25 May 2026

By Göran R Buckhorn

German film about Karl Adam’s boys in the boat of 1960 will be released in September.

German Rudersport magazine writes that a film about the legendary coach Karl Adam and his eight from Ratzeburg, who won the Olympic gold medal in Rome in 1960, will come up in the movie theatres in Germany on 10 September. The preview screening is on 21 August in Ratzeburg.

The film, Adams Acht (“Adam’s Eight”), tells the story of how Karl Adam, who teatches mathematics, physics and sport at a grammar school, created a successful rowing programme in Ratzeburg. Despite never having rowed himself – Adam had a background in boxing – his oarsmen wrote rowing history by becoming Olympic champions thanks to Adam’s innovational training methods. The U.S. eight didn’t make the medal podium in Rome, breaking the country’s gold tradition from 1920 by ending up in fifth place – though taking the Olympic gold in 1964 when the United Team of Germany (comprised of West and East German rowers) came in second.

In Adams Acht, the Cold War casts a shadow over Karl Adam (played by Oliver Masucci) and his oarsmen, including Hans Lenk (Felix Kammerer), who struggles with his rowing career in the West while his love Ulla (Svenja Jung) lives on the other side of Lake Ratzeburg in East Germany. Other actors playing crews members are Leonard Kunz, Nick Romeo Reimann, Vito Wiesner, Leon Kleinschmidt, Jakob Schmölzer, Till Neumann, Oscar Krause and Moritz Wolff.

The script is co-written by Domenik Pockberger and Stephan Falk. Hannu Salonen, a Finn based in Germany, is the director of the film, which has been shot in the area in and around Ratzeburg and in Slovakia.

Reports say that Beta Cinema brough the film, with the title The Rome Eight, to the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, which wrapped up on Saturday.

Adams Acht inevitably brings to mind George Clooney’s The Boys in the Boat (2023). This German film is also mentioned as an “underdog story” – ah, how the makers of rowing films love stories of disadvantaged heroes.

Just like Clooney’s Boys film was preceded by a documentary film, The Boys of ’36 (2016), so is Adams Acht as Karl Adam was featured in the Franco-German documentary Huit à bord – Une histoire de l’aviron/Der Ruder-Achter – Geschichte eines Mythos (“Eight on board – A history of rowing”/“The Rowing Eight – History of a Myth”; 2024).

There is no information yet if or when Adams Acht will be shown in theatres in Britain and the USA or on any of the available streaming services.

Note: Of the 1960 Olympic crew only Klaus Bittner, born 1938, is still alive.