Stefan Jäger (director)

Stefan Jäger (2015)

Stefan Jäger (* 1970 in Uster ) is a Swiss director , screenwriter and film producer . He also works as a lecturer for film directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy and as a lecturer for dramaturgy and screenwriting at the Zurich University of the Arts.

Live and act

Stefan Jäger studied screenwriting and directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg and graduated in January 1997 with a diploma. Since 2002 he has been a lecturer in directing at the Film Academy. Since 2009 he has also worked as a lecturer for dramaturgy and screenplay at the ZHdK and as a lecturer for drama at the University of the Performing Arts in Stuttgart. In 2011 he also taught at the invitation of the Swiss Embassy and the Goethe Institute at the Blue Nile Film Academy in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia); this collaboration was continued with the realization of the full-length feature film Horizon Beautiful .

During his initial training at the teachers' seminar in Lucerne, Jäger established himself as a freelance documentary and short film director at numerous festivals. With his second feature film birthday (2000), which was developed exclusively through improvisation, he won the audience award and the screenplay award at the Max Ophüls Festival, and the film was given the rating of “particularly valuable”.

In 2001, Stefan Jäger directed the mountain drama In the Name of Justice for Swiss TV and Bavarian Radio , which was sold to several countries. In 2002 he staged the play 57 '38' 'Ewigkeit at the Zürcher Schauspielhaus , which he wrote together with the German actress Bibiana Beglau and which tells of an avalanche accident.

In 2002 and 2003, Stefan Jäger and Peter Jäger realized the documentary series Cyrill meets for Swiss television and a film of the same name; It shows interviews that Cyril, who suffers from trisomy 21, conducts with celebrities.

The euthanasia drama Hello Goodbye , staged by Stefan Jäger in 2007, premiered at the 3rd Zurich Film Festival , won the Interfilm Prize at the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken and the Director's Prize at the FilmKunstFest in Schwerin. His film Boxing Jesus , shot in Italian , was shown in cinemas in spring 2008. Jäger's television film Hunkeler und der Fall Livius (a co-production by SRF and ARTE ) was broadcast at the end of 2009 and was awarded the prize for the best Swiss television film.

In 2010 and 2011, Jäger designed and realized the multi-part documentary series SF bi de Lüt - Schloss Biberstein and SF bi de Lüt - Das kleine Paradies on behalf of Swiss television .

In 2014, Stefan Jäger made the first Swiss found footage horror film 11:23 - 09:59 (Projekt Angst) , which celebrated its world premiere at the 10th Zurich Film Festival. In the autumn of 2014 he shot the movie The Big Summer in Japan and Switzerland with Mathias Gnädinger in the lead role, which was the most successful German-speaking movie of 2016. Immediately after Gnädinger's death, Jäger made the documentary Mathias Gnädinger - The love of his life about the popular actor. In 2016, Jäger also produced Lisa Brühlmann 's debut feature film Blue My Mind , which premiered in 2017 and has won several awards. a. with three Swiss film awards (best film, best screenplay, best leading actress).

Jäger is a member of the Swiss and the European Film Academy.

Filmography (selection)

As a director

• 2016: Mathias Gnädinger - The love of his life (cinema documentary)
• 2016: The Big Summer (feature film)
• 2014: 11:23 - 09:59 (Project Angst) (feature film)
• 2013: Horizon Beautiful (feature film)
• 2011: SF bi de Lüt - Das kleine Paradies (documentary series for SF)
• 2010: SF bi de Lüt - Schloss Biberstein (documentary series for SF with Roman Vital )
• 2010: Among other things (theater)
• 2009: Rockerbuebe (theater)
• 2009: Hunkeler and the case of Livius ( TV movie )
• 2008: Obsi Nitsi (theater)
• 2007: Hello Goodbye
• 2007: Old Friends (Theater)
• 2006: Boxing Jesus (Il Pugno di Gesù)
• 2004: 57 '38' 'Eternity (theater)
• 2003: Cyrill meets (feature documentary)
• 2001: In the Name of Justice (TV movie)
• 2000: Birthday
• 1998: Misguided Angel
• 1995: Ascension (TV movie)
• 1995: Catching rats ( short film )
• 1994: In the middle of the city ( documentary )
• 1994: b8-e1! (Short film)
• 1994: Steps Against the Wind (documentary)
• 1993: In the realm of the senses (animation film)
• 1992: From the ground up, I would be a person to live with (documentary)
• 1989: On the Edge of Isolation (documentary)

As an author

• 2015: Schellen-Ursli
• 2008: A Sunday in the mountains
• 2007: Santo Santo
• 2006: L'aria che respiri
• 2006: before I live
• 2005: Il tuo sole
• 2004: Melting (37 days)
• 2003: In the eternal ice
• 2002: Flowers
• 2000: Birthday
• 2000: In the name of justice
• 1999: Mad In Switzerland
• 1998: Falling Rocks
• 1998: details
• 1998: blind
• 1997: Squid
• 1996: Timbuktu

As a producer

• 2017: Blue My Mind
• 2017: animals

Awards, releases & festivals

• Horizon Beautiful • Theatrical release: Switzerland (Stamm Film) • Special Prize of the Festival Director - 31st Int. Young Audience Film Festival Poznań (PL), Children's Jury Award Best Feature Film - 10ème Festival Int. du Film pour l'Enfance e la Jeunesse de Sousse (TN), Audience Choice Award Best Film - 1st Int. Children's Film Festival Dubai (UAE), Children's Jury Award Best Feature Film - 19th Children's Film Festival Mexico City, Children's Jury Award Best Feature Film - 3er Festival Internacional de Cine Juvenil Bogota (CO), Grand Prix Best Feature Film - 20th Children's Film Festival Kyoto (J)
• Hunkeler and the case of Livius • Swiss TV Film Award 2011
• Boxing Jesus • Theatrical release: Switzerland (main film) • Festivals: Filmtage Solothurn, Incontri Cinematografici Stresa
• Hello Goodbye • Interfilm award at the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken • Director award at the FilmKunstFest Schwerin • Theatrical exploitation: Switzerland (Frenetic Filmverleih) • Television exploitation: Teleclub, Swiss television • Festivals: Cameraimage Lodz (PL), HD Festival Sèvres (F), 3rd Zurich Film Festival, Max Ophüls Prize Saarbrücken, FilmKunstFest Schwerin, Internationales Filmfestival Strasbourg (F), Alpinale Bludenz (A), Filmfestival Karlsruhe, Hanover, Münster, Schweinfurt, Esslingen
• Cyrill meets • Theatrical exploitation: Switzerland (Filmcoopi) • Television exploitation: Swiss television
• Cyrill meets… • TV series commissioned by Swiss television
• In the name of justice • TV exploitation: Swiss television, BR and sales in several countries
• birthday • Festivals: Int. Karlsbad Film Festival (competition), Max Ophüls Prize, Saarbrücken, FilmKunstFest Schwerin, Filmfest Stuttgart, Int. Festival Locarno, Filmtage Solothurn • Theatrical release: Germany (Delphi Filmverleih), Switzerland (Distributor Filmcooperative) • “Particularly valuable” rating • Audience and screenplay award at the Max Ophüls Festival in Saarbrücken, Findlings Award from the Regional Film Communication Association at the FilmKunstFest Schwerin, Grand Prize on Int. Seoul Film Festival
• Misguided Angel • Festivals: Max Ophüls Prize, Saarbrücken (D), Warsaw International Film Festival, International Festival of Fantastic Films, Brussels, Portugal International Film Festival, Sitges International Film Festival (E) • Theatrical exploitation: Taiwan, TV sales: America, Switzerland , Turkey, Taiwan, Estonia
• Works prize of the cultural department of the canton and the city of Lucerne for "diverse, continuous and productive video and film creation 1997"
• Rattenfang • Festivals: Max-Ophüls-Preis, Saarbrücken (D), Filmfest Ludwigsburg (D), Internationales Filmfestival Locarno (CH), Alpinale Vorarlberg (A)
• Steps against the wind • EDI study bonus
• b8-e1! • Festivals: Max Ophüls Prize, Saarbrücken (D), Locarno International Film Festival (CH), Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival (E), Fantastic International Film Festival Brussels (B), International Horror Art Film Festival Warsaw (PL), International Festival des Goethe Institute (USA)
• Funding award of the IRG (Central Switzerland Radio and Television Society) for documentary work 1992
• From the ground up I would be a person to live with • Study award from the EDI • “Best film” at the Central Switzerland Film Festival • Festival: Swiss Film Festival Solothurn
• Une p'tite histoire d'eau • Gold medal from UNICA for the best film of the overall event at the 15th Swiss Youth Film and Video Days • Recognition and special prize at the 6th Juvenale, Klagenfurt (A)
• On the edge of isolation • 1st prize in the Swiss national talent competition • 2nd prize at the Nidwalden Film Festival

Web links

• Stefan hunters in the Internet Movie Database (English)