Biography
Heiko Aufdermauer was born in 1976 in Fürth, Germany. After graduating from high school, he went on a bicycle trip around the world for several years. Upon his return to Germany, he explored various fields of study, including theater and ethnology, before ultimately pursuing a directing program at the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film 'Konrad Wolf' in Potsdam-Babelsberg (now: Film University Babelsberg).
For his semi-documentary short film "Divine Durga" (2006), about a young boy in Kolkata who aspires to become a statue maker, Aufdermauer won a directing award at the Delhi Film Festival. Other of his student films have screened at prestigious festivals, such as "Zaar" (2007), shot in Iran, about a young man seeking healing through an ancient shamanistic ritual, which screened at festivals including the Oberhausen Short Film Festival and the Max Ophüls Festival.
He made his feature film debut with "Zeit der Fische" (2007), a "poetic post-punk fairy tale" inspired by the biography of the East German punk musician Timm Völker. The film won the German Film Promotion Award at the Hofer Filmtage and was also nominated for the First Steps Award. In 2008, Heiko Aufdermauer received a one-year scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) in Kolkata, India, to research his next feature film project (working title: "Wendepunkt Kalkutta" ("Turning Point Kolkata")), which ultimately did not materialize.
In 2010 Heiko Aufdermauer founded the film and video production company Silentfilm in Berlin. In the following years, he produced numerous music videos, promotional films, showreels, and fashion films, including "Le Fruit Noir" (2016), a four-minute work that was screened at the Berlin Fashion Film Festival. In collaboration with Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi ("Zeit der trunkenen Pferde" ("A Time for Drunken Horses")), he co-directed the three-part film "Sight" (2018).
In addition to his filmmaking work, Aufdermauer became a guest lecturer for film and motion design at the University of Europe in Berlin in 2022. In the same year, together with Johannes Girke, he co-directed the feature-length documentary "Berlin Bytch Love" (2022), which follows a young couple living on the streets and dreaming of their own apartment while awaiting the birth of their child. The film was nominated for the German Documentary Film Award, screened in competition at the Munich Dok.fest and won the Best Documentary Award at the Doc.Berlin Festival.