DOKFILM - BORN TO FAKE

Description

By Erec Brehmer and Benjamin Rost Invented drug smugglers, toads as intoxicants, and a Ku-Klux-Klan meeting in the middle of the Eifel: Michael Born delivered to German television what promised ratings – and staged his "reports" himself. A fast-paced, surprisingly entertaining film about fake news, ratings, and the question of why we believe what we see. Michael Born was a gifted storyteller – but he did not take the truth particularly seriously. Between 1990 and 1996, the self-made reporter sold more than 20 fake reports to German TV stations. His spectacular stories aired on "stern TV," "Spiegel TV," and WDR, among others. Friends played Ku-Klux-Klan members, supposed drug addicts licked toads, archival material was declared current footage. Although some scenes already seemed too adventurous at the time, they were broadcast. Directors Erec Brehmer and Benjamin Rost reconstruct the case from hundreds of hours of raw footage and the memories of former companions. Fast-paced and cleverly edited, BORN TO FAKE almost develops into a thriller about vanity, competitive pressure, and a television system that always demanded even more spectacular images. But the film does not make it easy to declare Michael Born the sole villain. How could his fakes pass all controls for years? What role did editorial offices play, which mainly aimed at ratings? And was Born just a brazen fraudster – or also the product of a system that was only too happy to believe his stories? A wild, humorous, and disturbingly topical documentary about fake news, the power of images, and ratings. Germany, 2025 / 92 min. Audio: German