Biography
Nele Dehnenkamp, born in 1989, studied social sciences in Berlin and New York City before studying directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. While still a student, she began work in 2014 on the long-term documentary "For the Time Being", in which she follows an African-American woman in the USA as she fights for years to free her husband, who she believes has been unjustly imprisoned. In parallel, she directed the short documentary "We Will Survive" (2018), about a nursing home for LGBTQ people, which won the award for best regional short film at the Lichter Film Festival Frankfurt 2019.
Dehnenkamp's 15-minute documentary "Seepferdchen" ("Seahorse", 2021), about a young refugee from northern Iraq who comes to terms with her traumatic escape at sea by teaching children how to swim, won numerous awards, including the Golden Sparrow Children's Media Festival, the Atlanta Film Festival (USA), the prestigious Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (USA) and the Grimme Prize.
In 2023 Nele Dehnenkamp completed "For the Time Being", which she started in 2014. The film premiered at DOK Leipzig. It was her first feature-length documentary and also her graduation film at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy. After numerous screenings at various festivals, "For the Time Being" premiered in German cinemas in April 2024.