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Till Schauder (born 1971), is a German-born American filmmaker, film director, screenplay writer, film producer, actor and film instructor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife and co-producer, Sara Nodjoumi.

Early life

Schauder was born in Seattle, Washington to German parents. He moved back to Germany at age 2 and grew up in Göttingen, attending elementary, primary and high school. He left Germany at age 19 for an internship with Roger Corman’s film studio in Venice, California.

In 1992 he was accepted to the University of Television and Film Munich, from which he graduated with an M.A. degree in 1998.

Film career

Till Schauder wrote and directed his first feature film, Strong Shit, at age 25 while still enrolled at the University for Television and Film Munich. The film, which stars German actor Sebastian Bezzel, tells the story of four drifting youngsters after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Strong Shit won the Max Ophuels Film Festival Jury Award in 1997. His second film, Santa Smokes, which he co-wrote, co-directed, and stars in won the Best Director Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2003 and was nominated for the Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2003. The film's female co-star Kristy Jean Hulslander won the Best Actress Award at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2003. His third film, Duke’s House, starring Lars Rudolph, is a docu-drama about Duke Ellington’s former Harlem home, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003. After his acting debut in Santa Smokes Schauder appeared as an actor in the HBO series Mildred Pierce, which was directed by Todd Haynes and stars Kate Winslet. He also appeared in a nationwide American Express commercial in 2008.

In 2012 he completed the documentary, The Iran Job, about American basketball player Kevin Sheppard’s experience playing professional basketball in Iran. The film, which features three young and outspoken Iranian women, has political and women’s rights undertones and a message of cultural and political conciliation. The film’s soundtrack features Iranian underground hip-hop and rap artists, most notably Shahin Najafi.

After journalist visas were declined, he filmed the film clandestinely, as a one-person team. The filming and the documentary’s timeline coincided with Iran’s revolutionary Green Movement. In 2008, during a production trip to Iran he was detained at Imam Khomeini Airport in Tehran. He was sent back to New York 24 hours later. After two successful crowd-funding campaigns Schauder and his wife and co-producer Sara Nodjoumi completed the film in 2012. The Iran Job was executive produced by Abigail Disney. It premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival in 2012 and has since played several film festivals around the world. The film, which received widespread domestic and international press attention, was a critical success. Journalists Steven O’Heir and Steph Wrath called The Iran Job a contender for The Academy of Motion Pictures Best Documentary Award. The film was theatrically released in the United States in fall 2012, and in Germany in 2013. It was shortlisted for the German Academy Award in 2014.

Schauder has gone on to direct the feature documentary, The Young Man and the Sea. In 2017, Schauder's feature documentary, When God Sleeps, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film tells the story of exiled Iranian musician Shahin Najafi, whose lyrics provoked the ire of high-ranking religious clerics in Iran. Najafi previously contributed to the soundtrack to The Iran Job, Schauder's 2012 documentary. When God Sleeps won the “Cinema for Peace Award” for Most valuable Documentary of the Year during the 2017 Berlinale, and the “Golden Heynal Award” in the International DocFilmMusic Competition at 57th Krakow Film Festival also in 2017. When God Sleeps opened theatrically in Germany and Japan in October 2017. His documentary Warriors of Faith (Glaubenskrieger) won a German Emmy for Best Documentary in 2017 and was nominated for the 2017 Prix Europa. When God Sleeps is shortlisted for the German Academy Award 2018.

Schauder teaches film classes at New York University, Vermont College of Fine Arts and is a frequent guest speaker at other schools.

Filmography

Awards and honors

• 2018 Shortlisted for German Academy Award, Best Documentary; Vorauswahl Deutscher Filmpreis - When God Sleeps
• 2017 German Emmy Award, Best Documentary - bester Dokumentarfilm des Jahres, Deutschen Akademie Für Fernsehen - Warriors of Faith (Glaubenskrieger)
• 2017 Winner Jury Award, Minneapolis Music and Festival - 'When God Sleeps'
• 2017 Winner Golden Heynel Award, Best Music Documentary, 57th Krakow Film Festival - 'When God Sleeps'
• 2017 Winner Most Valuable Documentary of the Year, Cinema For Peace - 'When God Sleeps'
• 2016 Winner ARD Top of the docs Award -Warriors of Faith (Glaubenskrieger)
• 2014 Gerd Ruge Stipendium
• 2014 Shortlisted for German Academy Award, Best Documentary; Vorauswahl Deutscher Filmpreis - The Iran Job
• 2014 Winner Best Documentary Award, Arlington International Film Festival -The Iran Job
• 2014 Winner Guirlande D’Honneur, best documentary at "Sport Movies & TV - Milano International FICTS Fest" organized by the FICTS (Fédération Internationale Cinéma Télévision Sportifs) – The Iran Job
• 2003 Best Director Award, Tokyo International Film Festival - Santa Smokes
• 2003 Best Actress Award, Tokyo International Film Festival - Santa Smokes
• 2002 Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award granted by the Independent Panel of German Television and Film Producers (NDR, ARD, RTL, SAT 1) - Santa Smokes
• 1998 International Max Ophüls Film Festival Reader's Award - Strong Shit

References

1. ^ Gates, Anita (2004-12-15). "Mommy, I Saw Santa Claus Smoking". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
2. ^ "German Film at Doc Edge Festival". Goethe-Institut Libanon. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
3. Film Threat. ""SANTA SMOKES" AT THE PIONEER".
4. Walsh, Katie (27 June 2012). "L.A. Film Fest Review: 'The Iran Job' Is A Warm, Winning Tale of One Basketball Player's Experience In Iran". Indiewire.
5. Sharkley, Betsy. "LA Times Film Review". www.latimes.com. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |url= (help)
6. O'Heir, Andrew (10 October 2012). ""The Iran Job": Love and basketball — in Shiraz?". Salon.com.
7. Feinberg, Scott (25 November 2012). "NOV 25 1 years FEINBERG FORECAST: Updated Projections (With 13 Weeks Until the 85th Oscars)". Hollywood Reporter.
8. Levine, Sydney. "The Iran Job Shortlisted for German Academy Award". Indiewire.
9. "When God Sleeps | 2017 Tribeca Film Festival". Tribeca. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
10. WDR (2017-10-28). "Zwei WDR-Produktionen von Deutscher Akademie für Fernsehen ausgezeichnet - Presselounge - WDR". presse.wdr.de (in German). Retrieved 2017-11-07.
11. "Vermont College of Fine Arts, MFA Film, Faculty".
12. ^ Schellenberg, Dylan (September 25, 2017). "Oxford College hosts 'When God Sleeps' screening". The Covington News. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
13. DeWitt, David (2012-10-12). "A U.S. Basketball Player in the Axis of Evil". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
14. Kehr, Dave (2012-09-07). "October Release Schedule". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
15. Aridi, Sara (2018-04-02). "What's on TV Monday: 'King in the Wilderness' and 'The Good Karma Hospital'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
16. Kramer, Gary M. (2017-04-22). ""When this concert happened where we had concrete threats, I faced the same dilemma as his musicians": Till Schauder, director of "When God Sleeps," talks about Iranian rapper Shahin Najafi". Salon. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
17. Legaspi, Althea (2017-03-09). "Diddy to Premiere 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop' Doc at Tribeca". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
18. "An HBO Original " A Revolution on Canvas " now playing in NYC". Ouch! Magazine. 2023-12-08. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
19. "A Revolution on Canvas (Untitled Nicky Nodjoumi)". 2023 Tribeca Festival. Retrieved 2023-12-11.

External links

• Till Schauder at IMDb

• Film people from Lower Saxony
• American documentary film directors
• Film directors from Brooklyn
• Living people
• Mass media people from Göttingen
• 1971 births
• American people of German descent