Face Down

Ireland, Germany, Spain, Australia, UK, USA, 2023

Thomas Niedermayer was a German industrialist and devoted family man who lived in Belfast. As managing director of the Grundig factory there, he also worked for the West German government as honorary consul for Northern Ireland. Over Christmas in 1973, intruders broke into his home and kidnapped him. Gerry Gregg’s affecting documentary revisits the Niedermayer case in a film that stands apart from previous cinematic studies of The Troubles. It poignantly illustrates how acts of violence linger far beyond the moments they are committed in and how the tentacles of grief extend through generations.