Biography
Hannes Lang, born in Brixen, Italy, in 1981, was an apprentice cabinet maker before training as a geometrician. He then gathered hands on experience in film as a production assistant with a Tyrolean production company. From 2004 to 2008, Lang majored in Audio-Visual Media with a specialization on documentary at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. While studying, Lang made several documentary shorts such as "Der Schnelle Brüter" (2008), a film about a theme park located in a German nuclear power plant that was erected in 1985 yet never was in operation.
In his 29 minute graduate thesis film "Leavenworth, WA" (2008) Lang portrayed the eponymous small town that has turned into a Bavarian village, thereby attracting tourists from around the world. The film was screened at various international festivals and has won multiple awards.
At the documentary film festival DOK Leipzig 2011, Lang – whose works are influenced by the aesthetics of James Benning and by photo artists Bernd and Hilla Becher – presented his first full length film: "Peak – Über allen Gipfeln" (DE/IT 2011) juxtaposes observations of life in almost deserted Italian mountain villages with the hustle and bustle of commercial construction related to winter tourism. The film won the Goethe-Institut's documentary award and opened in movie theaters in early 2013.
In collaboration with filmmakers Mareike Wegener and Carmen Losmann, Hannes Lang founded the production company Petrolio Film at the end of 2012. This is where he produced his second full length documentary "I Want to See The Manager" (DE/IT 2014) which elaborates on changes inflicted by globalization around the world. The film premiered at the dokumentarfilmwoche hamburg in April 2015 and was released in theaters in late summer that year.