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BERLIN -- The Olympics will be returning to the German capital in Kaspar Heidelbach's "Berlin 1936," about Jewish-German high-jump champion Gretel Bergmann.

Produced by Cologne-based Gemini Film, regional pubcaster NDR and ARD's production arm Degeto, the pic chronicles Bergmann's career and her efforts to compete in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

Uncomfortable with a Jewish athlete on the country's "Aryan" team and fervently eager to win gold, the Nazis replaced Bergmann with Dora Ratjen, who was later revealed to be a man.

Karoline Herfurth ("The Reader") plays Bergmann, with Sebastian Urzendowsky, Axel Prahl and Franz Dinda also starring.

Beta Cinema is handling world sales for the film, which will be released domestically via X Verleih.

The pic, which goes into production this week in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, has received financing from regional film subsidy orgs Nordmedia, Filmfoerderung Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein and Filmstiftung NRW as well as the German Federal Film Fund. The film will lens through October.