Gallery
All Pictures (2)Biography
Chris Kraus, born 1963 in Göttingen, worked as a journalist and illustrator before he began his studies at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb) in 1991. While studying, he worked as a screenwriter for TV ("Motzki", "Marga Engel schlägt zurück") but also as editor and script consultant for directors like Volker Schlöndorff and Rosa von Praunheim. After graduating in 1998, he wrote the script for von Praunheim's historical drama "Der Einstein des Sex" ("The Einstein of Sex: Life and work of Dr. M. Hirschfeld"), which was immediately nominated for the German Screenplay Award (Deutscher Drehbuchpreis).
His debut in cinema is marked by the 2002 drama "Scherbentanz" ("Shattered Glass") about a mother-and-son relationship. The film, based on Kraus's novel of the same title (2002), received a range of national and international awards. It was awarded the Bayerischer Filmpreis in two categories: "Best Up-And-Coming Director" and "Best Supporting Actress" (Margit Carstensen). Kraus's second feature "Vier Minuten" ("Four Minutes"), about the relationship between an elderly piano teacher and a highly gifted prison inmate, screened at many international festivals to great success. At the Bayerischer Filmpreis 2007 for example, Monica Bleibtreu and Hannah Herzsprung received the award for Best Actor and Best Young Actor. Kraus himself was awarded Best Director. His triumph continued impressively at the German Film Awards: On top of more Best Actress awards for Bleibtreu and Herzsprung, "Four Minutes" received the most generously endowed award for Best Feature Film.
In 2007, Kraus directed an episode ("Reise nach China") for the popular crime TV series "Bella Block", before finding his way back to cinema. The historical drama "Poll" ("The Poll Diaries", 2010) tells the story of a young Baltic German girl (Paula Beer), who, on the eve of the First World War, hides a wounded Estonian anarchist at her house. "Poll" premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2010, and received awards at festivals in Rome and Tallinn, inter alia.
In 2012, "Rosakinder", a joint project of actors and directors Chris Kraus, Julia von Heinz, Axel Ranisch, Robert Thalheim and Tom Tykwer premiered at the Hofer Filmtage. In short episodes, the five artists reflect on the relationship with their teacher and mentor Rosa von Praunheim.
Four years later, in October 2016 and again in Hof, Kraus presented his new feature film: "Die Blumen von gestern" ("Bloom of Yesterday", DE/AT 2016) about a serious Holocaust researcher, whose professional and private life is thrown into turmoil by his eccentric French intern.
In 2017, after years of research, Kraus' second novel, "Das kalte Blut," was published, the story of which was inspired in part by the SS past of his Baltic-born grandfather and his two brothers. A year later his novel "Sommerfrauen, Winterfrauen," was publihed, which tells the story of a student who is confronted with his own family history in New York through an encounter with a headstrong woman.
In December 2021, Chris Kraus began shooting his next feature film, "15 Jahre" ("15 Years"), a sequel to his huge success "Vier Minuten" from 2006.