Dirk Kummer

Dirk Kummer (born 29 September 1966 in Hennigsdorf) is a German actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing movies Sugar Sand (2017), Wohin mit den Witwen (1999) and Rosenzweig's Freedom (1998).

Dirk Kummer
Dirk Kummer 2020
Born (1966-09-29) 29 September 1966
Hennigsdorf, Brandenburg, Germany
OccupationActor, director
Years active1979–present

Early life

Kummer first grew up in Falkensee[1] and moved to East Berlin in 1973. He had his first acting role in 1979 aged 13, in the two-parter TV movie Meines Vaters Straßenbahn on the Deutscher Fernsehfunk channel. After he had graduated from school in 1985, Kummer performed three years of military service with the border troops.[2] Then from 1989 to 1992, he was a master student of the Berlin Academy of Arts in the Performing Arts section. In parallel, he also studied between 1989 and 1990 as a guest at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg, specializing in directing and as a guest student at the state-run Berlin drama school Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts.

His first big movie role was in one of the last DEFA productions called Coming Out.[3] In addition to his involvement as one of the main actors in the role of 'Matthias', he worked in this production as assistant to director Heiner Carow.[4] The premiere of the film took place on the evening of the fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989), at the East Berlin premiere at Kino International.[5][6]

In 1992, Kummer went to Switzerland and took acting classes there for one year at the University of Music and Performing Arts Bern (now part of University of the Arts Bern). From 1993 to 2002, he worked only sporadically as an actor and mainly as a directing assistant among others with Konrad Sabrautzky, Richard Huber (Mein Leben & Ich), Kaspar Heidelbach (Das Wunder von Lengede), Susanne Schneider (The Day Will Come), Anna Justice (Remembrance (2011)) and Gunther Scholz. In 2002, he received an author scholarship from the Drehbuchwerkstatt Nürnberg and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Since about 2003, Dirk Kummer works almost exclusively as a director and scriptwriter. After stops in Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg[7] and Berlin, he now resides again in Brandenburg.

He has also directed plays at theatres including "Carl's Work - Part 1" (in 2014) and "The Abolition of the Night" (in 2015) at Schauspiel Köln.[6]

His short film Zuckersand was awarded the 'Bernd Burgemeister Fernsehpreis' at the 2017 Munich Film Festival,[6][2] the 3sat Audience Award at the 2010 Baden-Baden TV Film Festival and the Grimme Prize in 2018.[8][1] His script for the film was awarded a prize in 2003,[1] the Thomas Strittmatter Award.[2][9]

Filmography

Actor
Year Title Role Notes
1979 My Father's Streetcar (TV film, also known as Meines Vaters Straßenbahn)
1986 Rund um die Uhr 'Jugendlicher im Fuhrwerk' or teenager in wagon (TV series, 1 episode)
1988 Die andere Liebe as himself (short documentary)[10][11]
1989 Coming Out 'Matthias' [4][12]
1992 The Mistake (or Die Verfehlung) Holger Bosch [3]
1995 Kanzlei Bürger Edgar Wunsch (TV series, 1 episode)
1998 100 Years of Brecht (or 'Hundert Jahre Brecht') actor Documentary[13]
A.S. Sergio Pavese (TV series, 1 episode "Letzter Bluff")
1999 Die Hochzeitskuh Conductor (TV movie)

Director
Year Title Notes
1999 Wohin mit den Witwen (Short, also written by Kummer
2003 Geschlecht: weiblich (TV film)
2005 Charlotte und ihre Männer (TV film), won the Audience Award in 2005[14]
2009 Keiner geht verloren (TV film)[2]
2010 Dienstags ein Held sein (TV film)
2017 Sugar Sand (Or Zuckersand) (TV film),[15] winner of 54th Grimme Prize 2018[8]

References
  1. Schnaibel, Marlies (22 April 2018). "Falkensee freut sich über Grimme-Preis". MAZ - Märkische Allgemeine (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  2. Heine, Frank (7 July 2017). "Blickpunkt:Film, News , Claussen + Putz im Interview: "Eigentlich gibt's das nicht mehr"". mediabiz.de (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  3. Brigitta B. Wagner (Editor) DEFA After East Germany, p. 199, at Google Books
  4. "Coming Out". DEFA Film Library. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  5. Niemeyer, Maren; Clauss, Ulrich. "Wie die DDR im Burgfrieden unterging". Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 9 November 1999. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  6. "falkensee.de - Filmdarsteller Dirk Kummer kommt zur 7. Open-Air-Kinosommernacht – Gezeigt wird "Coming out – folge deinem Herzen"". www.falkensee.de (in German). 25 August 2017. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  7. "Baden-Württembergischer Drehbuchpreis für Dirk Kummer / Debütwerk "Der Maulwurf" ausgezeichnet". presseportal.de (in German). 14 February 2003. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  8. "Dirk Kummer". www.grimme-preis.de (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  9. "Thomas Strittmatter Preis | MFG BW". film.mfg.de (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  10. Frackman, Kyle (2018) Shame and Love: East German Homosexuality Goes to the Movies. In Frackman, Kyle; Steward, Faye (eds.) Gender and Sexuality in East German Film: Intimacy and Alienation. Rochester, NY: Camden House
  11. Kyle Frackman and Faye Stewart (editors) Gender and Sexuality in East German Film: Intimacy and Alienation, p. 238, at Google Books
  12. Von Hans Helmut Prinzler Chronik Des Deutschen Films 1894–1994, p. P383, at Google Books
  13. "One hundred years Brecht". filmportal.de (in German). Retrieved 31 January 2019.
  14. "Schauspiel Koeln - Dirk Kummer". www.schauspiel.koeln. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
  15. "Interview Regisseur - FilmMittwoch im Ersten - ARD | Das Erste". www.daserste.de (in German). Retrieved 28 January 2019.
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