Jobst Christian Oetzmann (born 4 November 1961) is a German

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 ...

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 several episodes of the police crime drama series ''

Tatort ("Crime Scene") is a German-language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with 30 feature-length episodes per year, making it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by the German public-se ...

'', but he also made films based on literature, such as '' The Loneliness of the Crocodile'', that were presented at international film festivals. He served on the board of the German national organisation for film directors from 2005 to 2014.

Early life and education

Born in

Hanover Hanover ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the States of Germany, German state of Lower Saxony. Its population of 535,932 (2021) makes it the List of cities in Germany by population, 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-l ...

, Germany, Jobst Oetzmann began his film career without formal studies. At age 20, he began producing video films. He founded a company for their production in Munich in the mid-1980s, called ''Slim Jobst Oetzmann Produktion''. From 1985, he studied at the

University of Television and Film Munich The University of Television and Film Munich (German: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, short: HFF Munich) is a publicly funded film school in Munich, Germany. The school was established in 1966 by decree of the Bavarian government. T ...

, graduating in 1991 in film and TV drama. He also studied East Asian languages, Japanese and Chinese, but only for a short while, focusing on film. His first film for the cinema, ''Der Condor'', was produced at the university during his studies and presented for the opening of the 1988 Torino Film Festival. He was also able to use the facilities for a short film, ''Only You''.

Career

His first film to receive international attention was '' The Loneliness of the Crocodile'' in 1999, based on a novel by Dirk Kurbjuweit. The music was composed by Dieter Schleip, whom Oetzmann knew from the time of their studies and who was his preferred composer. The film was presented at international film festivals such as the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world. Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...

. Its U.S. premiere was at the 2001

Brooklyn Film Festival The Brooklyn Film Festival (BFF), prior to 2011 called the Brooklyn International Film Festival (BiFF) is an independent film festival held every June in New York City. Started by Marco Ursino, Susan Mackell, Abe Schrager, and Mario Pegoraro in ...

under the title ''The Loneliness of the Crocodile''. It also appeared at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, and in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. It was awarded the

Bayerischer Filmpreis The Bavarian Film Awards () are film awards given to German films in the state of Bavaria, awarded by the state government. Background and description The Bavarian Film Awards have been awarded annually since 1979 by the state government of Bav ...

in the Producers category in 2001. Oetzmann was a screenwriter and director of many popular TV series, such as ''

'' (''Crime Scene'') and '' SOKO 5113''. In 1998, the 400th episode, ', was nominated for the TV prize Adolf-Grimme-Preis, and the 484th episode, ', which premiered on 4 November 2001, won the prize in 2002. Oetzmann's film ' was based on a novella by Kurbjuweit. Oetzmann is a member of the national and was elected to its board in February 2005. He served in the position until 2014.

Awards

* 2001:

* 2002: Adolf-Grimme-Preis (for ')

References

External links

* * *
Loneliness of the Crocodiles, The (Einsamkeit der Krokodile, Die)
german-films.de
Jobst Oetzmann realisiert sein Kinodebüt mit Olga Film
mediabiz.de 27 October 1999
Oetzmann, Jobst Christian
drehbuchautoren.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Oetzmann, Jobst 1961 births Living people Film people from Hanover University of Television and Film Munich alumni