Biography
Philipp Majer, born in 1982 in Rodalben near Pirmasens, started working as an editor and sound engineer for commercials and short films by HBKsaar student Marc André Misman. In 2010 he founded the production company Bunkhouse Film in Saarbrücken, with which he realised his first own short documentary film "Vierviertel" (2010), a portrait of four residents of the Nauwieser Viertel in Saarbrücken: a cleaning lady, a record salesman, a bartender and a snack vendor. Together with Marc André Misman he directed the short feature film "Selbstmord für Anfänger" (2011), which premiered at the Max Ophüls Film Festival.
Apart from this, Majer primarily realised advertising and image films and music videos with Bunkhouse Film. He also took on editing and camera jobs. He was editor for Tarek Ehlail's documentary "Glaubenskrieger" ("Warriors of Faith", 2012), Misman's award-winning short film "Fürchtet euch nicht! (2013) and various TV reports, such as three episodes of the travel series "Willkommen in ...". (2013). Majer's own short documentary "Bunte Liga", about very different members of a hobby soccer league, premiered at the 2014 11mm film festival in Berlin.
In 2015, Philipp Majer shot the medium-length documentary "Smajl", about a Kosovar guest worker who came to Germany in the 1970s and later fought for Kosovo's independence as a political activist. At the Jaipur International Film Festival (India) the film won the prize for Best Documentary. Numerous other festival participations followed, including the Film Festival Max Ophüls Prize, the Sarajevo Film Winter and the Quebec International Film Festival (Canada).
Majer was commissioned by the Saarland Broadcasting Corporation to film the 72-minute documentary "Wendelin weltweit" (2017) as director, cameraman and editor. The film deals with places in Brazil, the USA, Eastern Europe and Italy where Saint Wendelin is still important today. With "Die Kleinstadt" (2018) Majer made a documentary film about Pirmasens, near his birthplace, trying to capture the contradictions of this often negatively portrayed city. The film was screened at several festivals and won the Special Jury Award at the Germany International Film Festival in Munich.
A big success was Majer's documentary feature "World Taxi" (2019), in which he accompanies five charismatic taxi drivers in Bangkok, Prishtina, Dakar, El Paso and Berlin for 24 hours through their daily lives. The German premiere took place once again at the Film festival Max Ophüls Prize. At the South Texas International Film Festival (USA) and the Open Window Film Festival Kolkata (India) "World Taxi" won the prize for Best Documentary Film. The German cinema release was in June 2020.