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Frank Griebe

Date of Birth
08/28/1964 - 12:00
Geburtsort
Hamburg
Biography

Cinematographer Frank Griebe, born August 28, 1964, in Hamburg, is mainly known for his long-time collaboration with director Tom Tykwer. Griebe is director of photography for all of Tykwer's eight films (including three short films) and won the German film prize for "Lola rennt" ("Run Lola Run") and "Winterschläfer" ("Wintersleepers") together with "Zugvögel ... Einmal nach Inari" ("Trains 'n' Roses"). Griebe"s career in the film business started with an instruction to make film copies. From 1984 to 1986, he trained to become a certified camera assistant. After several years as a camera assistant for cinematographers like Michael Teutsch or Jürgen Jürges, Griebe became a cinematographer in his own right in 1991.

 

This year also marked the beginning of his collaboration with Tom Tykwer. Griebe won the Kodak prize and the German camera prize for "Die tödliche Maria" ("Deadly Maria"), his very first work as a director of photography. He is not only a technically experienced cinematographer but also likes to experiment and is stylistically versatile. Thus, he not only created the ultra-modern, experimental video clip style of "Lola rennt" ("Run Lola Run"), as well as the extremely calm and laconic images of "Zugvögel… Einmal nach Inari" ("Trains 'n' Roses") and the rather naturalistic style of "Absolute Giganten" ("Gigantic"). This broad stylistic spectrum has always enabled Griebe to transfer the abstract theme of a film to the visual level and was one of the main reasons Frank Griebe won the Marburg camera prize for his work as a cinematographer in 2002.

Since then, Griebe's extraordinary productivity and the expansion of his stylistic range have proven that his work is not done yet: For instance, Griebe gave Franke Potente's directing debut "Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt" ("Digging for Belladonna") the look of a silent film. In the same year, Griebe was responsible for the elaborate and at the same time realistic art work for the box office hit "Das Parfum" ("Perfume – The Story of a Murderer"), directed by Tom Tykwer – and won the German film award for this accomplishment.

In addition to his continuing creative collaboration with Tykwer – on the thriller "The International" (2009), the segment "Feierlich reist" which was part of the omnibus film "Deutschland '09" (2009) and the romance "Drei" ("Three", 2010) – Griebe served as DoP on several non-fiction films: He shot Sönke Wortmann's "Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen" (2006), contributed to the TV project "24 h Berlin – Ein Tag im Leben" (2009), and worked with directors Romuald Karmakar (on the shorts "Ramses" and "Ein Mann unseres Vertrauens) and Julian Benedikt ("Longing for Beauty – Sehnsucht nach Schönheit", 2010). He also worked with director Annekatrin Hendel on "Anderson" (2013), a documentary about the life of East German author – and, as was revealed, secret police informer – Sascha Anderson.

Following Helmut Dietl's comedy "Zettl" and "Rosakinder", a homage to Rosa von Praunheim made by several directors, Griebe again teamed up with Tom Tykwer: Sharing DoP duties with renowned US cinematographer John Toll, Griebe shot the lavish screen adaptation of the popular novel "Cloud Atlas", directed by Tykwer and the Wachowski siblings. Their effort won Toll and Griebe the 2013 German Film Award for Best Cinematography, thus making Griebe a four-time recipient of the award.

Filmography
2024/2025
Der Medicus 2
  • Director of photography
2023-2025
Delicious
  • Director of photography
2017-2024
Der unsichtbare Zoo
  • Director of photography
2021-2023
The Dive
  • Director of photography
2021/2022
Babylon Berlin [Staffel 4]
  • Director of photography
2020-2022
Funeral for a Dog
  • Director of photography
2020
Gott - von Ferdinand von Schirach
  • Director of photography
2019/2020
Home
  • Director of photography
2017-2019
Lara
  • Director of photography
2017/2018
25 km/h
  • Director of photography
2016/2017
Babylon Berlin [Staffel 2]
  • Director of photography
2016/2017
Babylon Berlin [Staffel 1]
  • Director of photography
2015-2017
Conny Plank - The Potential of Noise
  • Director of photography
2015-2017
Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht
  • Director of photography
2014-2016
Ein Hologramm für den König
  • Director of photography
2012-2014
Anderson
  • Director of photography
2011/2012
Rosakinder
  • Director of photography
2011/2012
Cloud Atlas
  • Director of photography
2010/2011
Zettl
  • Director of photography
2009/2010
Longing for Beauty - Sehnsucht nach Schönheit
  • Director of photography
2009/2010
Drei
  • Director of photography
2009
Drang
  • Director
2008/2009
Deutschland '09 - 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation
  • Director of photography
2008/2009
Feierlich reist
  • Director of photography
2007-2009
The International
  • Director of photography
2008/2009
24 h Berlin - Ein Tag im Leben
  • Director of photography
2009
Ein Mann unseres Vertrauens: Ralf Otterpohl, Wasserspezialist
  • Director of photography
2009
Ramses
  • Director of photography
2008
Going against fate
  • Director of photography
2006
Play your own Thing - Eine Geschichte des Jazz in Europa
  • Director of photography
2006
Deutschland. Ein Sommermärchen
  • Director of photography
2005/2006
Das Parfum - Die Geschichte eines Mörders
  • Director of photography
2005/2006
Der die Tollkirsche ausgräbt
  • Director of photography
2004/2005
Ich dich auch
  • Director of photography
  • Producer
  • Unit production manager
2004/2005
NVA
  • Director of photography
2003/2004
Cowgirl
  • Director of photography
2002-2004
True
  • Director of photography
2002/2003
Herr Lehmann
  • Director of photography
2003
Ein Tag in Wolfsburg
  • Director of photography
2002/2003
Delusion
  • Director of photography
2000-2002
Heaven
  • Director of photography
2001/2002
Nackt
  • Director of photography
2001/2002
La Mer
  • Director
  • Screenplay
1999/2000
Der Krieger und die Kaiserin
  • Director of photography
1998/1999
Absolute Giganten
  • Director of photography
1999
Die Aufschneider
  • Director of photography
1998
Hauptsache Leben
  • Director of photography
1997/1998
Lola rennt
  • Director of photography
1996/1997
Zugvögel - Einmal nach Inari
  • Director of photography
1996/1997
Winterschläfer
  • Director of photography
  • Camera operator
1995/1996
Im Namen des Gesetzes. [Staffel 2]
  • Director of photography
1995/1996
Stille Nacht
  • 2nd Camera unit
1995
Der Mann auf der Bettkante
  • Director of photography
1994/1995
Die brennende Schnecke
  • Director of photography
1993/1994
... in Südfrankreich
  • Assistant camera
1993
Die tödliche Maria
  • Director of photography
1992
Die Sonnengöttin
  • Assistant camera
1992
Epilog
  • Director of photography
1991/1992
Utz
  • Clapper loader
1990
Because
  • Director of photography
  • Producer
Source-URL: https://www.filmportal.de/en/person/frank-griebe_f30d5a1637f1300ae03053d50b37399b