Christoph Dreher (born 1952) is a German filmmaker, musician and scriptwriter. From 2000 until 2020, he was a professor of audiovisual media. After studying political science and philosophy at the

Free University of Berlin The Free University of Berlin (, often abbreviated as FU Berlin or simply FU) is a public university, public research university in Berlin, Germany. It is consistently ranked among Germany's best universities, with particular strengths in poli ...

, he studied filmmaking at DFFB (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie in Berlin) between 1978 and 1983. In 1980, Dreher founded the post-punk – post-rock band

Die Haut Die Haut (German for ''the skin'') were an experimental German post-punk and post-rock band in Berlin during the 1980s and 1990s, with such records as the Nick Cave collaboration '' Burnin' the Ice''. The only constant member was Christoph Dreh ...

(the first line-up consisted of, in addition to Dreher, Martin Peter,

Thomas Wydler Thomas Wydler (born 9 October 1959), is a Swiss musician best known for being a core member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, of which he has been a drummer since 1985. Prior to joining them, he was a member of the experimental German band Die Haut. ...

and Remo Park). The name of the band was inspired by the book of the same title by German–Italian author

Curzio Malaparte Curzio Malaparte (; 9 June 1898 – 19 July 1957), born Kurt Erich Suckert, was an Italian writer, filmmaker, war correspondent and diplomat. Malaparte is best known outside Italy due to his works ''Kaputt'' (1944) and ''La pelle'' (1949). The f ...

. With Dreher as the only permanent member, the band had changing line-ups (one of the longest lasting having consisted of Dreher, Thomas Wydler,

Rainer Lingk Rainer may refer to: People * Rainer (surname) * Rainer (given name) Other * Rainer Island, an island in Franz Josef Land, Russia * 16802 Rainer, an asteroid * Rainer Foundation, British charitable organisation See also * Rainier (disambiguation ...

and Jochen Arbeit) until its breakup in 2000. Originally an instrumental group with the classical instrumentation of guitars, bass and drums, for their numerous records as well as for live gigs Die Haut frequently collaborated with likeminded international singers such as

Lydia Lunch Lydia Lunch (born Lydia Anne Koch; June 2, 1959)Martin Charles Strong. ''The Great Indie Discography''. 2003, page 85 is an American singer, poet, writer, actress and self-empowerment speaker. Her career began during the 1970s New York City no ...

Nick Cave Nicholas Edward Cave (born 22 September 1957) is an Australian singer, songwriter, poet, lyricist, author, screenwriter, composer and occasional actor. Known for his baritone voice and for fronting the rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, C ...

, Jeffrey Lee Pierce or

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

. As filmmaker–director, Dreher has been creating audiovisual works since 1979. While still a student, he made several music videos, either for Die Haut ("Der Karibische Western") or for Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ("Tupelo", "The Singer" and "Mercy Seat"). With Heiner Mühlenbrock, he made the feature-length film ''OK OK – Der Moderne Tanz''. In numerous documentary films and series, Dreher dealt with issues from the area of popular culture. For example, in the 18-part series ''Lost in Music'', in cooperation with, amongst others, Rolf S. Wolkenstein, Ellen El Malki and Rotraut Pape, Dreher covered contemporary musical genres and their associated cultures and (life-) styles. The innovative style of his films received recognition with the

Adolf Grimme Award The Grimme-Preis ("Grimme Award"; prior to 2011: Adolf-Grimme-Preis) is one of the most prestigious German television awards. It is named after the first general director of Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk, Adolf Grimme.Merz Akademie for Design, Art and Media in Stuttgart.

Selected works

Publications

* 2010 (Editor) ''Auteur Series: The Re-invention of Television''. Stuttgart: Merz & Solitude. www.merz-akademie.de/remediate
mfg.merz-akademie.de/remediate
* 2013 (Co-Author, with Christine Lang) ''Breaking Down Breaking Bad – Dramaturgie und Ästhetik einer Fernsehserie'' Reihe Merz Akademie im Fink Verlag.
www.merz-akademie.de/projects/breaking-down-breaking-bad
* 2014 (Editor) ''Auteur Series II: Quality TV in the USA and Europe''. Reihe Merz Akademie im Fink Verla

Film and Video

* 1980 ''Ok Ok – Der Moderne Tanz'' (Co-Writer/Co-Director, with

Heiner Mühlenbrock __NOTOC__ Heiner is a German male name, a diminutive of Heinrich, and also a surname. Given name * Heiner Backhaus (born 1982), professional footballer * Heiner Baltes (born 1949), former football defender * Heiner Brand (born 1952), former West ...

, 90 min.) * 1981 ''Commercial – 40 One-Minute-Adventures in the World of TV'' (Writer/Director, with Gusztav Hamos, 41min.) * 1985 ''Die Legionäre'' (Co-Writer/Co-Director, with Ellen El Malki, ZDF, 30 min.) * 1992 ''

live: Sweat'' (Co-Writer, Co-Director, with Rotraut Pape and Rolf S. Wolkenstein, 60 min.) * 1993–98 ''Lost in Music'' (Writer/Director,

ZDF ZDF (, short for Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen; ; "Second German Television") is a German public-service television broadcaster based in Mainz, Rhineland-Palatinate. It is run as an independent nonprofit institution, which was founded by all fe ...

3sat In logic and computer science, the Boolean satisfiability problem (sometimes called propositional satisfiability problem and abbreviated SATISFIABILITY, SAT or B-SAT) is the problem of determining if there exists an interpretation that satisfies ...

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, pl ...

, 18 episodes between 42 and 60 min.) * 1993 '' Tekkno Trance'' (Co-Writer, co-Director, 42 min., added 10 min. in 1995) * 1994 ''

Metal A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typi ...

Mania'' (Co-Writer / Co-Director, with Rolf S. Wolkenstein, 42 min.) * 1995 ''

Reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the ...

Revolution'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 1995 ''Hoch über Hamburg'' (Writer/Director, 52 min.) * 1995 '' Hip Hop Hooray'' (Writer/Director, 42 min.) * 1996 ''Deep into Dub'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 1996 ''Electronic Jam'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 1996 ''Chicago Connections'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 1995–98 ''Freestyle'' Series (Studio production, co-Concept, co-Director, co-Producer,

VIVA TV Viva may refer to: Companies and organisations * Viva (network operator), a Dominican mobile network operator * Viva Air, a Spanish airline taken over by flag carrier Iberia * Viva Air Dominicana * VIVA Bahrain, a telecommunication company * ...

, 105 episodes of 60 min.) * 1995 ''Streetfashion'' (Writer/Director, ARTE, 190 min.) * 1997 ''Pop Odyssee – The Beach Boys and Satan'' (Writer/Director 3sat/ZDF, 60 min) * 1997 ''Digital Spirit'' (Writer/Director, ARTE, 190 min.) * 1998 ''Pop Odyssee – House of the Rising Punk'' (Writer–director, 3sat/ZDF, 60 min.) * 2000 ''Silver Rockets/Kool Things – 20 Years of Sonic Youth'' (Writer/Director, ARTE, 60 min.) * 2000 ''Fantastic Voyages'' (Writer/Director, 3sat/ZDF, 7 episodes of 60 min.) ** "Introducing: The Cosmology of the Music Video" ** "Nightmares" ** "Body Rock" ** "Short Stories" ** "Liberated Images" ** "Wonderful Worlds" ** "Space is the place" * 2001 ''

Beck Beck David Hansen (born Bek David Campbell; July 8, 1970) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He rose to fame in the early 1990s with his experimental and lo-fi style, and became known for creating musical colla ...

– Permanent Mutations'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 2002 ''Superhuman'' (Writer/Director, 58 min.) * 2003 ''Dance the Voodoo – The Cosmos of Koffi Kôkô'' (Writer/Director (with Rotraut Pape), 45 min.) * 2004 ''Voodoo Transformations'' (Co-Writer/Co-Director, with Rotraut Pape), ZDF/Theaterkanal, 27 min.) * 2005 ''Youthquake '65 – The London Pop Explosion'' (Writer/Director, 60 min.) * 2007 ''Psychedelic Revolution '67'' (Writer/Director, 77 min.)Harvey Kubernik, ''Hollywood Shack Job: Rock Music in Film and on Your Screen'', Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 2006,
p. 362
* 2009 ''No Wave – Underground '80 Berlin-New York'' (Writer/Director (with Ellen El Malki), 52 min.) * 2012 ''It's more than TV – The new US-series and their makers'' (Writer/Director, 58 min.)

Music clips and performances

* 1982

: ''Der Karibische Western'' (Writer/Director) * 1983 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: ''Tupelo'' (Writer/Director) * 1984 Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: ''The Singer'' (Writer/Director) * 1985

& The Bad Seeds: ''Mercy Seat'' (Writer/Director) * 1994

Gentleman A gentleman (Old French: ''gentilz hom'', gentle + man) is any man of good and courteous conduct. Originally, ''gentleman'' was the lowest rank of the landed gentry of England, ranking below an esquire and above a yeoman; by definition, the ra ...

: ''When The Sunshine Go Down'' (Writer/Director) * 1995 Advanced Chemistry: ''Fremd Im Eigenen Land'' (Co-Writer/Co-Director) * 1996

Blumfeld Blumfeld () was an indie pop band from Hamburg, Germany, formed by singer and songwriter Jochen Distelmeyer. The name of the band was taken from the main character of the short story "Blumfeld, ein älterer Junggeselle" by Franz Kafka. Blumfeld a ...

: ''Verstärker'' (Writer/Director) * 1996

Jever Mountain Boys Jever () is the capital of the district of Friesland in Lower Saxony, Germany. The name Jever is usually associated with a major brand of beer, Jever Pilsener, which is produced there. The city is also a popular holiday resort. Jever was granted c ...

: ''Alone and Forsaken'' (Writer/Director)

Multimedia and radio projects

* 1980–1995 Participation in numerous artistic interactive TV- and radio projects by UNIVERSCITY TV and VAN GOGH TV (

Ars Electronica Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is an Austrian cultural, educational and scientific institute active in the field of new media art, founded in Linz in 1979. It is based at the Ars Electronica Center (AEC), which houses the Museum of the Future, in th ...

(Linz),

Documenta ''documenta'' is an exhibition of contemporary art which takes place every five years in Kassel, Germany. The ''documenta'' was founded by artist, teacher and curator Arnold Bode in 1955 as part of the Bundesgartenschau (Federal Horticultura ...

(Kassel), European Media Art Festival (Osnabrück), etc., aired by 3Sat, local TV and radio stations,

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially ...

, etc.

Recordings

* 1982 ''Burnin' the Ice'' (with

) * 1987 ''Headless Body in Topless Bar'' (with among others

Anita Lane Anita Louise Lane (18 March 1960 – 27 April 2021) was an Australian singer-songwriter who was briefly a member of the Bad Seeds with Nick Cave and Mick Harvey and collaborated with both bandmates. Lane released two solo albums, ''Dirty Pearl' ...

and

Kid Congo Powers Brian Tristan (born March 27, 1959), better known by his stage name Kid Congo Powers,Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 25, 41, 359 is an American rock guitarist, singer, and actor best known as a member of ...

) * 1990 ''Die Hard'' (with

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation ''No New York''. In ...

) * 1992 ''Head On'' (with among others

, Jeffrey Lee Pierce,

Alan Vega Boruch Alan Bermowitz (June 23, 1938 – July 16, 2016), known professionally as Alan Vega, was an American vocalist and visual artist, primarily known for his work with the electronic protopunk duo Suicide. Life and career Boruch Alan Ber ...

) * 1993–94 ''Sweat'' (Live album, with among others Nick Cave,

Alexander Hacke Alexander Hacke (also known as Alexander von Borsig, Alex Hacke, Hacke, born 11 October 1965) is a guitarist, bass guitarist, singer, musician, record producer, writer and filmmaker from Germany. He is primarily known as a longtime member of the ...

Blixa Bargeld Blixa Bargeld (born Christian Emmerich, 12 January 1959) is a German musician who has been the lead singer of the band Einstürzende Neubauten since its formation in 1980. Bargeld was also a founding member of the Australian rock band Nick Cave ...

) * 1998 ''Spring'' * 1999 ''Springer'' (''Spring'' remixes by among others

Atom Heart Uwe H. Schmidt (born 27 August 1968), also known as Atom™, Atom Heart, or Señor Coconut, is a German composer, musician and producer of electronic music. He is often regarded as the father of electrolatino, electrogospel, and aciton musi ...

Oval An oval () is a closed curve in a plane which resembles the outline of an egg. The term is not very specific, but in some areas (projective geometry, technical drawing, etc.) it is given a more precise definition, which may include either one o ...

, Jim O´Rourke, Scanner,

Mad Professor Mad Professor (born Neil Joseph Stephen Fraser, 1955, Georgetown, Guyana) is a Guyanese-born British dub music producer and engineer known for his original productions and remix work. He is considered one of the leading producers of dub music ...

) * 2004 Re-Issue of ''Burnin' the Ice'' (with Nick Cave) (remastered)

References

live at

Berlin Atonal Berlin Atonal is an annual festival for sonic and visual art in two distinct stages. It first took place between 1982 and 1990, relaunching in 2013 under new direction and continuing to the present day. The festival presents contemporary, interdis ...

SO36 The SO36 () club is a music club on Oranienstraße near Heinrichplatz in the area of Kreuzberg in Berlin, Germany. It takes its name from the historic postcode of that area, SO36, in which the SO stands for Südost (South East). The Kreuzberg dis ...

. Photo by Peter Lind {{DEFAULTSORT:Dreher, Christoph 1952 births Living people German male musicians German documentary film directors Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds members Free University of Berlin alumni Film people from Nuremberg German television writers Male television writers German male writers Male screenwriters Die Haut members