<Tr> <Th> Budget </Th> <Td> $5 million </Td> </Tr> <P> The Childhood of a Leader is a 2015 historical mystery drama film, co-written, produced and directed by Brady Corbet, and is Corbet's feature film directorial debut . It is loosely based on Jean - Paul Sartre's short story The Childhood of a Leader, published in 1939 in a collection entitled The Wall, and John Fowles's 1965 novel The Magus . Corbet co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Mona Fastvold, and filmed both an English and a French language version . </P> <P> The film chronicles the childhood of a fascist leader in the period immediately following World War I. Production began in early 2015, in Budapest, Hungary . The film had its world premiere in - competition (Horizon section) at 72nd Venice International Film Festival on 5 September 2015 and won two awards at the festival, Best Debut film and Best Director . </P> <P> In 1919, an American boy living in France with his authoritarian parents witnesses the creation of the Treaty of Versailles, which shapes his beliefs and causes him to develop a terrifying ego . </P>

Who is the childhood of a leader based on