Germany 09

Hans Weingartner, born November 2, 1970, in the Austrian town of Feldkirch, studied physics, brain research, and neurosurgery in Vienna and Berlin from 1990 to 1997. In 1993/94, he simultaneously earned a diploma as a camera assistent in Vienna. In 1997, Weingartner enrolled at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne and graduated in 2001 with the drama “Das weiße Rauschen” (“The White Sound”). Highly praised by many critics, “Das weiße Rauschen” won several awards, including the 2001 “Max Ophuels Prize”, the award as “Best movie debut” of the Association of film critics, and the 2001 First Steps Award. Thanks to his intensive performance as a schizophrenic, leading actor Daniel Brühl, virtually over night, became one of the most sought-after actors of German cinema.

Weingartner’s second film, “Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei” (“The Edukators”), was shown in the competition of the 2004 Cannes film festival, as the first German language film in the competition in eleven years. From the day of its premiere on, the film became an enormous success with critics and moviegoers alike. “Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei” won numerous awards, was shown at several festivals, and drew an audience of nearly a million viewers in Germany alone. Furthermore, the film’s international rights were sold to over 50 countries.

Weingartner’s eagerly awaited third film, the media satire “Free Rainer – Dein Fernseher lügt” (“Reclaim Your Brain”) premiered at the 2007 San Sebastian film festival. —filmportal.de

TOM TYKWER was born in 1965 in Wuppertal. “Peter Pan” was probably the first film he saw, and he says that the youthful fantasy of creating a magical parallel world remains an inspiration to this day. The dreamy, childlike sense of wonder in “Peter Pan” fascinated him, as did Vittorio de Sica’s “Miracle in Milan”. Another important cinematic experience was seeing “King Kong” – nine-year-old Tykwer realized that cinema was artificial, man-made. This particular film marked the start of his fondness for the horror genre. Tykwer also names James Whales’ “Bride of Frankenstein”, "Miracle in Milan” and John Carpenter’s “Halloween” as some other early discoveries. From this point on Tykwer’s adolescence revolved round his passion for the cinema. To get greater access to films he helped out in an art-house cinema, which also allowed him to circumvent age restrictions.

Tykwer started making Super 8 films at the age of eleven, a purely fan-driven exercise in which he essentially rehashed his favourite films and – as he readily admits – bored his long-suffering circle of friends stiff. Nevertheless, he continued to work on similar projects all through school. He was much impressed by a visit to Berlin, an apparent film paradise. Every night literally dozens of film classics were on offer. After graduating from school and numerous unsuccessful applications to just about every film school in Europe, he moved to Berlin and worked there as a projectionist. In 1987 he became the programmer at the ambitious ‘Moviemento’ cinema, and even at that young age was a highly respected film buff and contact point for German directors. At the same time he was analysing screenplays for the story department and interviewed many of his cinematic idols for TV profiles.

The desire to make his own films didn’t really take firm shape until he met and became friends with filmmaker Rosa von Praunheim, who vigorously purged his fixations with genre, urging him instead to come up with stories born of his own experience. For example, he suggested Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend of the time and – in exaggerated form – turn it into a short film. BECAUSE (1990) was screened at the Hof Film Festival, which at that time was for Tykwer a veritable mecca of film culture. BECAUSE was greeted by the public with laughter and sympathetic identification, a totally unexpected reaction that turned out to be a watershed experience for the young director. To communicate intense personal truths, but at the same time challenge with formal experimentation – that was he now envisaged as the way forward. Another short film, EPILOG (1992) plunged Tykwer into personal financial debt, but allowed he and his cameraman partner Frank Griebe to gain important technical experience.

In Hof in 1990 he met Stefan Arndt, who also ran a cinema in Berlin. Their idea of doing something in tandem finally came to fruition when the producers of “Kleines Fernsehspiel” at German public broadcaster, ZDF, gave Tykwer the go-ahead to shoot his screenplay DEADLY MARIA, his first feature film. Here the horror film influences of his youth are very evident, but it then evolves into a love melodrama. The unusual story and extravagant, streamlined visual shaping of the film created a stir in the industry, highly unusual for a television drama, and enabled a – modest – cinematic release. Although audiences were far from large, dozens of film festivals around the world were now aware of Tykwer’s talent. The film was screened at over a hundred festivals and even in cinemas in some countries, such as Spain, Holland, Sweden, Norway and Brazil. Viewer reaction to the first German television broadcast was impassioned, confirming the impact – both disturbing and moving – that DEADLY MARIA had had at festivals.

Together with Stefan Arndt, Wolfgang Becker and Dani Levy, Tykwer founded production company ‘X Filme Creative Pool’ in 1994. It was to be a filmmaker collective that gave maximum creative control over their productions, yet still guaranteed a certain amount of structure and financial security. Together with Wolfgang Becker Tykwer wrote the screenplay for LIFE IS ALL YOU GET, while at the same time working on his second cinema feature WINTER SLEEPERS (1996/97). This ensemble film is clearly a bigger and far more complex production than DEADLY MARIA. The shooting in the mountains of Berchtesgaden was the first really big challenge for Tykwer and the new company. The hypnotic qualities of the film, already typical of Tykwer, brought the young director to the attention of the thinking members of the young German cinema-going public. The film itself became an insider tip at festivals. —www.tomtykwer.com

Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg’s College of Fine Arts in 1994. His collaboration with Wüste Film also dates from this time. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, Sensin – You’re The One! (Sensin – Du Bist Es!), which received the Audience Award at the Hamburg International Short Film Festival. His second short film, Weed (Getuerkt, 1996), received several national and international festival prizes. His first full length feature film, Short Sharp Shock (Kurz Und Schmerzlos, 1998) won the Bronze Leopard at Locarno and the Bavarian Film Award (Best Young Director) in 1998. His other films include: In July (Im Juli, 2000), Wir Haben Vergessen Zurueckzukehren (2001), Solino (2002), the Berlinale Golden Bear-winner and winner of the German and European Film Awards Head-On (Gegen Die Wand, 2003), and Crossing the Bridge – The Sound of Istanbul (2005). —World Cinema Foundation

Dominik Graf was born September 6, 1972, as the son of the actors Selma and Robert Graf. In 1972, he took up German language and literature studies as well as musicology at the University of Munich. In 1974, however, he switched to the Academy for Television & Film (HFF), where he shot the short film “Carlas Briefe” during his first academic year. In addition to his studies, he wrote screenplays for the TV series Auf Achse. Furthermore, he played small roles in feature films such as Der Mädchenkrieg (1977, Alf Brustellin, Bernhard Sinkel). He also took on the leading role in Heidi Genée’s comedy 1 + 1 = 3 (1979).

He received the Bavarian Film Award for his graduation film Der kostbare Gast (1979). Subsequently, Graf concentrated on his television work and directed several episodes for series such as Familientag and Köberle kommt. With his work on the TV series Der Fahnder and the Tatort episode Schwarzes Wochenende (1985), Graf was able to establish himself as a specialist for action and crime movies.

Mostly produced by the Bavaria Atelier GmbH, some of his movies have also found their way onto the big screen, e.g. Treffer (1984), a movie depicting the dreams of three adolescent motorcyclists, and Tiger, Löwe, Panther (1989), a drama about three women around their thirties trying to get away from their daily lives. With the TV movie Bei Thea (1986), Graf established himself as a sensible director of films depicting German-Jewish issues. His attempts at comedic filmmaking, however, turned out to be less successful. Examples include the 1985 comedy Drei gegen Drei (starring the German band “Trio”), the genre mixture Spieler (1990), and the Bavarian doctor’s skit Dr. Knock (1997). —filmportal.de

Nicolette Krebitz (born September 2, 1971 in Berlin, Germany) is a director, actress, model and singer. She is often credited as “Coco” in her creative works.

Nicolette Krebitz made her film debut at age eleven. Later, she hosted television and radio shows for children and attended the Ballett-Centre Berlin and the Fritz-Kirchhoff acting school, also in Berlin.

Krebitz has appeared in over 30 movies, but she is known best for her role in the German-language films Bandits (1997) and Der Tunnel (2001). She also appeared in the English-language film All the Queen’s Men (2001). She wrote and directed the 2001 movie Jeans and 2007’s Das Herz ist ein dunkler Wald.

She is the model on the cover of New Order’s 2001 album Get Ready and its associated singles. Her image is also on the cover and in the sleeve of Terranova’s 1999 album Close the Door. She contributed vocals to the Bandits soundtrack and to the Terranova tracks Just Enough, Plastic Stress and Never. —wikipedia

Dani Levy was born in Basel (Switzerland) on November 17th 1957. After graduating from school, the son of an emigrated German-Jewish family had his first stage experiences working as a clown and acrobat in the Basilisk Circus and though he lacked formal training, he was cast as an actor for the Basel theatre and – following a stint in the USA – for the Rote Grütze theatre in Berlin.

In 1984, he gained prominence as a TV actor in the Swiss series “Motel”, playing the kitchen aid Peperoni. Two years later, he made his directorial debut with “Du mich auch”, which he scripted together with his real-life partner Anja Franke. Levy and Franke also played the leads in the romantic comedy, which was co-directed by Franke and Helmut Berger. The low-budget production turned into a surprise festival hit and was chosen for the “Semaine de la Critique” at the Cannes International Film Festival.

1986 saw the release of Levy’s second feature “RobbyKallePaul”, in which he starred alongside his life-partner and co-author Maria Schrader. The film about a flat-share won the audience award at the 1989 Mas-Ophüls-Preis Festival.

In 1990, Schrader and Levy wrote the screenplay for “Meschugge”, which was eventually filmed in 1998. Since “Meschugge” was delayed, Schrader and Levy instead made “I was on Mars” (1991), the story of a love-triangle set in New York. In 1993, Levy won the Director’s Award at the Munich Film Festival for his short “Ohne mich”.

In 1994, he co-founded the X-Filme production company together with Tom Tykwer, Wolfgang Becker and Stefan Arndt. The company’s first feature film, the drama “Stille Nacht”, screened in the competition of the 1996 Berlin International Film Festival.

1998 saw the premiere of “Meschugge” at the Toronto International Film Festival, and the film about a young Jewish woman from New York who investigates a dark family secret went on to win the awards for Best Production and Best Camera at the Bavarian Film Prize.

Levy, who apart form his own films continued to appear as an actor in other directors’ works, made the drama “Väter” (2001/2002) about a divorced man desperately trying to gain custody for his little son. In 2004, he shortly returned to the theatre: In Basel, he staged the play “Freie Sicht aufs Mittlemeer”.

The same year, he had his biggest box-office success to date with “Alles auf Zucker!”. The comedy about a Berlin Jew, who according to his mother’s last wish has to reconcile with his deeply religious brother, won the Ernst-Lubitsch-Award. The jury called it a “renaissance of the German-Jewish comedy tradition”. In a spectacular sweep, “Alles auf Zucker!” also won the awards for Best Direction, Best Screenplay and Best Film at the 2005 German Film Prize.

Levy’s next film, the tragicomic satire “Mein Führer – Die wirklich wahrste Wahrheit über Adolf Hitler”, starring Helge Schneider as Adolf Hitler, was released in early 2007. The film got mixed reviews and didn’t meet the box office expectations.

After partaking in the omnibus film “Deutschland ’09 – 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation”, Levy completed his next feature: The comedy “Das Leben ist zu lang” tells of a Jewish director, who suffers from an existential crises and awakes in an altered reality following a botched suicide attempt. —filmportal.de