Biography
Gereon Wetzel was born in 1972 in Bonn, Germany. After studying archaeology in Heidelberg, he began studying documentary film at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film in Munich (HFF) in 2000. During his studies, he produced the medium-length documentary "Sprechproben" (2004), in which he explores German dialect borders and regional terminology; the film premiered at the Munich Documentary Film Festival. Wetzel's feature-length graduation film "Castells" (2006), about the Catalan tradition of human towers ("castells") up to ten meters high, with which cities compete in annual competitions, was screened at numerous international festivals; at the Munich Documentary Film Festival, it was awarded the Bavarian Radio and Telepool Prize.
Together with filmmaker Jörg Adolph and producer Ingo Fliess, Gereon Wetzel founded the DVD label and streaming portal DocCollection in the spring of 2008, initially for their own films and later as a distributor and platform for the works of other documentary filmmakers.
As an author and filmmaker, Wetzel has produced numerous documentaries on a wide variety of topics, often also serving as director of photography and editor. "How to Make a Book With Steidl" (2010), about the photo book publisher Gerhard Steidl and his collaboration with photographers from all over the world, received the Documentary Film Award of the Goethe Institute at the Duisburg Film Week and the Golden Dove for Best Documentary Film at the DOK Leipzig Festival.
"El Bulli - Cooking in Progress" (2010), Wetzel's film about the cooking laboratory of the pioneering Spanish avant-garde chef Ferran Adrià, attracted attention at festivals around the world. At the German Camera Award 2011, the film won Best Editing (Anja Pohl). At DOK.fest Munich, it was awarded the FFF Documentary Film Sponsorship Award, and it was also nominated for the German Documentary Film Award 2013.
Together with Jörg Adolph, Wetzel realized "Zündfunk Radio Show" (2014), a documentary about the influential music and culture magazine "Zündfunk" on Bayern 2. He also directed "Carlos Saura - Fotograf" (2016), a film about the legendary Spanish director and his photographic life's work. In "Konstantin Grcic - Design is Work" (2017), Wetzel observed the world-renowned Munich designer and his team at work. Additionally, "Die Kunst der Widerrede" ("Art of the Argument", 2017, co-directed with Melanie Liebheit) followed four law students aiming to qualify for the prestigious international law competition, the Jessup Moot Court.
Gereon Wetzel created a highly personal documentary film titled "Sommerfahrt - Zeit heilt keine Wunden" (2022). In this film, he reunites with companions from his scouting days 30 years ago, after the Aloisiuskolleg, the group's affiliated institution, was discovered to have been involved in massive sexual assaults over decades. Wetzel's work on this film earned him a nomination for the Grimme Award.
In another collaboration with Melanie Liebheit, Wetzel directed the documentary "She Chef" (AT/DE) from early 2020, which was filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film follows a young Austrian woman as she travels through various international top kitchens, seeking to gain experience as an intern. "She Chef" premiered at the DOK Leipzig festival in October 2022 and received the FFF sponsorship award at the Munich DOK.fest 2023. The film was released theatrically in May 2023.