
Alexander Nanau
Directing
Biography
Alexander Nanau was born in Bucharest, Romania in 1979. His family belongs to the Transylvanian Saxons, a cultural minority of German descent who lived since generations in Romania. 1990 they emigrated to Germany and became German citizens. Nanau studied Film Direction at the renowned DFFB in Berlin. His first feature documentary Peter Zadek inszeniert Peer Gynt (2006) was released 2006 in Germany and Austria. In 2007 he was a scholarship holder of the Academy of Arts in Berlin. In 2008/2009 he co-produced with HBO Romania, directed and shot the documentary Lumea vãzutã de Ion B. (2009) about a 62 years homeless man who starts a career in the international art world with collages he made over the last 30 years. The documentary was selected for over 40 international film festivals and won the prestigious 'International Emmy Award' for Arts Programming in 2010. His third feature documentary Toto si surorile lui (2014), produced together with HBO Europe, premiered at the San Sebastian Film Festival in the 'New Directors' section. The film won major awards at the international film festivals in Angers, Zurich, Warsaw, Jihlava, Leipzig and Sarajevo. It was nominated as 'Best Documentary' at the European Film Awards 2015 and won the international Cinema Eye Honors' Spotlight Award 2016.
Known For

An annual American awards ceremony honoring cinematic achievements in the film industry. The various category winners are awarded a copy of a statuette, officially the Academy Award of Merit, that is better known by its nickname Oscar.
The Oscars

In the aftermath of a tragic fire in a Romanian club, burn victims begin dying in hospitals from wounds that were not life threatening. A team of investigative journalists move into action uncovering the mass corruption of the health system and of the state institutions. Collective follows journalists, whistle blowers, and authorities alike. An immersive and uncompromising look into a dysfunctional system, exposing corruption, propaganda, and manipulation that nowadays affect not only Romania, but societies around the world.
Collective

Follows the story of Viktor Purice - manager, former projectionist and lifetime cinephile and his two loyal employees, Cornelia & Lorena, in their everyday battle to preserve Dacia Panoramic Cinema in Piatra Neamt - one of the last remaining cinemas in Romania today. Having lived through "the golden age" of cinema, Viktor dreams of bringing back the good old glory days, yet struggles to keep up with the new harsh reality. In a theater that lacks heating and is slowly falling apart, with no support from the State who owns the place, it’s almost a Don Quixote fight.
Cinema, Mon Amour

The fascinating portrait of Ion Bârlàdeanu. The touching and inspiring story of a man who literally lived in the gutter for 20 years - and in the meantime managed to create paintings and collages which are now exhibited alongside works by Andy Warhol or Marcel Duchamp.
The World According to Ion B.

Totonel (10) and his sisters, Andreea (14) and Ana (17), are waiting for their mother to come back home from prison. As they grow up, each of them learns how to survive on their own, hoping that when their mother returns, the family will be reunited.
Toto and his Sisters

For more than half a century, Beate and Serge Klarsfeld have hunted, confronted, and exposed Nazi war criminals. Now in their 80s, they still continue their activism against today’s new Nazis and far right extremists.
Klarsfeld

Theatre rehearsals are usually strictly isolated. Especially director Peter Zadek basically does not let guests into his rehearsals; protection for the particularly intensive work process of his "theatre family". What happens on such samples? What does a theatre director actually do? How do he and the actors work together? For the first time in 16 years, he has now allowed a film team to document the sometimes very dramatic process of how a staging is invented together.