Dirk Kummer (born 29 September 1966 in

Hennigsdorf Hennigsdorf () is a town in the district of Oberhavel, in Brandenburg, in eastern Germany. It is situated north-west of Berlin, just across the city border, which is formed mainly by the Havel river. History The town was first mentioned in 1375, ...

) is a German actor, director, 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 ...

. He is best known for directing movies ''Sugar Sand'' (2017), ''Wohin mit den Witwen'' (1999) and ''Rosenzweig's Freedom'' (1998).

Early life

Kummer first grew up in

Falkensee Falkensee is a town in the Havelland district, Brandenburg, Germany. It is the most populated municipality of its district and it is situated at the western border of Berlin. History The commune Falkensee was formed in 1923 by the merger of Falk ...

and moved to

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

in 1973. He had his first acting role in 1979 aged 13, in the two-parter TV movie ''Meines Vaters Straßenbahn'' on the

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

channel. After he had graduated from school in 1985, Kummer performed three years of

military service Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, air forces, and naval forces, whether as a chosen job (volunteer military, volunteer) or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Few nations, such ...

with the border troops. Then from 1989 to 1992, he was a master student of the

Berlin Academy of Arts The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

in the Performing Arts section. In parallel, he also studied between 1989 and 1990 as a guest at the

Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg The Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg (German: ''Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf'') is the oldest and largest film school in Germany. The university offers undergraduate, graduate, as well as post-graduate studies in all fields o ...

, specializing in directing and as a guest student at the state-run Berlin drama school

Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts The Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts (German: ''Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch'', ''HFS''), located in the Mitte district of Berlin, Germany, was founded in 1951 as the National Theatre School in Berlin with the status of colleg ...

. His first big movie role was in one of the last DEFA productions called ''

Coming Out Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity. This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...

''. In addition to his involvement as one of the main actors in the role of 'Matthias', he worked in this production as assistant to director

Heiner Carow Heinrich "Heiner" Carow (19 September 1929 – 1 February 1997) was a German film director and screenwriter. Early life and education Heinrich Carow was born on 19 September 1929 in Rostock, Mecklenburg, Germany. He became known as "Heiner". ...

. The premiere of the film took place on the evening of the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...

(9 November 1989), at the East Berlin premiere at

Kino International The Kino International is a film theater in Berlin, built from 1961 to 1963. It is located on Karl-Marx-Allee in former East Berlin. It hosted premieres of the DEFA film studios until the Berlin Wall#The Fall, fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. T ...

. In 1992, Kummer went to

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 ...

and took acting classes there for one year at the University of Music and Performing Arts Bern (now part of

University of the Arts Bern __NOTOC__ The Bern Academy of Arts () is an art school with locations in Bern and Biel/Bienne. It was created in 2003 from the merger of the University of Music and Theatre and the School of Design, Art and Conservation. The educational institution ...

). From 1993 to 2002, he worked only sporadically as an actor and mainly as a directing assistant among others with Konrad Sabrautzky, ('' Mein Leben & Ich''), Kaspar Heidelbach ('), Susanne Schneider (''The Day Will Come''), Anna Justice ('' Remembrance (2011)'') and Gunther Scholz. In 2002, he received an author scholarship from the Drehbuchwerkstatt Nürnberg and the

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

. Since about 2003, Dirk Kummer works almost exclusively as a director and

scriptwriter 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 ...

. After stops in Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg and Berlin, he now resides again in Brandenburg. He has also directed plays at theatres including "Carl's Work - Part 1" (in 2014) and "The Abolition of the Night" (in 2015) at

Schauspiel Köln Schauspiel Köln is a theatre and company in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It forms together with the Cologne Opera and other houses the Bühnen der Stadt Köln (Stages of the city of Cologne). The listed building has 830 seats in the ...

. His short film ''Zuckersand'' was awarded the 'Bernd Burgemeister Fernsehpreis' at the 2017

Munich Film Festival Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

, the

3sat 3sat (, ''Dreisat'') is a free-to-air German-language public service television channel. It is a generalist channel with a cultural focus and is jointly operated by public broadcasters from Germany ( ZDF, ARD), Austria ( ORF) and Switzerlan ...

Audience Award at the 2010 Baden-Baden TV Film Festival and the Grimme Prize in 2018. His

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

for the film was awarded a prize in 2003, the Thomas Strittmatter Award.

Filmography

Actor

Director

References

External links

*
Dirk Kummer (professional website)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kummer, Dirk 1966 births Living people Film people from Brandenburg German male actors German gay actors People from Oberhavel 21st-century German LGBTQ people Male actors from Brandenburg