Biography
Roman Kuhn, born in 1957, initially trained as a cartographer, but soon changed industries and began working as a graphic draftsman for an advertising agency. There he quickly rose to become a layout artist and finally an art director. In the early 1980s, he turned to digital technology, which was still in its infancy at the time, and founded a successful computer graphics company with which he designed, among other things, the first computer-animated cover picture, a hurdler, for Der Spiegel magazine (issue 30/1984).
In the U.S., he gained experience in special effects before becoming managing director of the TV offshoot of Munich-based ARRIfilm in Germany, where he produced commercials and played a key role in the development of digital film editing.
Eventually, he began directing commercials and image films himself and advanced to become one of Germany's most distinguished commercial filmmakers with innovative spots for companies such as C&A, ADAC and IBM. He also became a lecturer at the Folkwangschule in Essen and at the Academy of Art in Munich.
Kuhn made his feature film debut in 1998 with the TV movie "Die Schläfer", which he also wrote and produced. Two years later he directed the feature film "be.angeled", about the experiences of visitors to the Berlin Love Parade. The documentary film he produced, "A Woman and a Half," about the life of actress and singer Hildegard Knef (Hildegard Neff), was nominated for the German Film Award.
Although advertising remained his main field of activity, over the next few years Kuhn developed new advertising formats that would combine the best of both worlds: For example, on the online platform "Floaded," which was created in cooperation with Gruner&Jahr and UFA Fernsehproduktion, and with which he realized, among other things, the short film "Die Erlkönigin" (2007) for Mercedes. He shot further commercials for Lamborghini, Siemens and DAB Bank, among others.
In addition to his work in the film industry, Kuhn's hobby of photography increasingly became an integral part of his professional work as well. In addition to advertising photos, he portrayed actors such as Götz Otto and Oliver Masucci.
In 2020, Kuhn began working on a new feature film project together with Sonya Winterberg: "Die Bilderkriegerin - Anja Niedringhaus," a docudrama about the life of the renowned photojournalist and war correspondent who was shot dead in an assassination in Afghanistan in 2014. The film was released in May 2022.