About

Stefan Kessissoglou (born in Cologne in 1987) is a German filmmaker and video artist. He studied direction at the German Film- and Television Academy Berlin where he directed a number of short films. His documentary The Burden of Proof about the European refugee crisis was nominated for the FIPRESCI award and was screened at festivals worldwide. After spending a year in East Africa, he wrote his first feature film Into the Light, a story exploring the postcolonial exploitation of the Congolese mining industry. As a video designer and cinematographer, Stefan has played a key role in several award-winning theater pieces conceived and directed by British director Katie Mitchell: Wunschkonzert by Franz Xaver Kroetz (Schauspiel Köln, 2008; Berliner Theatertreffen, 2009), Miss Julie after August Strindberg (Schaubühne Berlin, 2010), The Yellow Wallpaper after Charlotte Perkins Gilman (Schaubühne Berlin, 2013), A Sorrow Beyond Dreams by Peter Handke in a version by Duncan Macmillan (Burgtheater Vienna, 2014), The Forbidden Zone by Duncan Macmillan (Schaubühne Berlin and Salzburg Festival, 2014), Shadows (Eurydike says) by Elfriede Jelinek (Schaubühne Berlin, 2016) and Orlando by Virginia Woolf (Schaubühne Berlin, 2019). Since 2016 further theater work includes The Invention of the Red Army Faction by a Manic-depressive Teenager in the Summer of 1969 by Frank Witzel, directed by Armin Petras (Schaubühne Berlin, 2016); The Robbers by Friedrich Schiller, directed by Matthias Hartmann (Salzburg Festival, NDR, 2016); Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler, directed by Thomas Ostermeier (Schaubühne Berlin, 2016); and Jugend Ohne Gott by Ödön von Horvarth, directed by Theresa Welge (Drama Theater of Usti nad Labem, 2019).