Uli M Schueppel

Biography

Uli M. Schueppel (born Ulf Schüppel) on May 7, 1958, in Erbach, Odenwald is the son of visual artist, poet, and professor Hem Schüppel. Initially studying humanities in Heidelberg, Schueppel shifted his focus in 1984 to film directing at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb). While there, he created short films, music videos, and his medium-length feature "Nihil oder Alle Zeit der Welt" ("Nihil Or All The Time In The World", 1987), featuring Blixa Bargeld and with a soundtrack by Alexander Hacke. The film won the Special Jury Award at the World Film Festival in Montreal. 

Schueppel’s dffb graduation film "The Road to God Knows Where" (1990) offered a portrait of musician Nick Cave and a glimpse into the rock music scene of the late 1980s. It was screened at several international festivals. His first feature film, "Vaterland" ("Fatherland", 1992), was awarded at the Amiens Film Festival. Schueppel continued making documentaries and essayfilms, such as "Sid & Nancy – Ex & Pop" (1996), which captured the turbulent creation of a stage play based on the film Sid & Nancy. 

In 1998, Schueppel co-founded the production company D.Flex with producer Milanka Comfort. There, he directed Planet Alex (2000), one of the first digitally shot feature films, an episodic narrative set around Berlin’s Alexanderplatz starring Nadeshda Brennicke. In 2001, he was commissioned by the Berlin International Film Festival to create the official Berlinale opening sequence, a computer animation that has opened all festival screenings since 2002. 

Schueppel also served as a speaker and curator at the b.film & digital vision Festival in Berlin, with a focus on digital filmmaking. Beginning in 2003, he regularly taught as a guest lecturer at the dffb and the Netherlands Film Academy in Amsterdam, offering masterclasses on music documentaries, independent filmmaking, and digital storytelling. 

In 2006, Schueppel expanded his work to media art, including video installations and photography. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Louvre in Paris, and the Haus der Kunst in Munich. 

In his films, Schueppel explored aspects of Berlin’s music scene: "BerlinSong" (2007) profiled six diverse singer-songwriters from the city’s underground scene, while "Elektrokohle (Von wegen)" ("Off Ways", 2009), which premiered in the Berlinale’s Panorama section, traced the first concert of the legendary punk band Einstürzende Neubauten in East Germany in December 1989. 

At the 2010 Rotterdam Film Festival, Schueppel premiered "Tranzania. Living. Room.", a film documenting a journey between Tanzania and Germany. His documentary "Brötzmann – Da gehört die Welt mal mir" ("Brötzmann: That's When the World Is Mine"), profiling the progressive rock band "Caspar Brötzmann Massaker", premiered at the Berlinale in 2012. 

Schueppel’s earlier film "The Road to God Knows Where" was screened at Documenta14 in Kassel in 2017, and in 2018, The Guardian named it one of the "20 Best Music Documentaries of All Time." His experimental documentary "Der Atem" ("The Breath"), the third part of his "Gesänge" trilogy, following "Der Platz" ("The Place", 1997) and "Der Tag" ("The Day", 2008), premiered at the Berlinale in 2019, exploring themes of space, time, and body. "Der Atem" was released in theaters in early 2020.