Biography
Hans Helmut Grotjahn was born in Braunschweig on August 13 1943. After studying geology and being trained as a photographer, he began working with media educator and filmmaker Antje Starost in the mid-1970s. Grotjahn also co-directed Starost's graduation feature "Marika und Caterina" (1979-1981). In 1980, Starost founded the company Antje Starost Film Produktion, through which she and Grotjahn made all their following collaborations.
The duo's most memorable documentaries include "Wurlitzer oder Die Erfindung der Gegenwart" (1985), "Chaupi Mundi - Die Mitte der Welt" ("Chaupi Mundi - The Heart of the World",1992), "Der Diplomat" ("The Diplomat", 1994) and the multiple-award-winning "7 oder Warum ich auf der Welt bin" ("7 or Why I Exist", 2010).
In 2009, Grotjahn and Starost began to work on "Geschichte einer Liebe - Freya" ("Love in the Time of Resistance - Freya"), a documentary about the love and life story of Freya von Moltke (1911-2010) and Helmuth James Graf von Moltke (1907-1945), who was sentenced to death by the Nazis for his work in the resistance. After seven years in production, the film premiered at the 2016 Hofer Filmtage. It gathered much critical acclaim and was released theatrically in April 2017.
For television, "Empört Euch! Engagiert Euch! Stéphane Hessel" was created, a documentary portrait of the Frenchman Stéphane Hessel, who in 2010, at the age of 93, became an icon of the protest and youth movement throughout Europe and North Africa with his pamphlet "Indignez-vous!".
For the Kunsthalle Rehau Art in Rehau, Starost and Grotjahn designed the exhibition "Vom Bauernbub zum Erfinder des Tonfilms" ("From Farmer Boy to Inventor of the Sound Film") about the sound film pioneer Hans Vogt from Wurlitz, a district of Rehau, which opened in 2019; this was followed by the exhibition "100 Years of Sound Film" in 2022.
Their next feature film was presented at the Hofer Filmtage in 2023: "7 oder Wie halte ich die Zeit an" ("7 or How to Stop Time"), for which they revisited the protagonists of their 2010 documentary "7 oder Warum ich auf der Welt bin". The movie was released in March 2024.