Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Birthdate: Feb 8, 1972
Birthplace: Vienna, Austria
Among the most distinctive non-fiction filmmakers in international cinema, the Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter established a powerful style emphasizing grand, even epic images observing huge subjects, such as nuclear power, food production, modes of human habitation, urban decay, and environmental crises.
In contrast to the popular conception of documentaries as being about ripped-from-the-headlines stories or personal portraits and filmed with handheld cameras, Geyrhalter’s cinema is large-scaled, 35mm image-making without interviews or commentary, shot with fixed, static cameras and intended to be seen in cinemas. Geyrhalter is certainly one of contemporary cinema’s most lauded and awarded documentarians, whose 2022 film, the environmental-themed Matter Out of Place, is his first to screen in the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter created Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion (NGF) in 1994, two years after his debut feature, Eisenerz (1992), followed by Angeschwemmt (1994) and his film on survivors of the Bosnian War The Year After Dayton (1997). Geyrhalter’s first significant work with international impact was his film on those who remained at the Chornobyl nuclear site, Pripyat (1999). But it was his magnificent epic film, Elsewhere (2001), shot in twelve places on the planet over the twelve months of 1999, that elevated Geyrhalter’s reputation as a powerful, signature filmmaker of grand ambition and reach.
Geyrhalter shot his film in some of the world’s most exotic and remote locations, including Ekeschi, Niger; Ombivango, Namibia; Falalop, Micronesia; and Siorapaluk, Greenland. Continuing his global project as a total filmmaker (director, writer, producer, and cinematographer), Geyrhalter made Fremde Kinder (2003), followed by his first film with general U.S. distribution, the acclaimed Our Daily Bread (2005), his superb observational film about contemporary agricultural production.
Nikolaus Geyrhalter continued his vagabonding ways, exploring every conceivable corner of the world, with 7915 KM (2008), a stunning look at the 2007 Dakar Rallye overland race from Morocco to Senegal. One of his few films contained to his native Austria, Geyrhalter made Allensteig (2011), a droll look at Austrian military training.
His next feature was the striking, visually brilliant Abendland (2011), a poetic montage of European life and infrastructure at night. Over the Years (2015). Geyrhalter’s gaze shifted to a more intimate scale with Over the Years (better known by its original title, Über die Jahre) (2015), about the fates of workers when a textile plant closes, and the winner of major festival prizes at Duisburg, BAFICI, Jihlava and Diagonale after premiering in the Berlin film festival’s Forum section.
Despite the suggestion of its title, Geyrhalter’s 2016 feature, Homo Sapiens, chronicles sites and constructions (abandoned hospitals, derelict churches, semi-destroyed amusement parks) which have been left to decay. A rare case of Geyrhalter addressing a contemporary political issue, his The Border Fence (2018) observed Austria’s efforts to build a fence against a feared influx of refugees from Italy.
Geyrhalter’s imposing Earth (2019) observes some of the world’s most enormous construction and earth-moving projects, including Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, in Brazil (a mine owned by Rio Tinto), and in the legendary marble-mining district of Carrara in Italy. Matter Out of Place continues Geyrhalter’s environmental themes, observing projects around the world attempting clean-up of massive waste sites and landfill garbage collection. As a primary producer or co-producer, Nikolaus Geyrhalter has backed over 20 theatrical features he has not directed himself, most of them documentaries.
Exceptions to this include the narrative features The Robber (2010), an acclaimed thriller by Benjamin Heisenberg starring Andreas Lust; Markus Schleiner’s and Kathrin Resetarits’ psychological drama, Michael (2011); Gerhard Ertl’s and Sabine Hiebler’s Anfang 80 (2011); Barbara Albert’s brilliant period drama, Mademoiselle Paradis (2017); writer-director Katarina Mueckstein’s drama, L’animale (2018); Tales of Franz (2022), a grade school-based comedy from director Johannes Schmid; Clara Stern’s Vienna-set film, Breaking the Ice (2022), premiering at the Tribeca film festival, about a women’s hockey team.
Recent NGF-produced documentaries include Robert Schabus’ film about the Alps, Alpenland (2022); Maria Arlamovsky’s study of robotics scientists, Robolove (2019); and Jakob Brossmann’s and David Paede’s observational film about one of Europe’s largest cultural radio stations, Ö1, Heard, Seen: A Radio Movie (2019).
Personal Details
Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1972.
Some Facts About Nikolaus Geyrhalter
Geyrhalter on his filmmaking approach: In an interview, Nikolaus Geyrhalter stated that “I make films that I’d like to see myself. I’m fascinated by zones and areas people normally don’t see.”