Matthias Hoene is a German filmmaker who mostly works in English. He began with animated

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing devi ...

, then award-winning commercials and short films, before directing longer science fiction and fantasy features. His film '' Cockneys vs Zombies'' won multiple awards, while '' The Warriors Gate'' was an international fantasy action epic.

Early life

Matthias Hoene was born in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in 1976. He grew up in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

, where his father was a scientist specializing in high-energy transmission tubes for lasers, and his mother was an alternative medicine enthusiast. Hoene's two brothers became scientists, but he went to study graphic design at

Central Saint Martins Central Saint Martins is a public tertiary art school in London, England. It is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London. It offers full-time courses at foundation, undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and a variety of shor ...

art school in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. At Saint Martins, his interest changed to focus on filmmaking.

Career

Music videos

Hoene's early work after graduation was on creating animated

, starting with "Return Trip" for DJ Mr. Rossi. In 2001, he directed the animated video for " Star 69" for Fatboy Slim; the notice he drew from this video got him signed by international video production company

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: ** AK Partizan, athletics **Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling **Džudo Klub Partizan, judo ** FK Partizan, association fo ...

, for whom he started making television commercials. A 2003 music video Hoene made for Tom McRae's song "A Day Like Today" had objects in a flat symbolize evoking memories by coming to life and fading away. Later music videos Hoene directed include for "Rusty Pipes", by

Eels Eels are ray-finned fish belonging to the order Anguilliformes (), which consists of eight suborders, 19 families, 111 genera, and about 800 species. Eels undergo considerable development from the early larval stage to the eventual adult stage ...

in 2018, "Bismarck" by

Sabaton A sabaton or solleret is part of a knight's body armor that covers the foot. History Fourteenth and fifteenth century sabatons typically end in a tapered point well past the actual toes of the wearer's foot, following fashionable shoe shapes ...

in 2019, and "Me Because of You" and "Nevermind" by HRVY in 2020.

Commercials

Hoene's first television advertisement for Partizan was "Doggy Style", for singles travel company Club 18-30, featuring copulating canines. It won a Golden Lion medal at the 2002

Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (formerly the International Advertising Festival) is a global event for those working in creative communications, advertising, and related fields. It is considered the largest gathering of the ...

, which gives awards for advertisements. That advertisement and another Hoene directed for the UK Central Office of Information, featuring computer graphics of a highly stylized, apocalyptic universe, were recognized by a 2003 directors award from ''

Boards Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, ...

'' advertising magazine. Hoene directed other television commercials for Partizan over the next few years including for

London Elects London Elects is the Greater London Authority (GLA) team responsible for organising the election of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The London Elects team reports to the Greater London Returning Officer. Operations The team's respon ...

in 2004, Dyson in 2005, and

Kellogg's The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toas ...

in 2006. Hoene returned to commercials after his success with dramatic works. A 2012 advertisement he directed for AA plc pretends to be a horror film trailer, featuring a house under attack by a demonic Jack Frost, until an AA engineer appears to fix the family

boiler A boiler is a closed vessel in which fluid (generally water) is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, centr ...

. He reprised the zombies theme in the first television advertisement for British mobile telephone network Giffgaff, 3 minutes long, titled "#dontbescared" in 2013, about helpful zombies. Another horror-themed advertisement Hoene directed for Giffgaff, the 4-minute "Monster Family", in 2018, portrayed a girl removed from then returned to her monster family.

Dramatic narrative works

In 2008 Hoene directed '' Beyond the Rave'', a 20-episode British horror serial on MySpace, which was the first film produced by

Hammer Films A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nails into wood, to shape metal (as w ...

in 30 years. Three of the supporting roles were played by

Cockney Cockney is an accent and dialect of English, mainly spoken in London and its environs, particularly by working-class and lower middle-class Londoners. The term "Cockney" has traditionally been used to describe a person from the East End, or ...

(East London) actors whose humorous improvisations inspired Hoene to make a movie centered around elderly Cockney characters. Hoene and two screenwriters, James Moran and Lucas Roche, spent a year and a half developing the screenplay that became the motion picture '' Cockneys vs Zombies'' in 2012. It is a

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three types: "black comedy, parody and spo ...

film pitting East End bank robbers and retirees against the living dead. Hoene had then been living in East London for three years, and made the film a love letter to the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have un ...

, showing many of the area's locations. It won best feature film at the 2012 San Sebastián Horror and Fantasy Film Festival, a "Méliès d'argent" at the

Trieste Science+Fiction Festival Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into prov ...

, and best feature film, best comedy, and best ensemble cast at the 2012 Toronto After Dark Film Festival. In 2016 Hoene directed

Luc Besson Luc Paul Maurice Besson (; born 18 March 1959) is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He directed or produced the films ''Subway'' (1985), '' The Big Blue'' (1988), and ''La Femme Nikita'' (1990). Besson is associated with the '' ...

's Chinese and French science fiction action-adventure film '' The Warriors Gate'', written by Besson and

Robert Mark Kamen Robert Mark Kamen (born October 9, 1947) is an American screenwriter, best known as creator of '' The Karate Kid franchise'', as well as for his later collaborations with French filmmaker Luc Besson, which includes the screenplay for ''The Fift ...

. This was Hoene's biggest work yet, with up to 900 people on set at a time, filmed in China and Canada, though with all the dialogue in English. In 2018, Hoene was one of five prominent European filmmakers who made short films for the campaign #EUandME, about the benefits of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...

, that were aired across the continent; his entry, "The Living Hostel", was about an elderly lady's grandchildren trying to realize her dream of travelling across Europe. It was his first German language film. The same year he also directed the three-minute documentary ''Dive'', for the

Adidas Parley Adidas Parley is a collection of clothing and footwear originated from the collaboration of German multinational company Adidas and Parley for the Oceans, an organization that addresses environmental threats towards the oceans, through plastic ...

environmental partnership, about Anna Bader cliff diving from

Kahekili's Leap Kahakuloa is an area on the north side of West Maui, Hawaii. It is home to the community of Kahakuloa Village, East of the village, at the point, is 646 ft. high. Kahekili, (c. 1737–1794) was said to leap 200 feet down to the water from this ...

in Hawaii, while reflecting on

plastic pollution Plastic pollution is the accumulation of plastic objects and particles (e.g. plastic bottles, bags and microbeads) in the Earth's environment that adversely affects humans, wildlife and their habitat. Plastics that act as pollutants are cate ...

. In 2021, Hoene began filming ''Theodosia'', a children's adventure television series based on the '' Theodosia and the Serpents of Chaos'' books by R. L. LaFevers.

Personal life

Hoene is married to furniture designer and upholsterer Hannah Stanton, who also graduated with a degree in graphic design from St. Martins. They met in a London pub, and have been married since 2009. They have houses in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

and

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

; their buying their Los Angeles house in 2018 was broadcast in an episode of the television show '' House Hunters''.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoene, Matthias Living people 1976 births People from Singapore German film directors British film directors