Biography
Laura Lehmus, born 1972 in Riihimäki, Finland, studied Fine Arts at the F+F School in Zurich from 1993 to 1996, specializing in video clip and performance art. While still a student, she realized the performances "Lore Ley", "Desinfectaproductions" and "Absalom" in Zurich in 1995 and 1996. After her diploma, Lehmus went to the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, where she studied media design until 2001. She graduated with the nine-minute short film "Not Going Down" (2001).
In the next years she lived and worked in Berlin as an on-air producer and graphic artist for film and television (among others for MTV, Arte, KiKA and Solarfilms Helsinki). In 2009 she realized the short film "Versuch das mal mit Plastik". In 2012, Lehmus moved to Helsinki, Finland, where she founded the production agency Larry Cooper, which also has a branch in Berlin. With the agency, she creates animations in 2D and 3D, stop-motion films, promo clips, motion design and on-air design.
A major success was Lehmus' short film "AlieNation" (2014), an animated film about puberty based on interviews with teenagers. It was awarded, among others, the German Short Film Award in Gold, the DEFA Promotion Award for Animation and a Youth Jury Award at the Exground Filmfest 2015.
At the London Raindance Film Festival, Lehmus presented her feature film debut "Sweet Disaster" in November 2021, a whimsical love story starring Florian Lukas and Friederike Kempter. After further international festival appearances, the film was released in German cinemas in August 2022.