The film is based on four selected stories from the volume of stories of the same name, as well as the story "Hurrikan (Something farewell)" from the volume "Summerhaus, later the Berlin author Judith Hermann. The film was produced by ARTE G.E.I.E, box! Film Hamburg GmbH, Marco Polo High Definition, RBB – Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg and Senator Film Produktion GmbH with the support of the Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, the Filmförderungsanstalt and the Filmförderung Hamburg. Between March 6 and July 2006, the filming took place in Iceland, Leipzig, Brandenburg, Hamburg, Venice, the United States (Utah, Arizona, Nevada) and Jamaica.