title: Christian Frei
text: Christian Frei (born 1959 in Schönenwerd, Solothurn) is a Swiss filmmaker and film producer. He is mostly known for his films War Photographer (2001), The Giant Buddhas (2005) and Space Tourists (2009).
  
  Frei has been an associate lecturer on Reflection Competence at the renowned University of St. Gallen from 2006 to 2023. From 2006 to 2009 he was president of the “Documentary Film Commission” for the film section of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture, and from 2010 to 2022 he had held the position of President of the Swiss Film Academy.
  
  Career
  From the very start of his career, Frei established a reputation as an exacting documentarist, with a . He follows his protagonists closely - always in search of authentic moments, and always keeping the whole picture in mind. Peter-Matthias Gaede said that Frei made films that avoided "noise, pompous gestures, the rush of speed" and that he and his cameraman (Peter Indergand) made films that were subtle and "exude quiet persistance". According to Kulturzeit, "What makes these films so extraordinary? They are authentic moments that endure. Christian Frei takes us along a perimeter that both divides and unites individuals and cultures: the tectonics of humanity."
  
  Frei studied television at the Department of Journalism and Communications of the University of Fribourg. In 1981 he directed his first documentary short film, Die Stellvertreterin. After co-directing Fortfahren with Ivo Kummer in 1984, he became an independent filmmaker and producer. He made another short film, Der Radwechsel. Then he moved on to feature-length documentaries with Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel (1997). The documentary was described as being "surprisingly revealing" by the Chicago Tribune, who went on to say that the "pain and disillusionment on both sides are in plain view". It portrays the rift between Miriam Martinez, who wants to leave Cuba for the USA, and her father Ricardo Martinez - one of the founders of Fidel Castro's "Radio Rebelde". The Chicago Tribune goes on to say that the film "is equally sympathetic to Ricardo's revolutionary hopes and Miriam's hopelessness -- an amazing feat in a Cuban film."
  
  War Photographer (2001) marks a turning point in his career as director in 2001: Due to the Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary and numerous prizes worldwide he had the international break through. For this feature-length documentary, Frei spent two years accompanying war photographer James Nachtwey to different war zones around the world. The film shows his protagonist to be a shy and reserved man, far from the hothead image associated with his profession. Frei intelligently plays with the role of the spectator, confronting him with the ambivalence of war photography and the role of the media. The documentary appeals to the spectators’ sense for compassion and thematically approaches the theme of war itself.  Still popular with audiences and critics today, the film has become a classic.
  
  With The Giant Buddhas (2005), Frei once again deals with a subject of strong political and global interest: The film revolves around the destruction of the two giant Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan’s remote Bamiyan Valley. It is an essay "on faith and fanaticism, tolerance and terrorism, identity and ignorance, the ephemeral and our feeble attempts to preserve it". The film turned out to be a documentary that filled a necessary gap of knowledge far from the everyday media war reportage.
  
  At the Sundance Film Festival in 2010 Frei won the “World Cinema Directing Award” for his film Space Tourists (2009). The documentary juxtaposes the journeys of the extremely rich tourists traveling with the astronauts into space with the poor Kazakh metal collectors risking their lives in search for rocket waste fallen down into the planes once the space shuttle has left. As a result, the film turns out to be a humorous and poetic declaration of love for planet earth. Critics acclaimed this film for its breathtaking imagery and richness of insights, having strengthened Frei’s reputation as one of today’s most original and innovative directors.
  
  In 2014, Sleepless in New York premiered in competition at Visions du Réel, the Nyon International Documentary Film Festival. Frei dives into the frenzied nights of three newly rejected. Helen Fisher, an American biological anthropologist, reveals the astounding and profound processes that unfold in the brain of the lovesick. Working again with DOP Peter Indergand, they developed a spherical mirror to capture the solitude of the broken-hearted.
  
  As producer, Christian Frei releases Raving Iran, the first feature length documentary directed by Susanne Regina Meures. She follows two Tehran DJs performing on illegal parties and planning to leave Iran. The film had its international premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Toronto and won awards at numerous film festivals.
  
  The documentary Genesis 2.0 celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018 and was awarded with the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography. Swiss cameraman Peter Intergand and the Russian filmmaker Maxim Arbugaev are responsible for the cinematography, Arbugaev also co-directed the film. Genesis 2.0 follows mammoth hunters on the remote New Siberian Islands and portrays clone researchers and  synthetic biologists in South Korea, China and USA.
  
  Filmography
   Die Stellvertreterin (1981)
   Fortfahren (1982)
   Der Radwechsel (1984)
   Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel (1997)
   Kluge Köpfe (1998)
   Bollywood im Alpenrausch – Indische Filmemacher erobern die Schweiz (2000)
   War Photographer (2001)
   The Giant Buddhas (2005)
   Space Tourists (2009)
   Sleepless in New York (2014)
   Genesis 2.0 (2018), co-directed by Maxim Arbugaev
  
  Awards
  
   2021 Honorary Doctorate PhD h.c. in Social Sciences University of St. Gallen
  
  Ricardo, Miriam y Fidel
   Basic Trust International Human Rights Film Festival Ramallah-Tel Aviv 2000: audience award
  
  War Photographer
   Academy Awards 2002: Nominated Best Documentary Feature
   Gregory Foster Peabody Award 2003
   Emmy 2004: Nomination Award for Cinematographer Peter Indergand
   Adolf Grimme Award 2003: Special Prize of the Ministry for Development, Culture and Sports
   Durban International Film Festival 2002: Best documentary
   Cologne Conference 2002: Winner Phoenix Price Best non-fiction
   Rehoboth Beach, Delaware Independent Film Festival 2002: audience award
   Viewpoint film festival Gent 2002: winner
   European Documentary Film Festival Oslo 2003: Eurodok award
   Dokufest, Pizren Dokumentary and Short Film Festival 2003: winner
   British Documentary Awards 2002: Shortlisted The Grierson Award Category International Documentary
   Swiss Film Award 2002: Nominated Best Documentary Film
   Docaviv Tel Aviv International Documentary Film Festival: winner
   Sichuan Television Festival: Gold Panda Award Best Long Documentary
   Telluride Mountainfilm, Mountain Film Festival Telluride (Colorado) 2003: Voice of Humanity Award
  
  The Giant Buddhas
   DOK Leipzig 2005: Silver Dove
   Dokufest, Pizren Dokumentary and Short Film Festival 2006: winner ex aequo
   Trento Film Festival 2006: Silver Gentian
   Reno Tahoe International Film Festival 2006: Best of the Fest – Documentary
   Sundance Film Festival 2006: Nominated Grand Jury Prize feature-length documentaries
   Swiss Film Award 2006: Nominated Best Documentary Film
  
  Space Tourists
   The Documentary Channel 2012: Jury prize "Best of Doc"
   Cervino Cine Mountain International Mountain Film Festival 2011: Miglior Grand Prix dei Festival 2011
   Beldocs Belgrad 2010: Best Photography Award
   Berg- und Abenteuerfilmfestival Graz 2010: Grand Prix Documentary Feature
   European Documentary Film Festival Oslo 2010: Eurodok Award
   Sundance Film Festival 2010: World Cinema Directing Award
   EBS International Documentary Festival Seoul 2010: Special jury prize
   Swiss Film Award 2010: Nominated Best Documentary
  
  Genesis 2.0
   Sundance Film Festival 2018: World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Cinematography to Maxim Arbugaev und Peter Indergand
   40th Moscow International Film Festival 2018: Audience Award
   15th Seoul Eco Film Festival 2018: Best Feature Film
   Lunenburg Doc Fest 2018: Feature Documentary Award
   International Arctic Film Festival Golden Raven 2018: Golden Raven Award
   9th DocUtah International Film Festival 2018: Best Foreign Film
   Zürcher Filmpreis 2018: Film Award City of Zurich
   Budapest International Documentary Film Festival 2019: Main Prize section Naked Truth
   Swiss Film Award 2019: Nomination Best Documentary Film
  
  References
  
  Further reading
   The Tectonics of Humanity. GEO Edition Documentaries Christian Frei Collection, ed. by Warner Home Video Switzerland 2007.
  
  External links
   Norbert Creutz: Director’s Portrait Christian Frei, ed. by SwissFilms May 2006
  
  1959 births
  Living people
  German-language film directors
  Swiss film directors
  Swiss film producers
  University of Fribourg alumni
  Swiss documentary filmmakers