Juan Carlos: Downfall of the King

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Year

2023

Length

4×45 min, 90 min

Director

Anne von Petersdorff & Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Synopsis

For many years, King Juan Carlos I was a Spanish hero, celebrated around the world for reforming Spain with his modern, progressive, democratic values. He led his country from the Franco dictatorship to parliamentary monarchy, transforming Spain into a modern European state and becoming the most popular Spanish ruler in history.

King Juan Carlos had a loyal Queen, a loving family, international respect, friends in high places and faithful subjects; he had everything a King could wish for. So, how did this revered Monarch take such a drastic fall from grace that he was forced to abdicate in 2014 and eventually flee into exile in 2020?

The documentary shows how a fateful hunting trip to Botswana revealed the King’s secret love affair with his companion, Corinna zu Sayn-Wittgenstein, and set off a series of events that shook the Spanish monarchy to its core. The house of cards began to crumble when questions were raised about the King’s financial affairs, his lucrative links with the Spanish establishment and alleged global corruption, including a €65 million payment.

Credits

Directed by

Anne von Petersdorff
Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Co-director

Jan Zabeil

Written by

Pedro Barbadillo
Christian Beetz
Anne von Petersdorff

Co-Author

David López Canales

Director of Photography

Jan Zabeil
Yannick Bonica
Jürgen Rehberg

Edited by

Marc Accensi
André Nier
Sofia Angelina Machado

Music

Nils Kacirek

Line Producer / Head of production

Kathrin Isberner

Archive Producer / 1st AD

Yara Hueck Costa

Technical and Postproduction Supervisor

Xavier Agudo

Produktionsleiter / Creative Producer

Philipp Diettrich

Postproduction Producer

Lea-Marie Körner

Dramaturgical Consultant

Marc Accensi

Executive Producer Sky

Christian Asanger
Felix Kempter
Barnaby Shingleton

Produced by

Christian Beetz

A production by gebrueder beetz filmproduktion with Sky Studios
Development funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg
Distributed by NBCUniversal Global Distribution

The 90-minute version was produced in cooperation with NDR, SWR and WDR

Photo credit: picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS / Daniel Ochoa de Olza

Sales & distribution

Trailer

„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

17.05.2018