Alexander Nanau (born 18 May 1979) is an Oscar-nominated German/Romanian

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

, film producer and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Biography

Alexander Nanau was born on 18 May 1979, in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania. He has lived in Germany since 1990. Nanau studied directing at the German Academy of Film and Television in Berlin (DFFB) and was the holder of two scholarships, one at the Sundance Institute, and another at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Career

In 2007, he founded the Alexander Nanau Production production house in Romania. His documentary, '' The World According to Ion B.'', won the 2010

International Emmy Award The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York City, New York–based International Academy of Televisi ...

in the "Arts Programming" category. His documentary ''Toto and His Sisters'' was nominated for the

European Film Awards The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the mos ...

of the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is a group of European film director, filmmakers who come together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. Every year, the European Film Academy honors films an ...

in 2015. The latter was distributed internationally and shown at festivals around the world. Nanau was the cinematographer for the French-German documentary ''Nothingwood'', filmed in Afghanistan, which premiered at

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

in 2017 in the

Directors' Fortnight The Directors' Fortnight (, formerly ) is an independent section held in parallel to the Cannes Film Festival. It was started in 1969 by the French Directors Guild after the events of May 1968 resulted in cancellation of the Cannes festival as a ...

section. His documentary ''

Collective A collective is a group of entities that share or are motivated by at least one common issue or interest or work together to achieve a common objective. Collectives can differ from cooperatives in that they are not necessarily focused upon an e ...

'' won the Best Documentary category at the 2020 European Film Awards. It became the first Romanian film nominated for the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, as well as a nomination for Best Documentary.

Filmography

References

External links

* 1979 births Living people German film directors German film producers German screenwriters German male screenwriters Romanian emigrants to Germany Romanian film directors Film people from Bucharest {{Romania-bio-stub