Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Born	Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck May 2, 1973 (1973-05-02) (age 36) Cologne, Germany
Years active	1996 - present
Spouse(s)	Christiane von Donnersmarck

Florian Maria Georg Christian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck (born May 2, 1973) is an Oscar-winning German director and screenwriter.

Personal life

Von Donnersmarck was born in Cologne, and grew up in New York, Brussels, Frankfurt and West Berlin. He speaks English, German, French, Russian and Italian fluently. After graduating from high school at the top of his class, he studied Russian Literature in Leningrad for two years and passed the Soviet State Exam for Teachers of Russian as a Foreign Language. Florian holds an MA Oxon from his studies in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford University (New College). He also holds a Diploma in Film Directing from the University of Television and Film Munich.

Florian is the son of Leo-Ferdinand Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck, a former President of the German division of the Order of Malta and Anna Maria von Berg. He holds German as well as Austrian citizenships, although he has never lived in Austria. He is the younger brother of Sebastian Graf Henckel von Donnersmarck. His uncle, Gregor Henckel-Donnersmarck, is a Cistercian abbot. To write the first draft of Das Leben der Anderen, he spent a month at Heiligenkreuz Abbey in the Vienna Woods, which is led by his uncle.

Florian is married to Christiane Henckel von Donnersmarck (née Asschenfeldt), the former International Executive Director of Creative Commons. They have three children: Lara Cosima (born in 2003), Leo Sylvester (born in 2005) and Alexis Jaguar (born in 2007). They live in Los Angeles, where Florian is writing an English-language screenplay. He is also very tall, standing 2.05 m (6' 9").^[1]

Career

In 1996, he won a directing internship with Richard Attenborough on In Love and War, and then went to study at the Fiction Directing Class of the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (University of Television and Film Munich), Germany, alma mater of directors as diverse as Wim Wenders and Roland Emmerich.

There, his first short film "Dobermann" (which Donnersmarck wrote, produced, directed and edited) broke the school record for the number of awards won by a student production. It became an international festival sensation, and Donnersmarck travelled the festival circuit for over a year.

His first feature film Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) won the European Film Award for Best Film, Best Actor and Best Screenplay in 2006. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck went on to win the Los Angeles Film Critics Association's award for Best Foreign Film, was nominated for the Golden Globe (which went to Clint Eastwood instead), and on February 25, 2007 won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

In 2007, Henckel von Donnersmarck was one of 115 new members to be invited to join AMPAS.^[2]

Filmography

• 2006 – Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) - writer/director, co-producer
• 1999 – Dobermann - writer/director, producer, editor

Awards

• 2008 - BAFTA for The Lives of Others
• 2008 - César Award for The Lives of Others
• 2008 - New York Film Critics Circle Award for The Lives of Others
• 2007 - Los Angeles Film Critics Association for The Lives of Others
• 2006 – European Film Awards for The Lives of Others
  • Best Film
  • Best Screenplay
• 2006 - Deutscher Filmpreis (German Film Award) for Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others)
  • Best Direction
  • Best Screenplay
• 2005 - Bavarian Film Award, Best Screenplay^[3]
• 2000 – Universal Studios Germany, Shocking Shorts Award for Dobermann
  • Best Short Film
• 2000 – Max Ophüls-Preis for Dobermann
  • Best Short Film

Honours

• Commander of the Bavarian Order of Merit
• Commander of the Northrhine-Westfalian Order of Merit
• Voting Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences

Further reading

• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der anderen. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2006, ISBN 3-518-45786-1
• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck: Das Leben der anderen. Geschwärzte Ausgabe. Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 3-518-45908-2

References

External links

• Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck at the Internet Movie Database
• Biography and Interview in German Films Quarterly
• photographs of Donnersmarck on official site
• Interview in indieWIRE