was Jacob the Liar in 1975, adapted from a novel by Jurek Becker and a co-production of the DEFA studios and East German television. The film is set in World War II in German-occupied Poland. It tells the story of the Jewish protagonist Jakob Heym in a Jewish ghetto who pretends to own a radio and being able to receive news from the outside world. The film, which was remade into the Hollywood film Jakob the Liar in 1999, was Frank Beyer's biggest critical and popular success. At the 25th Berlin International Film Festival in West Berlin in 1975 the film won a Silver Bear and was nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 49th Academy Awards in 1977. It was East Germany's first and only nomination for an Academy Award. In 1977 he directed the romantic comedy again based on a screenplay by Jurek Becker and starring Jutta Hoffmann and Manfred Krug. Shortly before the completion of the production the East German government stripped the singer and dissident Wolf Biermann of his citizenship while he was on a concert tour in West Germany. Frank Beyer, Jurek Becker and the lead actors signed a letter protesting the actions of the East German government. Frank Beyer was reprimanded by the party and prohibited to work for the DEFA studios. Because the lead actor Manfred Krug had applied for permission to leave East Germany, the film was shelved and not shown in theaters. Frank Beyer's situation worsened with the television film Geschlossene Gesellschaft in 1978. The film, which ostensibly depicts a marriage crisis, was heavily criticized by party functionaries due to a perceived criticism of the socialist society. Frank Beyer was now prohibited from working for television and in 1980 his party membership was suspended. Work in East and West (1980–1989) Although prohibited to work in East Germany in 1980 Frank Beyer was given permission to work in West Germany. For the West German public broadcaster ARD he directed the television films and The Second Skin in 1981. In 1982 Frank Beyer was given permission to direct a film in East Germany at the DEFA studios. The Turning Point after a novel by Hermann Kant tells the story of a German prisoner of war at the end of World War II who is wrongly accused of being a war criminal. The film was controversial upon release as Polish commentators and