Fred Kelemen

Fred Kelemen studied painting, music, philosophy, religious science and drama studies and worked in various theatres as a director’s assistant before beginning his studies in directing and cinematography at the German Film & TV Academy Berlin (dffb) from 1989 to 1994. He graduated from the dffb with a diploma as a director and as a cinematographer.

For his diploma film “Fate” he received the German National Film Award in 1995.

Since then, he has made a number of films and videos as director and collaborated as cinematographer with several film directors like Joseph Pitchhadze (“Sweets”, Israel 2012/13), Béla Tarr (“Journey to the Plain”, Hungary 1995, “The Man from London”, Hungary/France/Germany 2005-07, “The Turin Horse”, Hungary/France/USA/Germany 2009-11, “Muhamed”, 2017, "Missing People", Austria 2019), Rudolf Thome (“The Visible and the Invisible”, Germany 2006), Gariné Torossian (“Stone, Time, Touch”, Canada/Armenia 2005).

In 2016/17 Fred Kelemen performed as an actor in the film "Suspiria" by Luca Guadagnino with Tilda Swinton, Ingrid Caven, Angela Winkler, Dakota Johnson, Mia Goth besides others.

Since 1995 he has worked as an associate professor and has given master classes and lectures at the following institutions: Centre of Cinematographical Studies of Catalania (C.E.C.C.) in Barcelona/Spain, College of Fine Arts (ESBAG) in Geneva/Switzerland, Harvard University / USA, Kidderminster College / England, Latvian Cultural Academy (LKA) in Riga, University of Santiago de Chile - Department of the Arts and Sciences of Visual Medias, Thammasat University Bangkok/Thailand, German Film and TV Academy Berlin (dffb)/Germany, Tel Aviv University – Department of Film and Television/Israel, National School of Fine Arts (ENBA) Lyon/France, Film Factory Sarajevo/Bosnia-Hercegovina and at the HBK Saar in Saarbrücken, Germany.

Since 2000 he has directed several plays at different theatres in Germany.

Retrospectives of his work have been presented at places like the Anthology Film Archives New York, the Tate Modern London, the Hungarian National Film Theatre Budapest and at cinematheques, film museums and film festivals worldwide.

With his film production company Kino Kombat Filmmanufactur he produced his film “Krisana”/”Fallen” (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005) and he produced or co-produced the films “Moskatchka” by Annett Schütze (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005) and “Fragment” by Gyula Maár (producer: Béla Tarr/TTFilmmühely, Hungary, 2007) and “Roku Roka” (“Hand in Hand”) by Jana Marsik (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Visison, Latvia - Jana Marsik Gemany 2008).

Fred Kelemen is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) /USA, the European Film Academy (EFA), the German Film Academy and of the European Cultural Parliament (ECP).