Benjamin Kahlmeyer

Director | Writer | Photographer

Benjamin Kahlmeyer

Director | Writer | Photographer

The Invisibles

Feature Film

SUNLOVERS

Photography

Meanwhile in Mamelodi

Feature Film

Germania - Series

Commissioned

Uniqlo - Nina Kraviz

Commissioned

Eisen

Short Film

Bangkok Noir

Commissioned

Tourists

Photography

HELP FOR HELP

Commissioned

BETWEEN ROUNDS

Feature Films

Spy vs. Spy

Short Film

SONY BRAVIA – GEOMETRY OF DESIGN

Commissoned

The Invisibles

Feature film (2014)

Their arrival in Germany is not exactly a warm welcome: Asylum seekers in Brandenburg are first brought to the initial registration center in Eisenhüttenstadt. Wasim from Syria, Mathew from Kenya and Gedeon from Cameroon are stranded at this surreal place in the outskirts of nowhere. „The Invisibles“ follows the three men on their way through the official proceedings, the mills of detecting and decision making.

Sunlovers

Series of self portraits (2012 – 2020)

„Sunshine, everybody loves the sunshine
Sunshine, folks get down in the sunshine
Sunshine, folks get brown in the sunshine.“
– Roy Ayers

Meanwhile in Mamelodi

Feature film (2011)

Set against the raucous backdrop of the 2010 World Cup, Meanwhile in Mamelodi is a beautifully crafted portrait of a place and one family’s daily life inside it. Through a rich color palette of turquoise, gold and red, director Benjamin Kahlmeyer imbues his frame with texture and life, illustrating a potent hope emerging from the rubble. – Sara Dosa, San Francisco Film Society

GERMANIA

Commissioned Work

The award-winning webseries GERMANIA presents a different narrative of Germany – through the eyes of people with so called „immigration background“. Hear artists, creatives and everyday people talk about their sense of identity, german quirks and stereotypes.

UNIQLO - NINA KRAVIZ

Commissioned Work

For the opening of the first UNIQLO store in Berlin, we interviewed well known Berliners like Daniel Brühl or Roland Mary through New York based agency MP CREATIVE. For the launch we also produced numerous spots, which were shown on a big screen at the Kurfürstendamm and instore.

EISEN

Short Film (2015)

A foggy landscape with new buildings in Eisenhüttenstadt at the German-Polish border: „Eisen“, Iron, that’s how they call the town here. Portraits of asylum seekers from all over the world are set among impressions of a dreary life in a strictly composed sequence of images. A snapshot of a life on hold, somewhere in between hope and uncertainty.

BANGKOK NOIR

Commissioned

While traveling South East Asia in 2016, GETAWAY magazine asked me to do a hands-on review of the new Sony Alpha A7s II – focusing on it’s performance in low light situations. Inspired by the rich impressions of Bangkok night life, I decided to come up with a short essay on photography, interweaving passages of Susan Sontag’s famous quote: Stay eager!

Tourists

Photographic observations (2015 – 2020)

„Das Verlangen, aus dem sich der Tourismus speist, ist das nach dem Glück der Freiheit.“ – H.M. Enzensberger

HELP FOR HELP

Commissioned Work

Everyone can help – with compassionate advice & useful tips all across continents. The NGO MENSCHEN FÜR MENSCHEN uses this basic principle for an unique fundraising campaign, conceived and implemented by BBDO Berlin. Together with LOVESTONE FILM and director Benjamin Kahlmeyer, MFM has realized 30 „Helptorials“: authentic short films by people from rural Ethiopia who give us their advice via social media.

BETWEEN ROUNDS

Feature film (2009)

Portrait of former cuban boxing star Yoan Pablo Hernandez. Hernandez defected from the cuban national team in 2005 and stayed in Germany. Pablo’s plight is made all the worse by the fact that there is no way back after being labelled a “defector” by his homeland. Life amongst the extended family in Cuba is exchanged for a fight against isolation.

SPY vs. SPY

Short Film (2006)

Die Geschichte spielt in einer namenlosen Stadt in den frühen 70er Jahren. Die Atmosphäre ist verpestet, überall treiben marodierende Agenten und deren Seilschaften ihr Unwesen. In das allgemeine Klima politischer Korruption und nebulöser wirtschaftlicher Verstrickung platzt unversehens das Gerücht von der Wiederentdeckung einer lang vernichtet geglaubten Fotografie.

SONY - GEOMETRY OF DESIGN

Commissioned Work

Meet Hirotaka Tako, chief art designer at Sony Tokyo, as he shares some insight about his design agenda.