In development.
Funded by:
A co-production of BSX Schmölzer GmbH and OTTOKAR.
Those who know nothing must believe everything.
How do you deceive a dictator? Quite simply, actually. In the end, he becomes the victim of his own delusion. The Spanish dictator: Francisco Franco already saw himself rising as the leader of a global energy superpower. Thanks to one man: Albert Edler Fülek von Wittinghausen. He promised Franco that he could produce a miracle fuel from nothing but water and herbs, thus turning Spain into an energy giant. And Franco believed him.
This satirical film tells the true story of the Austrian swindler Albert Filek, who succeeded in convincing the Spanish dictator Franco an energy-political miracle.
Francisco Franco, this small man with the falsetto voice, likely already saw himself rising to become the ruler of a world-leading energy superpower, and at the end of this story he stood there exposed like a fool.
Who was this swindler who managed to make one of the most ruthless dictators of his time believe such a foolish story? The Spanish author Ignacio Martínez de Pisón meticulously researched the story of this man: Albert Filek’s career as a bank robber, marriage swindler and con man reads like a breathless road movie. His scams took him from imperial Vienna, in the decline of the Habsburg Empire to the provinces of Carinthia and Trieste and into the chaotic debauchery of Gabriele D’Annunzio’s proto-fascist operetta state, the „Free State of Fiume,” in what is now Rijeka, until he finally ended up in Spain during the Spanish Civil War.
A charlatan like Charles Ponzi or Bernie Madoff. Seductive and brutal at the same time. Like Bonnie and Clyde, constantly on the run. Until he finally believes he can pull off his great coup. His victim: the gullible Spanish dictator Franco.
A story that reads like a satirical mockumentary. But with one difference:
It is true.