How two directors fought back when their film was stolen

DW News · Feb 24, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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It sounds like the plot of a screenplay, but it happened to two Berlin film students in real life. Moritz Henneberg and Julius Drost had created an animated short film for their final project at university. "Butty" tells the tale of a household robot that gets kicked out when it can't do its job properly. When the two filmmakers posted the work on YouTube, this touching tale quickly went viral. After generating a huge amount of hits, the duo decided to submit their work to festivals — but they were in for a shock: Organizers told them the film had already been submitted under a different name. How could that have happened? US student Samuel Felinton had downloaded the film, made minimal edits, given it a new title, "T-130," and got rid of the original credits. As the alleged author, he went on to win numerous prizes and made a name for himself in the United States. A story worthy of a movie Shocked by the blatant theft of their work, Henneberg and Drost sought legal advice. They were told that if they opted to sue, the process would be arduous and costly. So, the filmmakers took matters into their own hands and went to the US to confront Felinton — and turn the story into a documentary. Moritz (l) and Julius on a research trip to New York Image: MDR/Benedikt Hugendubel "We'd already made documentary films," Henneberg told DW. "And the idea just popped into our heads: This is a brilliant story — let's make a documentary about it." The two directors had in fact developed a kind of fascination for the man who'd stolen their film. "We looked at his vlogs and sort of took a deep dive into his world," said Drost. "We almost saw him as a kind of celebrity. We discovered a lot about him and really wanted to meet him in person." Fascination instead of anger While family and friends reacted with anger, the two young filmmakers remained surprisingly calm. They were more perplexed than anything: "Our families and friends hated Samuel. But we just wanted to understand what had happened," they said. The pair put together a film crew and traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia — the university town where Felinton lives. With the help of a New York filmmaker pretending to be making a documentary about young animators, they won Felinton's trust — and then Henneberg, Drost and Felinton were finally in a room together. Julius and Moritz gather information about Samuel FelintonImage: MDR/Benedikt Hugendubel The two German filmmakers had prepared for all manner of scenarios ahead of the meeting: "We expected an emotional reaction — that he'd run away, cry, be ashamed or get aggressive. But he remained completely calm. That was the only thing we hadn't bargained for. We thought his world would implode. But he showed barely any emotion at all," they recalled. Felinton explained how he'd shortened and "improved" the film and that this was how it came to be such a success. He agreed to transfer any prize money. His manner was cool and matter-of-fact, which Drost and Henneberg found both unsettling and fascinating. After their chat, the three barbecued together and played a round of basketball. Sue or stay creative? Later, many viewers accused the two German filmmakers of being too soft on the plagiarist. Others praised their approach. "The reactions were very divided," said Drost. "Some said we should've sued him or punched him in the face. Others said we'd shown new ways to resolve conflicts." "And in the end, it wasn't personal," added Henneberg. "He wanted to make something of himself — he could've taken another film. But if a big studio like Pixar had stolen our film, that'd be quite a different story." Samuel Felinton says he doesn't want to be 'forgotten'Image: MDR/Neue Flimmer GmbH And so, Henneberg and Drost made the conscious decision keep things respectful. They didn't want to "publicly embarrass him or punish him any more than necessary," they said, adding that their documentary was sufficient "revenge." The title of the documentary, "Der talentierte Mister F." ("The Talented Mister F."), is no coincidence. It's a play on the movie title "The Talented Mr. Ripley," the story of a young man who assumes the identity of a wealthy heir and ends up mired in a web of lies, fraud and, finally, murder. And just like Mr. Ripley, Felinton had also assumed a false identity. Big-name support Felinton did actually end up sending them the trophies he had won, as well as a sum of money. For their part, however, the festivals preferred to keep their distance from the saga. As one organizer said: The prize has been awarded, and there's nothing we can do about it — it's up to these guys to work things out between themselves. The story hasn't received much attention in the US yet. However, that could change if the documentary is shown there. One prominent supporter of its international launch is Roland Emmerich, an investor in the production company. For the original filmmakers themselves, the scandal has also had a positive impact: Since the documentary was released in Germany in October 2025, their animation film has garnered even more attention on YouTube. Henneberg and Drost uploaded it again, and in the credits, special thanks also go out to Samuel Felinton. 'Don't be afraid to show yourselves' Felinton was able to steal the film in the first place in part because when it first appeared online in 2023, it could just be downloaded from YouTube. Drost and Henneberg say uploading "Butty" back then wasn't a mistake, however, saying that was the risk of putting something online. The alternative would have been not to show the film at all, they said, then no one would have seen it. They have a clear message for young creatives. "Don't be discouraged. Be aware that something like this can happen — but stay creative in how you deal with it. Suing is expensive and often doesn't do much good. Instead, show the world that you're the authors." What started out as film plagiarism ended up becoming material for another project. And that's perhaps the most unusual twist in this very quirky story. This article was originally published in German.