The renowned director Andres Veiel, a long-time companion and close friend of Thomas Kufus, gave a moving laudation for the award winner, in which he recounted the life of an ever-curious, often courageous and, above all, passionate 'man of conviction' who wants to enlighten and bring about change: "Even with your first films, you set milestones that are still valid 30 years later: With documentaries and, increasingly, fiction feature films that question familiar points of view, that cause offence, that initiate debates. They explore new territory in terms of form and content. At the same time, you're taking a risk: you're constantly leaving the safe standards of convention – which means, especially with documentaries, traveling into the open, letting the film develop bit by bit in the editing room. Your projects have thus repeatedly pushed you and your company into risk zones that others wouldn't have entered in the first place."
Thomas Kufus is one of the most influential independent producers in Germany today. He was born in Essen in 1957 and began his career as a director (including MEIN KRIEG | MY PRIVATE WAR, BLOCKADE – Leningrad 1941-1944). In the past 25 years, he has produced over 120 documentaries, series and feature films with the Berlin-based production company zero one film, including award-winning films such as Regina Schilling's KULENKAMPFFS SCHUHE | KUHLENKAMPFF'S SHOES (Grimme Award and German Television Award 2019), Andres Veiel's BEUYS (German Film Award Best Documentary 2018), Anne Zohra Berrached's 24 WOCHEN (German Film Award in Silver 2017), Lars Kraume's DER STAAT GEGEN FRITZ BAUER (German Film Award 2016), Julia Albrecht's DIE FOLGEN DER TAT (Grimme Award 2016), Markus Imhoof's MORE THAN HONEY (German Film Award 2013 as well as Austrian and Swiss Film Awards), WESTEN by Christian Schwochow (German Film Award for Jördis Triebel), Corinna Belz's GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING (German Film Award 2012), Arnon Goldfinger's DIE WOHNUNG | THE FLAT (Ofir Award), and BLACK BOX BRD by Andres Veiel (European and German Film Awards). He is also a co-production partner of several films by renowned Russian director Aleksandr Sokurov (including MOLOCH, FATHER AND SON, FRANCOFONIA). Together with business partner and director Volker Heise, Thomas Kufus realized groundbreaking documentary television formats such as 24H BERLIN - EIN TAG IM LEBEN | 24H BERLIN – A DAY IN THE LIFE and 24H JERUSALEM (both German Television Award) as well as SCHWARZWALDHAUS 1902. For 24H JERUSALEM he received the Producer Award of the German Academy for Television. The format was continued with the projects 24H BAYERN and 24H EUROPA. Currently, the feature fiction film DER VERMESSENE MENSCH | MEASURES OF MEN (D: Studiokanal, WS: Picture Tree International) by director Lars Kraume is in theaters. Thomas Kufus is a member of the German Film Academy. He was also its chairman from November 2009 to early 2015. [source: PR May 26, 2023 PRODUZENTENALLIANZ]
Produced or co-produced by Thomas Kufus in our catalogue a.o.
- TIPPING POINT by Britt Beyer, 86min, D: RFF – Real Fiction Filmverleih,
- BERLIN 1933 – DIARY OF A METROPOLIS by Volker Heise, 3x52min, WS: Autentic,
- IGOR LEVIT – NO FEAR by Regina Schilling, 118min, D: Piffl Medien,
- THE FOREST MAKER with Tony Rinaudo by Volker Schlöndorff, 87min, WS: Patra Spanou Film, D: Weltkino Filmverleih GmbH,
- INSIDE THE UFFIZI by Corinna Belz, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, 96min, WS: MAGNETFILM GmbH, D: Piffl Medien,
- PARIS CALLIGRAMMES by Ulrike Ottinger, 129min, WS: LIGHTDOX, D: RFF – Real Fiction Filmverleih,
- BERLIN 1945 by Volker Heise, 180min, WS: Autentic GmbH,
- SING ME A SONG by Thomas Balmés, 99min, WS: dogwoof,
- WINTER JOURNEY | WINTERREISE by Anders Østergaard, 88min, D: RFF – Real Fiction Filmverleih,
- THE FEVER by Katharina Weingartner, 99min, WS: filmdelights - Christa Auderlitzky,
- KUHLENKAMPFF'S SHOES | KUHLENKAMPFFS SCHUHE by Regina Schilling, 92min,
- ELDORADO by Markus Imhoof, 92min,
- BEUYS by Andres Veiel, 107min, WS: Autentic GmbH,
- THE PRINCE AND THE DYBBUK by Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosolowski,
- WRONG ELEMENTS by Jonathan Littell, 133min, WS: Le Pacte,
- PETER HANDKE – in the woods, might be late | PETER HANDKE – Bin im Wald. Kann sein, daß ich mich verspäte by Corinna Belz, 89min, WS: The Match Factory GmbH, D: Piffl Medien,
- 4x PARIS – PAULA MODERSON-BECKER by Corinna Belz, 27min,
- ZUD by Marta Minorowicz, 85min,
- TITO'S GLASSES | TITOS BRILLE by Regina Schilling, 94min, WS: Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.,
- MILES & WAR by Anne Thoma, 78min, WS: T&C FILM AG,
- BALKAN MELODY by Stefan Schwietert, 92min, WS: auTLOOK FILMSALES,
- GOLDRUSH – HOW TO SELL OF A COUNTRY edited by Andrew Bird, 90min, WS: GLOBAL SCREEN GmbH,
- THE FLAT | DIE WOHNUNG by Arnon Goldfinger, 97min, WS: Ruth Diskin Films Ltd.,
- GERHARD RICHTER PAINTING by Corinna Belz, 97min, WS: The Match Factory GmbH,
- THE BOY WHO WAS A KING by Andrey Paounov, 90min,
- THE GUANTANAMO TRAP by Thomas S. Wallner, 90min, WS: First Hand Films,
- LULLABY | WIEGENLIEDER by Tamara Trampe, Johann Feindt, 98min,
- BIERBICHLER by Regina Schilling, 90min, D: RFF – Real Fiction Filmverleih,
- MY CLASS – FROM RUSSIA WITH RELATIVITY by Ekaterina Eremenko, 90min,
- 24h – A DAY IN BERLIN by Volker Heise, 24 Hours, WS: Celluloid Dreams,
- BLACK BOX GERMANY | BLACK BOX BRD by Andres Veiel, 107min
- MY PRIVATE WAR | MEIN KRIEG by Harriet Eder, Thomas Kufus, 90min, D: SALZGEBER,
