Embedded: Wolfgang Zarnack from Leipzig is filming a 50-part anti-war series without a crew

Dieser Artikel ist auch in deutscher Sprache verfügbar: Zum deutschen Artikel.

It’s generally considered impossible – until someone comes along and simply does it: the Leipzig-based actor Wolfgang Zarnack now actually intends to produce a 50-part anti-war series – all on his own. Filmmaking is a team effort; a war film even more so, almost always involving a mass battle with extras, a studio and a large budget. Zarnack has none of that. He has a smartphone, his face and a story. A first trailer has been giving viewers a taste of what’s to come since 10 July.

His solution to the impossible is a reversal: instead of showing the great battle, he focuses on the individual man recording a video diary for his daughter. The world around him is generated by a computer.

The inspiration is a personal one: Zarnack’s father, born in Berlin in 1938, spent nights in air-raid shelters during the bombing raids, grew up experiencing flight, an internment camp in Denmark and the sight of Dresden in flames. Two of his siblings died as a result of their flight and malnutrition – one of them, a little boy, was called Wolfgang. His father later passed this name on to his son.

“I bear the name of a child who died in the war,” says Zarnack. “Now I’m a father myself, and I don’t want to stand by in silence and watch as we talk ourselves into the next war.”

The first trailer on YouTube:

The series is still in production – and it remains to be seen whether this gamble will pay off. That is precisely what Zarnack is making public: he is documenting the journey from the initial idea to the premiere, complete with doubts and setbacks.

“A classic war film needs hundreds of people. I’m just one,” says Zarnack. “But when it comes to peace, perhaps that is exactly the right scale. It always starts with ourselves.”

Wolfgang Zarnack is an actor, writer and father of two children. With “Embedded – damit was bleibt”, he is producing a 50-part anti-war series in portrait format – writing the script, directing, operating the camera and playing the lead role all by himself. Each episode lasts one to two minutes and is released on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. Against a backdrop of increasing military build-up, Zarnack aims to use the series to promote peace and prevent history from being forgotten.