Florian Gallenberger (born 23 February 1972 in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and ...

) is a German film director and writer. His film '' Quiero ser (I want to be...)'' was awarded the

Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...

in 2001.

Career

Gallenberger appeared in various roles in feature films, TV productions and theater plays from the age of five. From 1992 to 1999, he studied Direction at the

University of Television and Film Munich The University of Television and Film Munich (German: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, short: HFF Munich) is a publicly funded film school in Munich, Germany. The school was established in 1966 by decree of the Bavarian government. T ...

. In 2001, he won the Honorary Foreign Film Award at the

Student Academy Awards The Student Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in an annual competition for college and university filmmakers. Description The awards were originally named the Student Film Awards and were first ...

and an Oscar in the

Best Live Action Short Film The Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film is an award presented at the annual Academy Awards ceremony. The award has existed, under various names, since 1957. From 1936 until 1956 there were two separate awards, "Best Short Subject, One- ...

category for his short film ''

Quiero Ser ''Quiero Ser'' (1981) is Menudo's ninth Spanish album and the second one released in 1981, featuring Ricky Meléndez, René Farrait, Johnny Lozada, Xavier Serbiá and Miguel Cancel. With this album, their popularity started rising all over L ...

'' which is set in Mexico. In 2004, he made his first feature-length film '' Shadows of Time'' starring Indian actors

Tannishtha Chatterjee Tannishtha Chatterjee is an Indian actress and director best known in the west for her performance in the British film ''Brick Lane'' (2007), the film adaptation of Monica Ali's best selling novel of the same name Prashant Narayanan Prashant Narayanan is an Indian actor, known for his roles in films like ''Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II'', '' Shadows of Time'', ''Bombil and Beatrice'', ''Via Darjeeling'' and ''Murder 2''. He also worked in the telefilm ''Ek Tamanna''. His brea ...

and

Irrfan Khan Irrfan Khan () (born Sahabzade Irfan Ali Khan; 7 January 196729 April 2020), also known simply as Irrfan, was an Indian actor who worked in Indian cinema as well as British and American films. Widely regarded as one of the finest actors in In ...

. The romantic story, written by Gallenberger himself, was spread across 6 decades, beginning in pre-independent India in the 40s. Gallenberger set the film in India and made it entirely in

Bengali language Bengali ( ), generally known by its endonym Bangla (, ), is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Bengal region of South Asia. It is the official, national, and most widely spoken language of Bangladesh and the second most widely spoken ...

to maintain authenticity. He also hired a Bengali communicator for a crash course in the language for non-Bengali members of the 100-member crew. In 2007, Gallenberger began production of a Chinese-French-German biopictorial film on the wartime experiences of

John Rabe John Heinrich Detlef Rabe (23 November 1882 – 5 January 1950) was a German businessman and Nazi Party member best known for his efforts to stop war crimes during the Japanese Nanjing Massacre (also known as Nanking) and his work to prot ...

, a German businessman who used his Nazi party membership to establish a Safety Zone in Nanking and save over 200,000 Chinese from the

Nanking massacre The Nanjing Massacre (, ja, 南京大虐殺, Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as ''Nanking'') was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the ...

. The story is based upon Rabe's wartime diaries. It premiered at the 59th

Berlin 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 fest ...

on 7 February 2009. The film picked up over seven

German Film Awards German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

nominations, including Best Film and Best Director. He is a member of

Mensa International Mensa is the largest and oldest high-IQ society in the world. It is a non-profit organisation open to people who score at the 98th percentile or higher on a standardised, supervised IQ or other approved intelligence test. Mensa formally com ...

Filmography

;Feature Films * ''Honolulu'' (2001/anthology film) * '' Schatten der Zeit'' (2004) * ''

'' (2009) * '' Colonia'' (2015) * ''Grüner wird's nicht, sagte der Gärtner und flog davon'' (2018) * ''Der Überläufer'' (2020) ;Short Films * ''Der Schlag ans Hoftor'' (1990) * ''Mysterium einer Notdurftanstalt'' (1993) * ''Tango Berlin'' (1997) * ''Hure'' (1997) * ''Buck'' (1997) * '' Quiero ser (I want to be...)'' (1999)

Awards and nominations

;Won * 2000:

Student Academy Award The Student Academy Awards are presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in an annual competition for college and university filmmakers. Description The awards were originally named the Student Film Awards and were first ...

for Best Foreign Film - '' Quiero ser (I want to be...)'' * 2001:

- '' Quiero ser (I want to be...)'' * 2005:

Bavarian Film Award 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 th ...

for Best New Director - '' Schatten der Zeit'' ;Nominated * 2005: Best Film (Golden Star) at the International Film Festival of Marrakech - '' Schatten der Zeit''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gallenberger, Florian 1972 births Directors of Live Action Short Film Academy Award winners Film directors from Munich Living people University of Television and Film Munich alumni