Arne Birkenstock (born 1967) is a German film director and screenwriter.

Biography

Birkenstock was born in Huettental and was raised in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. He studied economy, political science, history of Latin America and romance languages in Cologne,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

and Córdoba, and received a master's degree in Latin American Studies. Birkenstock published several studies and non-fiction books on Latin American music and on arts and media policy for German publishing houses and governmental institutions. He has written, directed and produced several feature-length documentary films. In 2011 und 2014, he was awarded with the German Film Academy Award LOLA. His documentary feature "Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery" had its US theatrical release in August 2015 at

Film Forum Film Forum is a nonprofit movie theater at 209 West Houston Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan. It began in 1970 as an alternative screening space for independent films, with 50 folding chairs, one projector and a $19,000 annual budget. Ka ...

in New York City and

Laemmle Theatres Laemmle Theatres ( ) is a group of family-run arthouse movie theaters in the Los Angeles area. It was established in 1938Richard Verrier A Hollywood opening for downton cinema October 24, 2009 Los Angeles Times and is owned and operated by Rober ...

in Los Angeles, distributed by Kimstim. As a producer, Birkenstock works with directors like David Bernet (Democracy), Viviane Blumenschein (Midsummer Nights Tango), Uli Gaulke (Comrades in Dream), Florian Opitz (The Big Sellout) Enrique Sánchez Lansch (

Rhythm Is It! ''Rhythm Is It!'' is a 2004 German documentary film directed by Thomas Grube and Enrique Sánchez Lansch. The film documents a project undertaken by conductor Simon Rattle and choreographer Royston Maldoom to stage a performance of Stravinsky's ...

Tonje Hessen Schei Tonje Hessen Schei is a Norwegian film director, producer and screenwriter. She has directed the documentary film ''DRONE'' and ''Play Again'', and has directed and produced the films ''Independent Intervention'' and ''iHuman''. She produced ''P ...

(

Drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

Milo Rau Milo Rau (born January 25, 1977) is a Swiss theater director, journalist, essayist and lecturer. He won the Swiss Theater Award in 2014. Life Milo Rau was born in Bern, Switzerland. He studied sociology, German studies, and Romance studies in P ...

(The Congo Tribunal), Yasemin and Nesrin Samdereli ( Almanya: Welcome to Germany). Birkenstock is a board member in the

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 ...

. He is also a 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 ...

, and the German Documentary Association (AG DOK). Birkenstocks serves as a jury member for film funds in Germany and Switzerland.

Filmography

* '' 12 Tangos – Adios Buenos Aires'' – Cinema documentary on several dancers who emigrate from Buenos Aires. The film features an All Star Tango Orchestra with some of the most famous Argentinian musicians such as Juan José "Pepe" Libertella, Lidia Borda and others. 86 min, 2005. It was shown in German theatres and broadcast in ARTE and other TV channels worldwide. * '' Chandani: The Daughter of the Elephant Whisperer'' – Cinema documentary about a young girl who wants to become a

Mahout A mahout is an elephant rider, trainer, or keeper. Mahouts were used since antiquity for both civilian and military use. Traditionally, mahouts came from ethnic groups with generations of elephant keeping experience, with a mahout retaining h ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

90 min, 2010 * ''Sound of Heimat'' – Cinema documentary about Folk music from Germany. 90 min, had its theatrical release in September 2012 * '' The Art of Forgery'' is a documentary film about

Wolfgang Beltracchi Wolfgang Beltracchi (born Wolfgang Fischer on 4 February 1951) is a German Art forgery, art forger and artist who has admitted to forging hundreds of paintings in an international art scam netting millions of euros. Beltracchi, together with his ...

and the biggest Art Forgery scandal in post war Germany, 90 min., started in German theaters in March 2014 and had its world premier at the Montreal World Film Festival. The film will be distributed worldwide by Global Screen. * ''The Moscow Trials''. Cinema documentary and theatre event by

, who assembled the protagonists of the trials about

Pussy Riot Pussy Riot is a Russian feminist protest and performance art group based in Moscow that became popular for its provocative punk rock music which later turned into a more accessible style. Founded in August 2011, it has had a membership of appr ...

and two art exhibits in a staged court house in Moscow in March 2013. *"The Night of the Nights" – Cinema documentary of

Yasemin Şamdereli Yasemin Şamdereli (born 15 July 1973 in Dortmund, West Germany) is a German actress, screenwriter and film director. Her film '' Almanya - Willkommen in Deutschland'' had its U.S. premiere at the Berlin and Beyond Film Festival in San Francisc ...

and

Nesrin Şamdereli Nesrin Şamdereli (born 1979) is a Turkish-German screenwriter of Zaza origin and film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and ac ...

about four couples in Germany, Turkey, Argentina and the US who have been married for 60 and more years and had a "real" wedding night. * ''7000 KM from Home'' – TV documentary series about German foreign exchange students in China, 4 x 30 min., 2008

Awards

The theatrical documentary ''Chandani – The daughter of the elephant whisperer'' was awarded with the

German Film Award The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

as best Children's Feature and as Best Documentary at the

Chicago International Children's Film Festival In 1983, Facets Multi-Media founded the Chicago International Children's Film Festival (CICFF), the first competitive festival of films for children in the U.S. The impetus for the Festival came from a need to introduce new, culturally diverse fil ...

. The documentary "Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery" was awarded 2014 with the German Film Award "Lola" as "best documentary".Hollywood Reporter on German film award nominees
/ref> The documentary "The Congo Tribunal" was awarded 2018 with the Zurich Film Award and nominated for the

Swiss Film Award The ''Swiss Film Award'' (formerly ''Swiss Film Prize'', also called ''Quartz'') (french: Prix du cinéma suisse, german: Schweizer Filmpreis, it, Premio del cinema svizzero, rm, Premi dal film svizzer) is the national film award of Switzerland, ...

and for German Film Award "Lola" as "best documentary". The documentary "The Night of All Nights" was awarded 2018 with the

Bavarian Film Awards The Bavarian Film Awards (german: Bayerischer Filmpreis) have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bavaria in Germany for “exceptional achievement in German filmmaking.” Along with the German Film Awards, these are the ...

as "best Documentary".

References

External links

* http://www.fruitmarket.de/ * http://www.chandani.realfictionfilme.de * {{DEFAULTSORT:Birkenstock, Arne German documentary film directors 1967 births Living people Film people from Cologne