- Tom Tykwer
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name = Tom Tykwer
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caption = Tom Tykwer, Biberach/Riß, 2006
birthdate = birth date and age|1965|5|23|df=y
location =Wuppertal ,Germany
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occupation =film director &screenwriter
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footnotes =Tom Tykwer (born
23 May 1965 inWuppertal ,Germany ) is a Germanfilm director best known internationally for directing "Run Lola Run " (1998 ).Tykwer was fascinated by film from an early age. He started making amateur Super 8 films at the age of eleven and later helped out at a local
arthouse cinema to see more movies, including those he was too young to buy tickets for. After graduating from high school, he unsuccessfully applied to numerous film schools around Europe and moved toBerlin , where he worked as aprojectionist . In 1987, at the age of 22, he became the programmer of the Moviemento cinema and was known to German directors as a highly respected film buff. [http://www.tomtykwer.com/02_biographie/index.shtml]In Berlin, Tykwer met and befriended the filmmaker
Rosa von Praunheim , who urged him to create stories from his own experience and suggested that Tykwer record arguments with his girlfriend at the time, and turn them into a short film. "Because" (1990) was screened at the [http://www.hofer-filmtage.de/ Hof Film Festival] and well-received by the audience, which inspired Tykwer to continue pursuing filmmaking. He made a secondshort film , "Epilog" (1992), that plunged him into personal financial debt, but gained him valuable technical filmmaking experience.Tykwer wrote the
screenplay for -and directed- his first feature film, "Deadly Maria ", which aired on German television and saw a limited theatrical release in Germany and the international film festival circuit.In 1994, Tykwer founded the production company
X Filme Creative Pool withStefan Arndt ,Wolfgang Becker andDani Levy . Tykwer and Becker wrote the screenplay for "Life Is All You Get " while working on Tykwer's second feature, "Wintersleepers " (1997), a much bigger and complex production than "Deadly Maria". "Wintersleepers" brought Tykwer to the attention of Germancineastes andfilm festivals , but Tykwer was struggling financially. He knew he needed a new film, and the result was "Run Lola Run " (1998), which became the most successful German film of 1998, scored $7 million at the US box office, and elevated Tykwer to international fame.As "Lola" was becoming a success worldwide, Tykwer was already at work on his next film, "
The Princess and the Warrior ", shot in his hometown of Wuppertal. He had meanwhile started datingFranka Potente , the star of "Run Lola Run", and she appeared in "The Princess and the Warrior" as well. The movie centered on a love story between anurse and a formersoldier .Miramax produced his next film, "Heaven" (2002), based on a screenplay by the late Polish filmmaker,Krzysztof Kieślowski . It was shot in English, starredCate Blanchett andGiovanni Ribisi , and filmed inTurin andTuscany .After "Heaven", Tykwer felt creatively exhausted and personally adrift, having broken up with Franka Potente. He was approached by French producers to film a short contribution to "
Paris, je t'aime " (2006), a film comprising 20 short films by many famous directors depicting love inParis . Tykwer shot the 10-minute short film, "True", withNatalie Portman andMelchior Beslon . He shot the film quickly with almost no pre-production, and the result was a tiny masterpiece that Tykwer later said, "symbolises an entire life for me, in just ten minutes." [http://www.tomtykwer.com/03_filmographie/31_true/index.shtml]Tykwer's latest film is an adaptation of the
novel "Perfume" by the German novelistPatrick Süskind , which has been filmed in the Spanish cities ofFigueras ,Girona andBarcelona .elected filmography
* (
1990 ) "Because" (short)
* (1992 ) "Epilog" (short)
* (1993) "Deadly Maria " ("Die tödliche Maria")
* (1997) "Wintersleepers " ("Winterschläfer")
* (1998) "Run Lola Run " ("Lola rennt")
* (2000) "The Princess and the Warrior " ("Der Krieger und die Kaiserin")
* (2002) "Heaven"
* (2004) "True" (a short starringNatalie Portman that premiered at the 2004Berlinale and was shown in Germany before screenings ofAchim von Borries ' "Love in Thoughts ", a cut down version was included in the omnibus "Paris, je t'aime ")
* (2006) "" ("Das Parfüm")
* (2008) "The International" starringClive Owen andNaomi Watts Awards
*1994 Bavarian Film Awards, Best New Director
*1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Production [http://www.bayern.de/Anlage19170/PreistraegerdesBayerischenFilmpreises-Pierrot.pdf]
*2005 State-Award of the Film Commission
NRW [http://www.locationnrw.de]*2006 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Director [http://www.bayern.de/Pressemitteilungen-.1255.19209/index.htm]
External links
*imdb name|id=0878756|name=Tom Tykwer
* [http://www.filmportal.de/df/1c/Credits,,,,,,,,EFC121B072A16C3FE03053D50B3736F2credits,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,.html Tom Tykwer] at theFilmportal.de * [http://www.tomtykwer.com Official homepage]
* [http://www.musicolog.com/tykwer/ musicolog pages]
* [http://www.stumpedmagazine.com/Interviews/tom-tykwer.html Stumped? Interview]
* [http://www.knightatthemovies.com/KATM_Perfume_Director_Tom_Tykwer KnightattheMovies.com Tom Tykwer interview about Perfume: The Story of a Murderer]
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