Levi called the series “a very modern, contemporary story even though it takes place in the beginning of the 40s in the Netherlands” and one that is filled with “inspiration, compassion and strength in difficult times.”
Hagai Levi, showrunner ofThe Affair and Scenes From A Marriage, is writing and will direct the series The Girl Who Learned How to Kneel, which is being produced by Arte France with France’s Les Films du Poisson and the Netherlands’ Topkapi Films.
The loose adaptation of the diaries of Dutch author Etty Hillesum is set in Amsterdam in the late 1930s and early 1940s during the German occupation before she was deported and murdered in Auschwitz. Hillesum was just over age 27 when she started writing her diary, distinguishing her story from that of Anne Frank.
The Girl Who Learned How to Kneel will be shot in Dutch and German. Despite his experience in English-language drama, Levi “it was very important for me to be truthful to all the details and all the nuances of the original story,”
Production is slated to kick off in Amsterdam in the winter of 2024 and more production partners may join the project.