sanne kurz – cinematographer
watch my workArchive for documentary
Berlinale, Take II
Having been thrilled about Mommy Is Coming being selected for the Berlin International Film Festival 2012, I found out now that another film I shot got in to Berlinale: 
Rodicas’, by director Alice Gruia will have its world premiere there. It was so much fun making it.
And so much has happened since. My congratulations to the team and: See you there!
Doing Nothing All Day…
…this is how you imagine a film shoot about free education in schools such as Summerhill, where students decide themselves what they wanna do and when they’d like to do it. For the shoot, before all those team-premieres, I spent a lovely time in Dartmoor, UK, and Freiburg, Germany. We’ve been working for Doing Nothing All Day, a documentary, that takes the idea of participation further by offering each and any one to be part of the movie. How? Check it out here.
Partially crowd-funded, you can support the film here and follow updates on Facebook here.
Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze @Opernfestspiele Munich
I’m very glad that everyone in Munich finally is getting the chance to see them live: Ablaye Cissoko and Volker Goetze will be playing this Thursday eve for the Opernfestspiele of Bayerische Staatsoper. Get a glimpse of their music in the documentary about them I shot in Senegal. Or go straight see them – tickets available here.
Rodicas Crew-Premiere in Cologne
The Filmstiftung NRW funded documentary Rodicas, directed&produced by Alice Gruia, shot by Sanne Kurz, has its cast&crew premiere on 4th of June in Cologne, Germany. It’s definitely worth to meet the two Rodicas upfront on the film’s homepage. What a set of lovely Ladies they are!
Congratulations
Last spring I shot
in Israel a trailer for Doing Nothing All Day, a documentary about democratic education. Now, the Bavarian film Funding Body fff announced their positive funding decision. Read all about the involvement of broadcaster BR in this project here or visit the homepage of the film here.
Congratulations on Productions Going Well.
Many great new things are to come in 2011. 
We had a good meeting with the Bavarian film funding body fff last week. nicht weit von mir (not far from me) had its first screening at fff with music and to my regret not with our lovely grading. But what shall I say: Julia Rappold, head of the funding division overseeing the production of nicht weit von mir, she seemd to like it. Have another look at the trailer of the film here.
Other great news is that German broadcaster BR, thanks to the introduction through fff, joined the supporting team behind Doing Nothing All Day, a documentary by Munich based artist Margarete Hentze – my congratulations on that.
Her efforts not only helped create the collaboration with BR, but hopefully will result in positive answers by funding bodies Kuratorium Junger Deutscher Film and fff over the next weeks.
The Biggest Lie – Official Trailer
Before I went to shoot Where there’s Smoke in New Jersey, I posted here a few snippets from the dailies of a film I shot in NY earlier this year.
Now The Biggest Lie by Masood Haque of Eksaki Films, shot on DSLR in Feb 2010 on location in Manhattan, is finished. Watch the trailer, and check the homepage for more information.
I love the mood of this trailer a lot. But the snippets from the dailies are slightly better upload quality. So if you came here to check DSLR footage, compare Canon 7D with Canon 5D etc…check the snippets!
New Years Eve or Xmas in Europe?
…come visit the Pinakothek der Moderne Munich, where Himmelfilm will screen in the exhibition Documentary Film in the 21st Century till 20.2.2011. Inspired by a song of British band The Orb Himmelfilm has been shot a few weeks after 9/11 in Israel. Having a large bag of collected sounds, universal memories of people such as Dick Ross, Marie Miyayama, Wim Wenders, Byambasuuren Davaa, Hussam Chaddat, Yossi Tzafrir, Mirna Brkanovic, Luigi Falorni and many others in our luggage, we tried hard reflecting on what skies were like when people were young. News blaring every single day news from Iran, Irak and Afghanistan, war in the air, gas-masks beeing handed out, “Der Himmel war ein Feind für mich” – as Mirna Brkanovic states in the movie.
Carrying a small baby of two months with us through the desert, Himmelfilm has been made by Jiska Rickels (dir) and Sanne Kurz (co-dir, cinematographer). Marion Neumann (1st AC) and Yuval Tzafrir (editor) helped in Israel, Gisela Castronari (editor) and creativepictures (prod) in Munich.
Himmelfilm has found its theatrical release in Benelux as supporting film with Wim Wenders Land of Plenty. It screened in Cannes and Rotterdam in 2005 and won in 2004 the Civis Intl. Media Award of the EBU.
To read more insights, see some images of first letters exchanged between the makers and the dungeon where the 35mm work-print rests in peace, check out my blog.
Turning Point
I was lucky enough to bump in to Vika Evdokimenko, who found me following a kind recommendation by Martin Blankemeyer Munich Filmwerkstatt. Vika is currently working on a character driven observational documentary about secular women, who find their way to a religious life at a later stage – often very unexpected.
Produced by Mosaic Films there was a small budget to follow our Ukraine born Munich based protagonist Marianna for a bit down the path in to her new life – an intensely enjoyable shoot and collaboration, hopefully to be seen soon on British TV prior to international release.
…I tend to take ups and downs in life with lots of humour…being so deeply immersed in to this lovely enclosed world for so long now, I found this one here today…
