Peter Krüger (born 9 August 1970) is a Belgian film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the fiction film '' N - The Madness of Reason'' (2014), winning the Ensor Award for Best Film, and '' Antwerp Central'' (2011) winning the Grand Prize at this 29th International Festival of Films on Art in Montreal.
Early life
Krüger is the only child from the marriage of Jan Krüger, a Belgian
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
, and Agnes Claeys, historian. He was born and raised in
Ghent
Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...
. In 1978 he began studying music at the Music School and later studied piano with the Belgian pianist and composer
Claude Coppens
Claude Coppens (born 23 December 1936, Schaerbeek, commune of Brussels) is a Belgian pianist and composer.
Coppens studied at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels with Marcel Maas and in Paris with Marguerite Long.
He is a Laureate of the Margue ...
at the Royal Conservatory. In 1988 he went to
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal and Piedmont plains meet. Alabama's fifth-largest city, it had an estimated population of 1 ...
where he attended the
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a Public university, public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and la ...
to study American Literature and Art History. In 1989 he returned to Belgium and to attend classes at the
Institute of Philosophy, University of Leuven
The Institute of Philosophy (Dutch: Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbegeerte) is the faculty of philosophy at the KU Leuven in the Belgian city of Leuven. It was founded in 1968 when the ''Institut supérieur de Philosophie - Hoger Instituut voor Wijsbege ...
and the Institute for Cultural Studies (Instituut voor Culturele Studies). By 1994, Krüger graduated with a Master's degree in philosophy from the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
.
After graduating, Krüger began studying film script writing, directing, and producing. He took a Basic Script Writing course at the Flemish Script Academy (Vlaamse Script Academie) in Brussels and completed several European training programs supported by the
MEDIA Programme
The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe or simply Creative Europe MEDIA (formerly The MEDIA Programme of the European Union) is designed to support the European film and audiovisual industries.
Budget
The goal of programmers is to increase the ...
of the European Union: North by Northwest, the Northern European screen writing development program in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
,
Hamburg
(male), (female) en, Hamburger(s),
Hamburgian(s)
, timezone1 = Central (CET)
, utc_offset1 = +1
, timezone1_DST = Central (CEST)
, utc_offset1_DST = +2
, postal ...
, and
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
; and Strategic Film Financing, and Strategic Film Marketing in
Luxembourg
Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...
. In 2000 Krüger went to
Maine
Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
to study a Master Class Film Directing with American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer Paul Schneider; and in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
he enrolled in an acting workshop with the American, author, script analyst, and actress Judith Weston.
Career
In 1993 Krüger co-founded, with Belgian writer and director Peter Brosens,
Inti Films
This following is a list of films produced, co-produced and/or released by Inti Films.
2010s - Inti Films
Feature films
Creative documentary films
Art films
2000s - Inti Films
Creative documentary films
Short films
Art films
...
, a
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
-based film production company. At Inti Films Krüger produced, amongst others, such award-winning films as 2012’s ''
Kinshasa Kids
''Kinshasa Kids'' is a Belgian drama film,''Kinshasa Kids'' '''', an official selection at Venice Days; Renzo Martens' 2013 '' Enjoy Poverty'', an art film on the exploitation of third world poverty; and Peter Brosens' internationally acclaimed ''Mongolia trilogy'', consisting of the documentaries ''City of the Steppes'' (1993), ''
State of Dogs
''State of Dogs'' ( mn, Нохойн орон, alternately ''Nokhoin Oron'') is a Mongolian movie that was released in 1998, directed and written by Peter Brosens and Dorjkhandyn Turmunkh. The film was shown at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, the ...
'' (1998) and ''Poets of Mongolia'' (1999).
Krüger directed the award winning '' Antwerp Central'', a documentary-feature from Sophimages, which was produced by Jan Roekens. The film, which is based on the book ''
Austerlitz Austerlitz may refer to:
History
* Battle of Austerlitz, an 1805 victory by the French Grand Army of Napoleon Bonaparte
Places
* Austerlitz, German name for Slavkov u Brna in the Czech Republic, which gave its name to the Battle of Austerlitz an ...
'' by
W. G. Sebald
Winfried Georg Sebald (18 May 1944 – 14 December 2001), known as W. G. Sebald or (as he preferred) Max Sebald, was a German writer and academic. At the time of his death at the age of 57, he was being cited by literary critics as one of the g ...
, features Antwerp’s main railway station as a location where history, daily life, fiction, and reality are in constant flux. Running as a thread through the film are the dreams and reminiscences of a traveler, who arrives at Antwerp Central and through whose eyes we observe the station. The traveler is played by Belgian actor
Johan Leysen
Johan Leysen (19 February 1950 – 30 March 2023) was a Belgian actor. He appeared in more than 130 films and television shows from 1977. He starred in the film '' De grens'', which was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1984 Canne ...
(who in 2010 appeared with acclaimed actor
George Clooney
George Timothy Clooney (born May 6, 1961) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received by George Clooney, numerous accolades, including a British Academy Film Awards, British Academy Film A ...
in The American). '' Antwerp Central'' won the Grand Prix at the 29th International Festival of Films on Art in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
.
Krüger's second feature film, '' N - The Madness of Reason'', was written in collaboration with Nigerian-born poet and novelist
Ben Okri
Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.Ben Okri" British Council, ...
. The film follows the spirit of
Raymond Borremans
Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
(
Michael Lonsdale
Michael Edward Lonsdale-Crouch (24 May 1931 – 21 September 2020), commonly known as Michael Lonsdale and sometimes named as Michel Lonsdale, was a French actor and author who appeared in over 180 films and television shows. He is best know ...
), a French man who left Europe and who dies in 1988 in Abidjan. His spirit wanders across the West-African continent and evokes a confrontation between European and West-African culture. The film was released at the Berlinale 2014 and is three times winner of the ENSOR awards at the 2015
Ostend Film Festival The Ostend Film Festival ( nl, 'Filmfestival Oostende') is an annual film festival held in Ostend, Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country i ...
. In 2014 '' N - The Madness of Reason'' received the Jury Award for Best Film at Cine Migrante International Film Festival, Brasilia,
Brazil
Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
.
In 2017 Krüger was announced to direct ''The Age of Magic'', a film adaptation of
Ben Okri
Ben Okri (born 15 March 1959) is a Nigerian-British poet and novelist.Ben Okri" British Council, ...