Sebastian Marka (born 1978 in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

) is a German film director and editor.

Life and work

Sebastian Marka was born in Geneva in 1978 and grew up in Königsbach-Stein near

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( ; ; ; South Franconian German, South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, third-largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, after its capital Stuttgart a ...

. Marka began studying at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 2001 and graduated in 2005 with a degree in ''Film & Media''. While still a student, Marka began working as a

film editor Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

. He edited

commercials A television advertisement (also called a commercial, spot, break, advert, or ad) is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization. It conveys a message promoting, and aiming to market, a product, service or idea. ...

, short- and

feature film A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...

s. After graduating, he continued his editing work and was responsible for editing several

Television production A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

s such as '' Unschuldig'' or '' 100 Code'', an internationally co-produced Swedish

crime drama Crime film is a film belonging to the crime fiction genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and fiction. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine with many other genres, such as Drama (film and television), dr ...

series. In 2010 Marka's short film - thriller ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

'' was released, for which he received many

award An award, sometimes called a distinction, is given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award may be d ...

s at German and international

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s. Due to the success of his short film ''Interview'' he received his first directing assignments. After directing five episodes of the German TV series , Marka subsequently shot ten 90-minute episodes of the popular German police crime drama series since 2013, three of which he edited himself. The award-winning three -episodes '' Long Live Death'' ''(Tatort: Es lebe der Tod)'', ''Tatort: Die Wahrheit'', ''Tatort: Meta'', and four other episodes were created in collaboration with Erol Yesilkaya. He wrote the screenplays for all seven episodes. Marka had met Yesilkaya in 2012 and worked with him frequently until then. In an interview with the German trade magazine ''Blickpunkt:Film'', Marka compares their cooperation to the "

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

principle". During the process of making a film, from idea development to

film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

, Yesilkaya and Marka would be in constant exchange of information to achieve a good result. On October 20, 2020, Marka's

dystopian A dystopia (lit. "bad place") is an imagined world or society in which people lead wretched, dehumanized, fearful lives. It is an imagined place (possibly state) in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmenta ...

TV -

Science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses Speculative fiction, speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as Extraterrestrial life in fiction, extraterrestria ...

''Exit'' was broadcast on the nationwide German television channel

Das Erste Das Erste (; "The First") is the flagship national television channel of the ARD (broadcaster), ARD association of public broadcasting corporations in Germany. ''Das Erste'' is jointly operated by the ARD (broadcaster)#Institutions and member org ...

. Yesilkaya again wrote the screenplay for the film, which is set in the year 2047 and addresses the dimension and impact of

artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

and digital life. The German film critic Arno Frank of

Spiegel Online ' () is a German news website. It was established in 1994 as ''Spiegel Online'' as a content mirror of the magazine ''Der Spiegel''. In 1995, the site began producing original stories and it introduced ''Spiegel Online International'' for artic ...

said, that a ''"perfectly formed dystopia like "Exit" ..has not yet been seen on public television"'' in Germany. (Eine formvollendete Dystopie wie "Exit" ..hat man bei den Öffentlich-Rechtlichen noch nicht gesehen.) Marka and Yesilkaya also filmed the German

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. magic (paranormal), Magic, the supernatural and Legendary creature, magical creatures are common i ...

''The Gryphon'' (''Der Greif'', 1989) by Wolfgang Hohlbein as television series for

Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...

. Here, Marka was

alongside Yesilkaya and directed four episodes. '' The Gryphon'' was released on Amazon Prime on May 25, 2023.

Reception

The released -episodes by Marka were almost all praised by the German press and received good

IMDb IMDb, historically known as the Internet Movie Database, is an online database of information related to films, television series, podcasts, home videos, video games, and streaming content online – including cast, production crew and biograp ...

ratings. For example, the German

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

Rainer Tittelbach wrote in October 2018, that Marka had created ''"exceptional crime films"'' (Ausnahmekrimis).

- critic Christian Buß also wrote in a 2018 - review, that Marka had ''"repeatedly artfully widened the format of the series with cinematic '-episodes' such as the Berlin episode 'Meta' or the ' Se7en' variation"'' for the Frankfurt edition (hat mit cineastischen "Tatorten" wie der Berliner Folge "Meta" oder der "Se7en"-Variation ..immer wieder kunstvoll das Format der Reihe geweitet). In addition, some of the - episodes won national and international awards. For example, the episode Long Live Death celebrated its international premiere at the

Austin Film Festival Austin Film Festival (AFF), founded in 1994, is an organization in Austin, Texas, that focuses on writers' creative contributions to film. Initially, AFF was called the Austin Heart of Film Screenwriters Conference and functioned to launch the c ...

in 2016. And Marka won an audience award for it at the Nashville Film Festival in 2017 and received a jury award at the

Garden State Film Festival The Garden State Film Festival is a film festival in the United States held in Asbury Park, New Jersey, Asbury Park and Cranford, New Jersey, Cranford, New Jersey, which debuts more than 200 independent films annually over four days each spring. ...

in 2017. For the -episode ''Die Wahrheit'' Marka and screenwriter Erol Yesilkaya were nominated for the prestigious Grimme Award in 2017. They received the ''Grimme Award'' in 2019 for their -episode ''Meta''.

Filmography (selection)

Director

* 2010: ''

'' (short film) * 2015: (5 episodes from 2013 to 2015), (TV series) * 2015: (TV series) * 2015: (TV series) * 2016: (TV series) * 2016: '' Long Live Death'' (), (TV series) * 2016: (TV series) * 2017: (TV series) * 2017: ' (), (TV movie) * 2018: (TV series) * 2018: (TV series) * 2019: (TV series) * 2020: (TV series) * 2020: ''Exit'' (TV movie) * 2021: (TV series) * 2023: '' The Gryphon'' (TV series)

Editor

* 2003: Der Ärgermacher (feature film) * 2006: Zores (TV movie) * 2008: 1st of May: All Belongs to You (episode ''Uwe''), ''(1. Mai – Helden bei der Arbeit)'' * 2008: Unschuldig (4 episodes), (TV series) * 2009: Killerjagd. Töte mich, wenn du kannst (TV movie) * 2009: Parkour (feature film) * 2010: Interview (short film) * 2011: Schreie der Vergessenen (TV movie) * 2015: 100 Code (3 episodes), (crime drama series) * 2018: (TV series) * 2018: (TV series) * 2019: (TV series) * 2020: Exit (TV movie)

Other

* 2023: The Gryphon (TV series), (creator, producer, showrunner)

Awards and nominations

Interview (2010 film) *2010: Buenos Aires Rojo Sangre (Argentina) - Prize ''Mejor Director Cortometraje'' (Best Short Film - Director) in the category ''Sección De Cortometrajes'' (Short Film Section) *2010: Indie Fest (USA) - ''Award of Merit'' in the category ''short film'' *2010:

Oaxaca FilmFest Oaxaca FilmFest was an eight-day long international film festival that was permanently cancelled in 2022. At its start, the festival was held every autumn in the Mexican city of Oaxaca from 2010 - 2019, and again from 2021. The festival is compose ...

(Mexico) - Prize ''Best short film'' *2011: Celluloid Screams: Sheffield Horror Film Festival (England) - Prize ''Best Short Film'' *2011: FEC Festival (European Short Film Festival) (Spain) - ''Audience Award'' in the category ''European Competition'' *2011: Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis (Germany) - Nomination for the ''Short Film Award'' *2011:

Oldenburg International Film Festival The Oldenburg International Film Festival, sometimes called the ''European Sundance'', has covered the international film scene in all aspects since 1994. It is held in Oldenburg (city), Oldenburg, Germany. History Films such as Park Chan-wook� ...

(Germany) - Nomination for the ''German Independence Award – Bester Kurzfilm'' (German Independence Award – Best Short film) *2011:

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

(USA) - Nomination for the ''Golden Space Needle Award'' in the category ''Best Short Film'' ( Second runner up) *2012:

Miami Short Film Festival The Miami Short Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in S ...

(USA) - Prize ''Best Narrative'' *2012:

Newport Beach Film Festival The Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) is an annual film festival in Newport Beach, California, typically held in late April. In 2022, it was announced that the festival had permanently changed its date to be held in October, as the festival bega ...

(USA) - Prize ''Best Narrative Short'' *2012: Pentedattilo Film Festival (Italy) - Prize ''Best Short'' in the category ''Thriller'' Long Live Death (Tatort: Es lebe der Tod) *2016: Festival des deutschen Films (Germany) - Nomination for the ''Ludwigshafener Filmkunstpreis'' in the category ''Best German Film'' *2017:

- Festival Award in the category ''International Narrative Feature'' *2017: Nashville Film Festival - Audience award in the category ''Episodic Competition / Long Form'' Tatort: Die Wahrheit *2017: Nomination for the Grimme-Preis (Grimme-Award) for Erol Yesilkaya (Screenplay) and Sebastian Marka (Director) in the category ''Fiction'' Tatort: Meta *2019: Grimme-Preis (Grimme-Award) for Erol Yesilkaya (Screenplay) and Sebastian Marka (Director) in the category ''Outstanding Individual Achievement - Fiction''

References

External links

*
Sebastian Marka
at

Filmportal.de filmportal.de is an online database of information related to German film. It includes extensive information on films and filmmakers as well as articles on film issues. The website was released on occasion of the 54th Berlin International Film ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marka, Sebastian German film directors German film editors German directors German editors 1978 births Living people People from Geneva