“Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny” To Premiere PBS June 27, 2025

Film Explores Arendt’s Life’s Experiences and Ideas, from the Rise of Hitler in Germany through McCarthy Era and the Vietnam War in America

New York, NY – “HANNAH ARENDT: FACING TYRANNY,” a new feature documentary about the life and work of the German-American political philosopher and writer will premiere nationwide on June 27 at 9 p.m. ET on PBS (check local listings), pbs.org/americanmasters and the PBS App. A German version of the film will also air on SWR and RBB in Germany in the fall 2025, with worldwide distribution expected later in the year.

The film is produced by Jeff Bieber Productions, LOOKSfilm, SWR and RBB in association with American Masters Pictures and the Center for Independent Documentary. It is directed by Chana Gazit and Jeff Bieber.

Arendt, who was one of the most influential and fearless political thinkers of the twentieth century, came of age in Germany as Hitler rose to power, before escaping to the United States as a Jewish refugee. Through her bravery, judgement and unflinching capacity to demand attention to facts and reality, Arendt’s time as a political prisoner, refugee and survivor in Europe informed her groundbreaking insights into the human condition, the refugee crisis and totalitarianism. Her major works, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951), The Human Condition (1958), Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), On Revolution (1963) and Crisis of the Republic (1972) remain among the most important and most-read treatises on the development and impact of totalitarianism and the fault lines in American democracy. Arendt’s reports on the trial of Adolph Eichmann also caused a firestorm of controversy, and its impact is still felt today.

“Hannah Arendt was in an endless conversation with the human condition,” said Bieber. “Throughout her life she strived to understand the historic rise of Nazism and how it was able to garner such massive support through totalitarianism. Later, in the United States she warned how currents of authoritarianism continued to threaten democratic institutions. As authoritarianism threatens democratic countries across the world today, her writings – and warnings – deserve our attention.”

“We think of Arendt as a German writer because she matured in Germany and was steeped in that philosophical tradition,” said Gazit. “But what’s so unique about her life experience is that she also became an American citizen and saw there too, with McCarthyism, the Vietnam War and Watergate, similar threats that for her exposed the fragility of democratic institutions.”

While the film focuses on her books and essays, which are discussed on screen by international experts of her work, including Roger Berkowitz, Director of the Hannah Arendt Center for Politics and Humanities and UK Professor Lyndsey Stonebridge, professor of Humanities and Human Rights at Birmingham University, the film is also anchored in Arendt’s life experience, including her resistance against the Nazi regime, working to help Jewish children escape to Palestine, her relationship with the esteemed philosopher and Nazi Martin Heidegger and her time in a prisoner of war camp before fleeing to the United States.

First person accounts by Hannah Arendt, her friends and colleagues (drawn from interviews, speeches, books, articles and personal correspondence), to on-camera interviews with scholars and students of Arendt, add texture to the film, evoking Arendt’s passion, intellect, wit and the profound impact she had on those who knew her.

The acclaimed actress Nina Hoss (Barbara, Phoenix, A Most Wanted Man, The White Masai, Homeland, Tár), provides the voice of Hannah Arendt as a student in Germany to the 1970s. She and others bring to life revealing correspondence Arendt had on both sides of the Atlantic, with such 20th century luminaries as writer Mary McCarthy to philosopher Hans Jonas.

LOOKSfilm, the German production partner, drew extensive materials from private collections of home movies as well as archives from newsreels and broadcast services, historical museums, state archives and libraries.

Today, with the rise of authoritarian leaders threatening civil societies and democratic institutions across the world, The Origins of Totalitarianism has topped best seller lists once again. In Hannah Arendt’s words, “we must face what is happening now,” no matter how difficult or horrific.

More information and the trailer can be found at this link.

For Jeff Bieber Productions and LOOKSfilm: Jeff Bieber, Birgit Rasch, Regina Bouchehri, Gunnar Dedio are Executive Producers; Chana Gazit & Jeff Bieber are Directors; Sabine Krayenbühl, Editor; Jeff Bieber and Maia Harris are Writers; Salme López Sabina, Niklas Hoffmann-Walbeck, and Chana Gazit are Producers; Florian Tessloff, Composer; Mindbomb Films, Graphic/Animation; Roger Berkowitz, Samantha Rose Hill, Lyndsey Stonebridge are Senior Advisors.

For American Masters: Michael Kantor is Executive Producer; Julie Sacks is Series Producer; Joe Skinner is Digital Lead; Cristiana Lombardo is Multimedia Producer; Diana Chan is Digital Producer; Chris Wilson is Associate Producer.

Original production funding for “Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny” was provided by The National Endowment for the Humanities, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung GmbH, with Assistance from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany supported by the German Federal Ministry of Finance, and Creative Europe with the support of the European Union.

Original American Masters series production funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AARP, The Rosalind P. Walter Foundation, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Koo and Patricia Yuen, Seton J. Melvin, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation, Thea Petschek Iervolino Foundation, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Vital Projects Fund, The Marc Haas Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Ellen and James S. Marcus, The Ambrose Monell Foundation, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Blanche and Hayward Cirker Charitable Lead Annuity Trust, The Kate W. Cassidy Foundation, The Charina Endowment Fund, Anita and Jay Kaufman, Candace King Weir, and public television viewers.

About American Masters Pictures

Founded in 2016 by executive producer Michael Kantor, American Masters Pictures is The WNET Group’s theatrical imprint for documentaries. American Masters Pictures partners with filmmakers, distributors and sales agents on non-broadcast releases including film festivals, theatrical, online, DVD, VOD and OTT, with PBS as the exclusive U.S. broadcaster of all films as part of the American Masters series. Films include Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go For It; Ailey; Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir; Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool; Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am; Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story; and Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You among others. The American Masters series is a production of THIRTEEN PRODUCTIONS LLC for The WNET Group.

About Jeff Bieber Productions

Formed in 2022, JBP creates films and social impact campaigns modeled on the award-winning series’ and specials that Bieber executive produced for WETA and PBS including Avoiding Armageddon (2003), an 8-hour series about weapons of mass destruction, America at a Crossroads (2007), a 12-hour series about America’s role post-9/11; The Jewish Americans (6-hours, 2008), Latino Americans (6-hours, 2013) and Asian Americans (5-hours, 2020). Bieber also served as executive producer Washington Week. Current projects include Hannah Arendt: Facing Tyranny (June 2025), The Harvest, a feature film about race and education for American Experience (Sept. 2023), Julia Alvarez: Life Reimagined for American Masters (Sept. 2024), Weaving Nature for American Masters Digital series (April 2024), Liz Diller: Making Space for
the Future for American Masters (2026), and Maryland State House – 250th Anniversary for MPT (July 2026). Bieber has earned two national EMMY Awards, a duPont-Columbia Award, and three Peabody Awards.

About LOOKSfilm

LOOKSfilm was founded in East Germany in 1995, shortly after the fall of the Berlin wall. Today, with offices in Leipzig and Berlin, a diverse team of over 80 film and series enthusiasts work on various productions, having created several Netflix Originals and many internationally awarded films and series for ARD, ZDF, ARTE, and other broadcasters, often as international co-productions. LOOKSfilm is known for its surprising perspectives and thorough research on historical topics, as well as extraordinary cinematic execution. Our productions range from historical drama series (A World Divided, 2024; Clash of Futures, 2018; 14—Diaries of the Great War, 2014), documentary films (The Natural History of Destruction, 2022), documentary series (Angela Merkel, 2024; Terror at the Games. The Munich Massacre, 2022; Afghanistan: The wounded land, 2020), to feature films (Michael Kohlhaas with Mads Mikkelsen, 2013).