Oscar nominee Joseph Cedar (”Beaufort“) has decided to make a film about Nazi Germany filmmaker Veit Harlan his next.

Harlan, a protege of Nazi propoganda chief Joseph Goebbels was charged with crimes against humanity following the downfall of the Third Reich but eventually acquitted. Harlan’s most infamous anti-Semitic film was 1940’s “Jud Suss” which was about Jewish financial advisor Joseph Oppenheimer who worked for the Duke of Wurttermberg. The film itself misinterpreted facts and sensationalized details in order to get an anti-semitic response. The film played at the Venice Film Festival of 1942 for Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

Cedar, who won Best Director at the Berlin Film Festival and is a nominee in this year’s Foriegn Film category for Oscar will look at both Harlan’s production of the film and also the factual recounting of the Oppenheimer story. He says:

“Harlan’s film is shocking and the most despicable film I’ve ever seen but it’s also brilliant…. The story behind its production is so rich and complicated. It’s about a director blinded by ambition who sold his soul to Goebbels and had to deal with the consequences of his decisions that stained him for the rest of his life.”

The film’s budget will be in the $10 million-$12 million range, depending on cast. The film will shoot in Berlin where many of the original locations, such as the offices of Goebbels and Harlan, still exist.

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