Hubert Sauper (born 27 July 1966) is an Austrian

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

maker, director, writer, producer, and actor best known for the highly controversial ''

Darwin's Nightmare ''Darwin's Nightmare'' is a 2004 Austrian-French-Belgian documentary film written and directed by Hubert Sauper, dealing with the environmental and social effects of the fishing industry around Lake Victoria in Tanzania. It premiered at the 2004 ...

'' (2004) which was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

. Sauper has lived in the UK, Italy, and the United States and now lives in France. He studied film directing in universities in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and France. He teaches film classes in Europe and the USA. Sauper is famed for his political documentary films, shot in cinema verite style. He earned worldwide recognition for his film's expression, content, and aesthetics. His films are usually controversial for their explicit political, social, and poetic expression. Sauper's film ''

'' was nominated for best documentary at the Oscars, and he has been awarded for his work with more than 50 international film prizes. His two latest documentaries have received twelve International Film Prizes. He acted in several short films and two feature-length films: '' In The Circle Of The Iris'', directed by

Peter Patzak Peter Patzak (2 January 1945 – 11 March 2021) was an Austrian film director and screenwriter. He directed 60 films from 1973 to 2021. His film ''Kassbach – Ein Porträt'' was entered into the 29th Berlin International Film Festival and his f ...

, (with Philippe Léotard), and '' Blue Distance'', directed by Peter Schreiner. Hubert Sauper is also a member of:

Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS, often pronounced ; also known as simply the Academy or the Motion Picture Academy) is a professional honorary organization with the stated goal of advancing the arts and sciences of motio ...

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 Soc ...

, and Academie Francaise du Cinema. He has taught as a visiting professor/tutor at Harvard,

Yale Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

Colorado University The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University of Co ...

, Universidad de Caracas, Universidad de la Havana, FEMIS (French film school), Moscow International Film School, Istanbul University, and Southern Mediterranean Cinema School.

Early life and childhood

Sauper born in the Tyrolean Alps, Austria in 1966 as son of inn keepers, musicians. His father, Anton Hubertus Sauper is a writer and painter. Maria, his mother, is a passionate singer and works occasionally on humanitarian missions in the Balkans. Sauper has spent his adult life in Italy, Southern California - USA, Great Britain, Tanzania, Zaire (now DR Congo) Sudan, South Sudan. His permanent home is since 1995 in Paris and Burgundy, France.

Education

Sauper studied photography in the US, then film directing at the University of Fine Arts in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, and the Universite de Paris. He was also a guest student at the FEMIS after receiving an

ERASMUS Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' w ...

grant. His Cinema thesis, published in Vienna, was entitled: "Film as testament", and focused on the three last films of the directors

Cyril Collard Cyril Collard (; 19 December 1957, Paris − 5 March 1993, Paris) was a French author, filmmaker, composer, musician and actor. He is known for his unapologetic portrayals of bisexuality and HIV in art, particularly his autobiographical novel and ...

, Andrey Tarkovsky, and Joris Ivens ("Die Verdichtung"). Sauper graduated with a special mention as director from film school, receiving a Bachelor of Arts.

Filmography

*''On the Road With Emil'' (1993, Documentary) *''So I Sleepwalk In Broad Daylight'' (1994, fiction) *''Lomographer's Moscow'' (1995, Documentary) *''Kisangani Diary'' / ''Loin du Rwanda'' (''Far From Rwanda'') (1998, Documentary) *''Alone With Our Stories'' (2000, Documentary) *''

'' (2004, Documentary) *'' We Come as Friends'' (2014, Documentary) *'' Epicentro'' (2020, Documentary)

Awards

External links

*
Hubert Sauper, "Giving Voice to Those Who Are Not Heard"
(Video interview from '' Capturing Reality: The Art of Documentary'')
Interview with Hubert Sauper, co-director of Kisangani Diary "We cannot call ourselves democrats when people are still treated like animals"
with Stefan Steinberg on the

World Socialist Web Site The World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) is the website of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI). It describes itself as an "online newspaper of the international Trotskyist movement". The WSWS publishes articles and analys ...

"Darwin's Nightmare"
(Review from ''

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

'')
"Darwin's Nightmare"
(Review from ''

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 ...

'')
"Darwin's Nightmare"
(Site)
Hubert Sauper IMDB
(Site) {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauper, Hubert 1966 births Living people European Film Awards winners (people) People from Kitzbühel Austrian film directors Austrian documentary filmmakers Sundance Film Festival award winners