When the film ‘Amrum’ was released in German cinemas on 9 October 2025, most Amrum residents were already familiar with it. They attended one of the exclusive 30 preview screenings in the small cinema on the North Sea island. They were also the first to see the costumes designed by Birgit Missal and her team.

Birgit Missal comes from Hamburg and developed a passion for historical periods and textiles at an early age. After an internship at NDR, she studied costume design at HAW in Hamburg and fashion design at the JAK Academy.

She has been responsible for the look of the series ‘Rote Rosen’ as costume designer and head of costume for many years. Her successes also include the TV miniseries ‘Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie’ and feature films such as ‘Das fliegende Klassenzimmer’ and the multi-award-winning ‘Der Baader Meinhof Komplex’, for which she was nominated for the German Film Award in the category ‘Best Costume Design’ in 2009.

In Amrum, director Fatih Akin tells the story of 12-year-old Nanning (Jasper Billerbeck), who experiences the final days of the war in 1945 on the island of Amrum, based on the autobiographical novel by Hark Bohm. Together with his friend Hermann (Kian Köppke), he works every day in the fields of farmer Tessa (Diana Kruger) while Allied bombers fly towards the mainland. Meanwhile, his heavily pregnant mother Hille (Laura Tonke) continues to believe firmly in victory.

Copyright Portrait: Warner Bros. Entertainment Gmbh („Amrum“); ZDF („Krupp – Eine deutsche Familie“)

I have been close to the Bohm family for decades, and when Hark writes, he often involves the whole family and friends in the writing process. So the script and its development were always present for me, and it was very important to me to be part of this project.

The series thrives above all on the young actor Jasper Billerbeck (Nanning), who is considered a real discovery. How did you approach his costumes, given that he is a city boy from Hamburg who comes to Amrum?

Basically, in Jasper I saw the little Hark from back then, whom I already knew from photo albums from that time. This enabled me to conduct my research effectively using the Bohm family albums. In addition, my mother’s family also comes from Hamburg and my mother is almost the same age as Hark Bohm. I had enough photographic research material from both of them. Newspaper reports from that time with photos of war refugees from the Frisian Islands were also helpful to me.

Where did you find historical images and photographs of the clothing worn by the people of Amrum during the war years? Were you able to conduct research on the island itself?

Unfortunately, this project also lacked the time and money to conduct on-site research during the preparatory phase. Not everything can be researched on the internet, which is why libraries are still very valuable for historical research – the Theaterkunst Berlin library also helped us here.

You have been responsible for costume design on the telenovela ‘Rote Rosen’ for many years. How does working on a series that has been running for almost 20 years differ from working on a feature film?

The organisational aspects within the costume department itself are not that different. In this respect, it is very similar to a large feature film project.

I would like to see more recognition of series and telenovelas on the part of productions and producers.

But research into historical costumes and the development of characters with directors and actors offers more scope in cinema projects. Collaboration with set design, make-up and camera is also much more intensive.

How did you get into costume design and what do you love about your job?

On my mother’s side, I come from an NDR family. My grandfather and uncle were sound engineers at NDR. The media has always been a part of my life, and on top of that, my mother has an antique shop on Sylt, so I’ve been familiar with different periods of contemporary history since childhood. I’ve always been fascinated by antique textiles and started collecting them at an early age.

A one-year internship at NDR convinced me to study costume design, and with each new project I found a new challenge. That’s exactly what I love about it. Always learning something new from the past and using it to create something new.

Between us… have you been speaking a bit of Öömrang, the North Frisian dialect of the island of Amrum, since filming?

…all I can say is that I was very impressed by how well the actors handled the language. It really is an admirable achievement.

Thank you very much for the interview, and see you soon at Theaterkunst!

Thank you very much for the interview, and a huge thank you to the entire Theaterkunst team, who always provided my team and me with expert support!