Hubert Sauper (b. 27 July 1966, Kitzbühel, Tyrol, Austria) is a documentary filmmaker best known for the highly controversial Darwin's Nightmare (2004) which was nominated for an Academy Award.Sauper has lived in the UK, Italy, and the USA and now lives in France. He studied film directing in universities in Vienna and France. He teaches film classes in Europe and the USA.He acted in several short films and two feature length films: In The Circle Of The Iris, directed by Peter Patzak, (with Philippe Léotard), and Blue Distance, directed by Peter Schreiner.His two latest documentaries have received twelve International Film Prizes.
[after being asked why he filmed in Kisangani, Congo] 'For several years I've been following wandering, migrating, rootless people: traveling artists, circus performers, gypsies - this has become a central interest to me as a filmmaker, perhaps because rootlessness and exile so define our times. But I was not prepared for what was to come. Naïve enough to go to a country in civil war, I wanted to make a documentary about refugees and life on the run. What I found in the rotten jungle of the Congo were not refugees, but human beings in tens of thousands, muted by starvation and military persecution, silent; dying or dead. Without having intended, I became a witness to an apocalypse. The horror was not only seeing the results of another senseless war, another genocide, but understanding the continuing indifference of our "civilised" world towards such man-made disasters - at the end of our century of holocausts. Children without parents. Faces without hope. Bodies without graves. White men walking over black corpses. TV-cameras and machine-guns shooting. Shooting right into the crowded camps. For me, making this documentary was a step too far into the dark, the unknown. And how to come back? Now the film exists. "Spectators" may expect a well-reflected and reassuring commentary to comfort them, to protect them from the enigma they have to watch. But there is not much left to explain. The images stand for themselves, and while editing the Kisangani Diary, I used them chronologically as they had occurred - naked and ugly. The audience is completely exposed to become an eye-witness to the "Heart of Darkness" of human nature.
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When I select my characters, I ask myself: do I like this person? Do I want to spend a part of my life with them?
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Fact
1
Lives in Paris.
Director
Title
Year
Status
Character
We Come as Friends
2014
Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare
2004
Documentary
Seules avec nos histoires
2002
Kisangani Diary
1998
Documentary
Also schlafwandle ich am hellichten Tage
1994
Ich habe die angenehme Aufgabe
1993
Der Blasi
1990
Piraten in Österreich
1990
Era Max
1989
Short
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
We Come as Friends
2014
Documentary producer
Darwin's Nightmare
2004
Documentary producer
Kisangani Diary
1998
Documentary producer
Also schlafwandle ich am hellichten Tage
1994
producer
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
We Come as Friends
2014
Documentary concept
Darwin's Nightmare
2004
Documentary written by
Kisangani Diary
1998
Documentary writer
Cinematographer
Title
Year
Status
Character
We Come as Friends
2014
Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare
2004
Documentary
Kisangani Diary
1998
Documentary
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Blaue Ferne
1994
Three Films from Austria
1991
Short
Editor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Kisangani Diary
1998
Documentary
Also schlafwandle ich am hellichten Tage
1994
Camera Department
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Salt of the Earth
2014
Documentary additional footage
Thanks
Title
Year
Status
Character
City of Joy
2016
Documentary thanks
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Democracy Now!
2014
TV Series
Himself
Capturing Reality
2008
Documentary
Himself
Nichts ist spannender als die Wirklichkeit
2006
Documentary
Himself
Service Natur
2005
TV Series documentary
Director
Darwin's Nightmare
2004
Documentary
Himself - Interviewer (voice, uncredited)
Won Awards
Year
Award
Ceremony
Nomination
Movie
2015
Austrian Film Award
Austrian Film Award, AT
Best Documentary (Bester Dokumentarfilm)
We Come as Friends (2014)
2015
Cinema Eye Honors Award
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
The Influentials
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2014
Peace Film Award
Berlin International Film Festival
We Come as Friends (2014)
2014
Best Central and Eastern European Documentary
Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
We Come as Friends (2014)
2014
Special Jury Prize
Sundance Film Festival
World Cinema - Documentary
We Come as Friends (2014)
2006
César
César Awards, France
Best First Film (Meilleur premier film)
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
European Jury Award
Angers European First Film Festival
Feature Film
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
Documentary Award
Fribourg International Film Festival
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
Audience Award
Mexico City International Contemporary Film Festival
Best Documentary Feature
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
FIPRESCI Prize
Sydney Film Festival
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
Audience Award
Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival
Best Foreign Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
Special Prize
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2005
Community Cinema Award
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2004
CPH:DOX Award
CPH:DOX
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2004
Audience Award
Entrevues Film Festival
Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2004
European Film Award
European Film Awards
European Documentary
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2004
Label Europa Cinemas
Venice Film Festival
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
2004
Vienna Film Award
Viennale
Darwin's Nightmare (2004)
1999
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Award
Nuremberg International Human Rights Film Festival
$1.9 Million
