the hostage crisis. Fehlbaum and his team spent months researching the events, and worked with a production design team to create an authentic replica of the broadcasting facility used by

on that day.

Release

The film premiered on 29 August 2024, as the opening film at the

in the ''Orizzonti'' ''Extra'' section. A few days before being announced as part of the Venice slate,

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation, commonly known as Paramount Pictures or simply Paramount, is an American film production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the flagship namesake subsidiary of Paramount ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

acquired worldwide sales rights outside Germany, Austria and Switzerland to the film. Following an overwhelmingly positive response at Venice and Telluride, Paramount decided it was best to keep the film with them, with the main studio opting to officially acquire distribution rights. Scott Feinberg of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' speculated that the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

rejected the film "ostensibly because it might generate controversy related to the

Israeli-Palestinian conflict Israelis (; ) are the citizens and nationals of the State of Israel. The country's populace is composed primarily of Jews and Arabs, who respectively account for 75 percent and 20 percent of the national figure, followed by other ethnic and ...

", despite screening the documentary '' Russians at War'', whose portrayal of the

Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...

"did result in protests of such a scale that the fest ended up pulling the film." It was featured in the Limelight section of the

54th International Film Festival Rotterdam The 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, is the 2025 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, which was held from 30 January to 9 February 2025. The complete line-up of films competing in the festival was revealed on 17 Decem ...

to be screened in February 2025. Originally scheduling it for a wide release on November 27, 2024, Paramount later pivoted to a

limited theatrical release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

on November 29, expanding wide two weeks later on December 13. It was shifted again to a limited release on December 13, 2024, before expanding on January 17, 2025, with plans to expand further for early February. The film was released in German theatres on January 9, 2025 by Constantin Film. The film was released digitally on February the 4th with the

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

release being scheduled for the 18th of the same month.

Reception

Director and editor

William Goldenberg William Goldenberg (born November 2, 1959) is an American film editor and director. He has more than twenty film and television credits since 1992. He won the Academy Award for Best Film Editing for the film ''Argo'' (2012), and has been nominate ...

listed ''September 5'' as one of his favorite movies of 2024.

Accolades

Notes

References

External links

* {{San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Performance by an Ensemble 2024 films 2020s German films 2020s historical thriller films 2024 thriller films ABC Sports Constantin Film films Drama films based on actual events Thriller films based on actual events English-language German films Films about the Munich massacre Films about interpreting and translation Films about mass media people Films about television Films about the 1972 Summer Olympics Films set in 1972 Films set in Munich Films set in television stations German historical drama films German historical thriller films German multilingual films German films based on actual events Paramount Pictures films