“Health has become law, and doubt a crime. But without doubt, there is no room for certainty – mo truth. And without truth, freedom slips quietly into obedience. Corpus Delicti is a story about the necessity of truth — and about being handcuffed for most shooting days and breaking countless shackless: proof that every rebellion starts small.”

With this statement, German actor Damian Hardung (Maxton Hall, Stella: a life, Love Sucks, Softies) introduces Corpus Delicti, which is set to premiere in theatres on 1 October 2026. Currently three weeks into production, the film sees him return to the role of Moritz Holl.

Hardung first stepped into Moritz’s shoes in a highly acclaimed stage adaptation of Juli Zeh’s novel, staged at Cologne’s Comedia Theater in May 2022 — a time when Europe was just emerging from the pandemic. At the time, the actor — who studies medicine in Cologne — described Moritz as “someone who truly lives. Life only makes sense to him if it’s lived in full, not merely preserved. I love how he combines youthful innocence with deep philosophical insight. He’s critical of the system, yet he isn’t a conspiracy theorist — he simply sticks to the facts.”

In the film, Mia Holl is a brilliant, independent, thirty-year-old woman whose sharp mind and self-confidence make her dangerous in a society where health and safety have become obsessions. In this disturbingly familiar dystopia, every aspect of life is regulated by the METHOD — a hyper-medicalised surveillance system. Accused of subversive behaviour, Mia’s true “crime” is refusing to conform. Determined to clear the name of her brother (Hardung), falsely accused of murder before dying by suicide, Mia begins to question the very foundations of the system.

Armed with scientific expertise and an uncompromising sense of justice, she launches a legal battle that gradually turns her into a symbol of rebellion. While defending her own freedom, she becomes the face of a possible alternative — a more humane society, less driven by fear. Her lone act of defiance begins to shake the regime’s certainties, sparking a movement with the power to transform the established order.

Corpus Delicti is directed by Lena Stahl, adapting Juli Zeh’s bestselling novel. Joining Hardung in the cast are Hannah Herzsprung (The Reader) as Mia, Alexander Fehling (Inglourious Basterds, Homeland, A Hidden Life, Transatlantic), Haley Louise Jones (Paradise), and Christian Friedel (The Zone of Interest, Babylon Berlin, 13 Minutes, The White Ribbon). The film will be released by Leonine Studios.

Stahl describes it as “a deeply relevant, emotionally intense, and extraordinarily powerful work.”