AUSTRIA

Director, producer and cinematographer. He formed his own production company at 22 years old. His first documentary was the 1994 film Washed Ashore about the river Danube and often strange idiosyncrasies of the people who live along its banks. 

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Geyrhalter’s static-camera, well-paced observational films tackle their subjects head-on, whether it’s exploring the terrain of post-disaster Chernobyl (Pripyat), reflecting on a post-human world (Homo Sapiens), or investigating modern day food production (Our Daily Bread).

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In his documentaries Nikolaus always takes the camera himself and is known for his very personal cinematic signature. Without commentary, he lets people and spaces take effect and thus gives the audience freedom of interpretation.

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Among his numerous awards are the prizes at the Biennale and Viennale, three Grand Prix of the Austrian Diagonale, awards at IDFA, Cinéma du Réel, DOK.fest Munich, IndieLisboa, at Festivals in Sheffield, Jihlava, San Francisco, Camden, Buenos Aires and many others. Twice his movies were nominated for the European Film Awards. In 2003 Nikolaus received Austrian State Award for Film Art and in 2008 his film Our Daily Bread won the prestigeus Grimme Prize.

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Founded by Nikolaus Geyrhalter in 1994, and adding Markus Glaser, Michael Kitzberger and Wolfgang Widerhofer as shareholders in 2003, Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion produces documentary and fiction features and series for cinema and TV. Alltogether more than 70 titles, invited to all major Festivals and won more than 130 awards.

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Nikolaus Geyrhalter is the author of films: Washed Ashore (1994), The Year After Dayton (1997), Pripyat (1999), Elsewhere (2001), Our Daily Bread (2005), 7915 km (2008), Allentsteig (2010), Abendland (2011), Danube Hospital (2012), Cern (2013), Over the Years (2015), Homo Sapiens (2016), The Border Fence (2018), Earth (2019). The director is currently working on films The Standstill and Matter Out Of Place.

The participation of Nikolaus Geirhalter as a jury member is supported by the Austrian Culture Forum, Moscow.