Biography
Thorsten Schütte was born in 1966. He studied cinematography and editing in Cologne, and following his graduation, he garnered practical experience on film productions in Italy. Back in Germany, he started working for the production company EuroArts Entertainment International in the mid-1990s: He helmed a string of music documentaries for TV, including World Jazz" (1998), "Crossroads - Vom Jazz zum Ethno-Pop" (1999), "Trip To Brazil" (2001), and "The Cactus of Knowledge" (2001). He also directed the documentary "Ich, der King of Porn - Das abenteuerliche Leben des Lasse Braun" (2003) for TV network Arte.
From 2004 on, Schütte focused on film projects with social-political and educational intent in South Africa and Namibia. He completed the TV documentary "Sheila und Natasha - Leben und Lernen in Namibia" (2005), and made the short Dokumentarfilm "Land Matters" (2008). His film "Dwaal net rond! - The Forgotten" chronicles the hardships of Namibian farmworkers. Schütte was one of the founders of "Stolen Moments - Namibian Music History Untold Research Group", which concerns itself with the native music culture that had been marginalized during the Apartheid rule. Since 2016, findings of the research are presented in exhibitions that have also toured in Germany.
Schütte's feature documentary "Frank Zappa - Eat That Question" premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The film garnered very positive reviews and went on to win awards at the Film Festival San Sebastian and the Music & Film Festival in Asbury Park. It was released theatrically in Germany in December 2016.
In addition to his work as writer-director-producer, Thorsten Schütte has also been a lecturer and studies coordinator at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg.