Andres Veiel (born 16 October 1959) is a German film and theater director and writer.
Biography
From 1982 to 1988, Veiel studied Psychology at the
Free University of Berlin
The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in political science and t ...
and attended the director's class of
Krzysztof Kieślowski
Krzysztof Kieślowski (; 27 June 1941 – 13 March 1996) was a Polish film director and screenwriter. He is known internationally for ''Dekalog'' (1989), ''The Double Life of Veronique'' (1991), and the ''Three Colours'' trilogy (1993
–1994) ...
at the Independent Berlin Artist Center
Künstlerhaus Bethanien from 1985 to 1989. As professors, the Künstlerhaus Bethanien gathered other renowned International and European directors such as
Andrei Tarkovsky
Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( rus, Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, p=ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of the greates ...
,
Patrice Chéreau
Patrice Chéreau (; 2 November 1944 – 7 October 2013) was a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor and producer. In France he is best known for his work for the theatre, internationally for his films '' La Reine Margot'' and ...
and
Robert Wilson.
Veiel's first documentary film ''Winternachtstraum'' (''Winter Night's Dream'') resulted from his theatrical work with a group of senior actresses and premiered 1992 at the Duisburger Filmwoche, an annual festival for German-speaking documentaries.
His next documentary about a Jewish-Palestinian theater group in Israel, ''Balagan'', won in 1993 the
Findling Award
The Findling Award or short Findling (german: Findlingspreis) was a German film award donated by the umbrella organization of cultural cinemas and film clubs Verband für Filmkommunikation. It was founded in 1982 in GDR and was awarded on sever ...
than was screened at the 1994
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (german: Internationale Filmfestspiele Berlin), usually called the Berlinale (), is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festi ...
(Berlinale) and awarded with the Peace Film Award, the Camera Award and the German Film Award in silver. In 1996, Veiel shot his most personal film, ''Die Überlebenden'' (''The survivors''). It pictures the fate of three of Veiel's former schoolmates who committed suicide.
In 2001, a large audience took notice of Veiel's documentary ''
Black Box BRD'', in which he is bringing the biographies of
Alfred Herrhausen
Alfred Herrhausen (30 January 1930 in Essen – 30 November 1989 in Bad Homburg vor der Höhe) was a German banker and the Chairman of Deutsche Bank, who was assassinated in 1989. He was a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group a ...
, chairman of the
Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...
and his suspected assassin and
Red Army Fraction
The Red Army Faction (RAF, ; , ),See the section "Name" also known as the Baader–Meinhof Group or Baader–Meinhof Gang (, , active 1970–1998), was a West German far-left Marxist-Leninist urban guerrilla group founded in 1970.
The ...
(RAF) member
Wolfgang Grams
Wolfgang Grams (March 6, 1953 – June 27, 1993) was a member of the Red Army Faction (RAF), a German far-left terrorist organisation.
Life
Wolfgang Grams was born in Wiesbaden, Germany. His parents, Werner and Ruth Grams, were expelled f ...
face to face. ''Black Box BRD'' has won numerous awards, among others the European Film Award, the German Film Award and the Santa Barbara Film Festival Insight Award.
Veiel's next released work returned to the field of theater. ''Die Spielwütigen'' (''Addicted to Acting'') portrays four Berlin based acting students during the period of almost seven years and premiered at the 2004 Berlin International Film Festival.
In 2005, the documentary theater play ''Der Kick'' (''The Kick'') about the 2002 murder of a teenager by three neo-Nazi teenagers in East Germany, which Veiel has written together with Gesine Schmidt, was first performed at theaters in Basel (Switzerland) and Berlin and was invited to the major German Theater Festival, the Berlin Theater Festival (Theatertreffen der Berliner Festspiele ) in May 2006. To date, the play has been performed by more than 60 theaters and has been translated into nine languages. Based on the performance of the play, Veiel created a documentary film which was first shown at the Berlinale 2006. Furthermore, German public radio stations collaborated with Veiel to produce an eponymic radio drama in 2005.
According to his technique of longstanding and profound research when dealing with a subject, Veiel explores the topics of his films also as an author of non-fictional books. ''Black Box BRD. Alfred Herrhausen, the Deutsche Bank, the RAF and Wolfgang Grams'' gathers and extends by far the results of the research shown in the film. In 2007, ''Der Kick - ein Lehrstück über Gewalt'' (''The Kick - a Lesson in Violence'') is released and is awarded with the Deutsche Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth's Literature Award) in 2008.
''Wer, wenn nicht wir'' (''
If Not Us, Who?
''If Not Us, Who?'' (german: Wer wenn nicht wir) is a 2011 German drama film directed by Andres Veiel and starring August Diehl. The film is set in the late 1940s, the early 1960s, and at the beginning of the Protests of 1968.
The film premiere ...
''), Veiel's first feature film, was shot in 2010 and premiered in the competition of the Berlin International Film Festival in 2011, where it was awarded with the
Alfred Bauer Prize
The Alfred Bauer Prize was an annual film award, presented by the Berlin International Film Festival, as part of its Silver Bear series of awards, to a film that "opens new perspectives on cinematic art". The prize was suspended in 2020 after it w ...
. The film covers the history and genesis of the RAF and the relationship of the German author and publisher Bernward Vesper towards the RAF's founding members
Gudrun Ensslin
Gudrun Ensslin (; 15 August 1940 – 18 October 1977) was a German far-left terrorist and founder of the West German far-left militant group Red Army Faction (, or RAF, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang).
After becoming involved with co-fou ...
and
Andreas Baader
Berndt Andreas Baader (6 May 1943 – 18 October 1977) was one of the first leaders of the West German left-wing militant organization Red Army Faction (RAF), also commonly known as ''the Baader-Meinhof Group''.
Life
Andreas Baader was born in ...
. Main protagonists of the film were
August Diehl,
Lena Lauzemis
Lena Lauzemis (born 15 January 1983) is a German actress. She has been in multiple films and television shows including '' If Not Us, Who?'', ', ''Wolffs Revier'' and ''Tatort''. She has also been a regular performer with the Munich Kammerspiele. ...
and
Alexander Fehling. It received various awards, including the 2011 German Film Award in Bronze the Hessian Film Award for Best Feature Film and for Best Actress, as well as two awards (Best Film Silver Award, Best Male Lead) at the 2011
Seville European Film Festival
The Seville European Film Festival (SEFF; es, Festival de Cine Europeo de Sevilla, links=no) is an annual film festival dedicated to European cinema held in November in Seville, Spain, since 2004.
The festival is an initiative of the Instituto d ...
and the Best International Film Award at the 10th
Pune International Film Festival
The Pune International Film Festival (also known as PIFF) is an annual film festival held in Pune, a city in Maharashtra, India. Open to general public, the films are screened at NFAI, Inox, City Pride, PVR cinema halls, all located in Pune ...
in 2012.
In 2012 Veiel interviewed current and former executive board members from various leading banks. Based on this research, he wrote the theater play ''Das Himbeerreich'' (''The Raspberry Empire'') looking behind the curtain of the financial system, showing personal motives and professional constraints of financial players. Himbeerreich premiered at the Staatstheater Stuttgart and at the
Deutsches Theater in Berlin in January 2013.
In February 2017, Veiel's cinema documentary ''
Beuys'' celebrated its premiere at the competition of the Berlin International Film Festival. With ''Beuys'', Veiel succeeds in bringing the first cinema documentary about Joseph Beuys, one of the most controversial artists of the 20th century, onto the big screen. During the three-year development period, Veiel conducted more than 60 interviews with contemporary witnesses of Beuys and viewed 400 hours of archival footage, went through 300 hours of audio footage and more than 20,000 photographs. The film consists of 90% of archival footage, many of which has been published for the first time. Veiel does not try to explain Beuys by the means of a classical biography, but his use of the archival footage rather “allows the viewer to not only enter the time and space that the artwork was developed in, but experience its conception and creation alongside the artist himself.” Veiel is particularly interested in Beuys' extended concept of art as a
social sculpture Social sculpture is a phrase used to describe an expanded concept of art that was invented by the artist and co-founder of the German Green Party, Joseph Beuys. Beuys created the term "social sculpture" to embody his understanding of art's potential ...
, which anticipates today's demands for basic income and a democratization of the financial and monetary system.
''Beuys'' received positive reactions. It’s described to be the film of record and “the most extensive revisiting of Beuys’s art and life for a general public.” “The documentary ''Beuys'' will not only offer a psychological portrait of the man, but chronicle the many ways he sought to reverse the effects of our repressive social systems — and how his breakthroughs continue to influence artists today." Furthermore it’s pointed out that both of Beuys’ “most recognisable and less emblematic works come alive on screen thanks to the inventive ways in which the director dives into the moments depicted in still pictures of the era, while his use of archival footage of Beuys’ installations proves to be a transportive decision." The US - theatrical release of Beuys started on 17 January 2018 and was again well received: The
village voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the creat ...
acknowledges that "the engaging ''Beuys'' avoids the typical pitfalls of documentaries and that Veiel’s refreshingly open-ended approach invites you to find your own answers" while
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny (born August 8, 1959) is an American film critic and journalist. He writes for ''The New York Times'' and '' RogerEbert.com''.
Biography
Kenny attended William Paterson University, where he majored in English literature.[New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...]
defines ''Beuys'' as "an exhilarating portrait of a unique truth-teller. Makes a strong case for Beuys, emphasizing the social conscience at work in his art."
In 2017, Veiel together with the author Jutta Doberstein and in cooperation with the
Deutsches Theater Berlin
The Deutsches Theater is a theater in Berlin, Germany. It was built in 1850 as Friedrich-Wilhelm-Städtisches Theater, after Frederick William IV of Prussia. Located on Schumann Street (Schumannstraße), the Deutsches Theater consists of two ad ...
and the
Humboldt Forum
The Humboldt Forum is a museum dedicated to human history, art and culture, located in the Berlin Palace on the Museum Island in the historic centre of Berlin. It is in honour of the Prussian scholars Wilhelm and Alexander von Humboldt. Considere ...
br>
initiated ''WHICH FUTURE?!'', a two-year interdisciplinary, participatory research and theatre project, dedicated to drafting a fictional, yet evidence-based scenario for the next ten years. With international scientists, artists and the audience meeting in workshops, laboratories and plenary sessions, ''Which Future?!'' explored the correlation between knowledge, prediction and design and condensed scenarios for the future development of the financial system, the economy, the climate, food production and work into a jointly developed narrative looking at the years 2018 to 2028. The results were merged into a play that premiered at the Deutsches Theater in September 2018: ''Let them eat money''. ''Which Future?
' A final conference in cooperation with the Humboldt Forum is planned for 2020.
The play was mainly well received and regarded as „an engrossing drama that skillfully avoids preaching or propagandizing” with special recognition for the script, which “does a fine job dramatizing the complex ideas developed during the workshops, explaining complex hypothetical economic and political scenarios in clever and nuanced ways.”
Veiel lectured and lectures at various film schools and universities, including the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin dffb (German Film and Television Academy Berlin), the Free University of Berlin, the
University of Zurich
The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
, the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
and is regularly being invited by the
Goethe Institut
The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...
e to worldwide lectures, such as in Johannesburg, New Delhi, Calcutta, Osaka, Cairo and Tunis. He is member of the
European Film Academy
The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988.
The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soci ...
, the German Film Academy (
Deutsche Filmakademie
The Deutsche Filmakademie is an independently run organization with a focus on filmmaking in Germany. It was founded in 2003 in Berlin as a way to provide native filmmakers a forum for discussion and a way to promote the reputation of German ci ...
) and the
Academy of Arts, Berlin
The Academy of Arts (german: Akademie der Künste) is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany.
The Academy's predecessor organization was fo ...
.
Filmography
* 1992 ''Winternachtstraum'' (''Winter Night's Dream''), documentary, 82 minutes
* 1993 ''Balagan'', documentary, 90 minutes
* 1996 ''Die Überlebenden'' (''The Survivors''), documentary, 90 minutes
* 2001 ''
Black Box BRD'', documentary, 101 minutes
* 2004 ''Die Spielwütigen'' (''Addicted to Acting''), documentary, 108 minutes
* 2006 ''Der Kick'' (''The Kick''), documentary, 82 minutes
* 2011 ''Wer wenn nicht wir'' (''
If Not Us, Who?
''If Not Us, Who?'' (german: Wer wenn nicht wir) is a 2011 German drama film directed by Andres Veiel and starring August Diehl. The film is set in the late 1940s, the early 1960s, and at the beginning of the Protests of 1968.
The film premiere ...
''), feature film, 124 minutes
* 2017 ''
Beuys''
Theater productions
* 2005 ''Der Kick'' (''The Kick''), Theater Basel and
Maxim Gorki Theater
The Maxim Gorki Theatre (german: Maxim Gorki Theater) is a theatre in Berlin-Mitte named after the Soviet writer, Maxim Gorky. In 2012, the Mayor of Berlin Klaus Wowereit named Şermin Langhoff as the artist director of the theatre.
History
It ...
Berlin
* 2013 ''Das Himbeerreich'' (''The Raspberry Empire''), Staatstheater Stuttgart and Deutsches Theater Berlin
* 2017/2018 ''Let Them Eat Money. WELCHE ZUKUNFT?! (Let Them Eat Money. WHICH FUTURE?!)'', Deutsches Theater Berlin and Humboldt Forum Berlin
Awards
* 1994 Peace Award of the Berlin International Film Festival for ''Balagan''
* 1994 German Film Award in Silver for ''Balagan''
* 1998 Adolf Grimme Award Best Documentary Film for ''The Survivors''
* 2001 European Film Award for ''Black Box BRD''
* 2002 German Film Award for ''Black Box BRD''
* 2004 Panorama Audience Award of the Berlin International Film Festival for ''Addicted to Acting''
* 2008 Adolf Grimme Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement for ''The Kick''
* 2011 German Film Award in Bronze for ''If Not Us, Who?''
* 2017 Guild of German Art House Cinemas - Best Documentary Award for ''Beuys''
* 2018 German Film Award in Gold (Best Documentary) for ''Beuys''
* 2018 German Film Award in Gold (Best Editing) for ''Beuys''
* 2018 German Film Award Nominee (Best Film Score) for ''Beuys''
* 2018 German Documentary Film Music Award for ''Beuys''
Bibliography
By Veiel
* Andres Veiel (1991). ''Die letzte Probe. Ein Stück Revolution im Altenheim.'' Theaterstück in 3 Akten. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt/Main.
* Andres Veiel (1992). ''Hier drin kannst du alles haben. Ein Stück Knast.'' In: Theater, Theater. Aktuelle Stücke. Bd. 2. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt/Main.
* Andres Veiel (2002). ''Black Box BRD. Alfred Herrhausen, die Deutsche Bank, die RAF und Wolfgang Grams.'' Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, .
* Andres Veiel (2007). ''Der Kick. Ein Lehrstück über Gewalt.'' Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich, .
* Gerd Koenen, Andres Veiel (2008). ''1968. Bildspur eines Jahres.'' Fackelträger Verlag, Cologne, .
* Andres Veiel, Beatice Ottersbach (2008). ''Dokumentarfilm. Werkstattberichte.'' UVK Verlagsgesellschaft, Konstanz, .
About Veiel
* Nikolas Fischer (2009). ''Das Kino des Andres Veiel. Politische Filme im Balanceakt zwischen Dokument und Fiktion.'' Mensch und Buch Verlag, Berlin, .
*Claudia Lenssen (2019): ''Andres Veiel.'' Schüren Verlag, Marburg (to be published in March 2019)
References
External links
Andres Veiel at Filmportal*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Veiel, Andres
1959 births
Living people
Film people from Stuttgart
Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin
German male writers
Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany