Andres Veiel

Biography

Andres Veiel, born on October 16, 1959, in Stuttgart, began studying psychology in West Berlin in 1982 and completed his degree in 1988. By then, he had already decided not to work as a psychologist. From 1985 to 1989, he trained in directing and dramaturgy at Berlin’s Künstlerhaus Bethanien, where he studied with Krzysztof Kieslowski—a mentor who left a lasting impression on his creative approach.  

Veiel’s early projects in a Berlin prison led to his first documentary, "Winternachtstraum" (1991/1992), about an actress realizing her life’s dream late in life. His next film, "Balagan" (1993), explored a Jewish-Palestinian theater group in Israel, winning the German Film Award (Silver Film Ribbon) and the Peace Film Prize in 1994. In "Die Überlebenden" ("The Survivors", 1996), which won a Grimme Award, he traced the lives of three former classmates who had died by suicide.

Veiel’s breakthrough came with "Black Box BRD" (2001), a documentary juxtaposing the lives of Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorist Wolfgang Grams and Deutsche Bank manager Alfred Herrhausen, who was murdered by the left-wing terrorist group RAF. The critically acclaimed and commercially successful film won numerous awards, including the Bavarian, German, and European Film Awards.  

He then embarked on a seven-year project following four acting students at Berlin's Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts. The resulting documentary, "Die Spielwütigen" ("Addicted to Acting", 2004), captures the ups and downs, enthusiasm, and self-doubt experienced by the young actors.  

In 2005, Veiel premiered "Der Kick" ("The Kick"), a documentary play co-written with dramaturg Gesine Schmidt. Based on extensive interviews, the play reconstructs the brutal murder of a teenager in Brandenburg. "Der Kick" was performed on over 30 German-speaking stages and translated into seven languages. Veiel adapted it into a film in 2006, and his accompanying book, "Der Kick. Ein Lehrstück über Gewalt," won the Youth Literature Prize in 2008 in the nonfiction category.  

In 2009, Veiel joined other prominent directors in Volker Heise's 24-hour television project "24 h Berlin - Ein Tag im Leben," contributing a segment on the editorial team of the German tabloid "Bild."  

At the 2011 Berlinale, Veiel presented his first fictional feature film, "Wer wenn nicht wir" ("If Not Us, Who?"), based on the book "Vesper, Ensslin, Baader – Urszenen des deutschen Terrorismus," and his own research. This drama about the origins of the left-wing terrorist group Red Army Faction starred August Diehl, Lena Lauzemis, and Alexander Fehling and earned the Alfred Bauer Prize and the Guild of German Art House Cinemas Prize at the Berlinale, along with the German Film Award in Bronze and the Hessian Film Prize.  

In January 2013, Veiel’s play "Himbeerreich" premiered as a co-production at the Staatstheater Stuttgart and the Deutsches Theater Berlin. Drawn from interviews with 24 former bank executives, the play’s title, inspired by one of the Red Army Faction's prominent leaders and key member, Gudrun Ensslin, refers to the “raspberry kingdom” as a metaphor for a consumer-oriented world. The piece was met with mixed reviews but had a successful run at theaters across Germany, sparking heated panel discussions.  

Also in 2013, Veiel contributed a short documentary to the ARD series "16 × Deutschland – Menschen, Orte, Geschichten," profiling the country's "oldest driving instructor" at age 83. That year, he also worked on a documentary for "24h Jerusalem," accompanying a UN worker in Palestinian refugee camps.  

Veiel’s next feature documentary, "Beuys" (2017), a filmic exploration of artist Joseph Beuys, premiered at the Berlinale to mixed reviews but won several awards, including the Documentary Music Award at DOK.fest Munich 2018, the German Film Award, and the Guild Film Prize for Best Documentary.  

In the following years, Veiel collaborated as a script editor on other documentaries, such as Jonas Rothlaender's "Das starke Geschlecht" ("The Strong Sex", 2021) and Petra Hoffmann's "Ein Traum von Revolution" ("A Dream of Revolution", 2024).  

In 2020, as co-writer and director, he released the TV drama "Ökozid" ("Ecocide"), a courtroom drama addressing the catastrophic effects of climate change and corporate lobbying. Reactions were sharply divided.

At the Venice Film Festival in August 2024, Veiel premiered "Riefenstahl," a meticulously researched documentary on the notorious Nazi filmmaker. The film went on to win the Guild Film Prize for Best Documentary and the Youth Jury Award at the Leipzig Film Art Fair.  

Andres Veiel is a member of the German and European Film Academies and the Academy of the Arts. He also teaches at institutions including the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) and the University of Zurich.