Lorenz Knauer has worked in documentary films and television for close to 30 years. He grew up in London, Berlin and in the United States, and studied Law, Italian and French Literature, Linguistics and History of Art at Universities in Italy, France and Germany.
He spent two years in France, first in the city of Tours and later on in Paris, where he assisted French director Ariane Mnouchkine (“1789”; “Molière”) with her script of Klaus Mann´s novel “Mephisto” for the Théâtre du Soleil. Simultaneously he developed, produced and co-directed a long-term documentary about the making of “Mephisto” for the German Television Network ARD.
Based in Munich during the early eighties, he worked as a freelance TV journalist for German Television (ARD/ZDF), Austrian Television (ORF) and independent production companies.
In 1985 Knauer began to concentrate on making full-length documentary films, covering a wide range of subjects: from profiles of artists to dramatized documentaries on the Old Testament, and from travelogues to social issues.
In 1989 he was asked by Oscar-winner Malcolm Clarke to write and direct: “Guns: A Day in The Death of America.” The film premiered on HBO in the “America Undercover” series and aired frequently in the United States and around the world. During the nineties Knauer wrote, directed and produced several films for the “37°C” documentary series on German National Television (ZDF):
“Miss Baby or the Drama of the Perfect Child”
The film about small children as victims of overly ambitious parents was awarded Best Documentary at the Charleston International Film and Video Festival and obtained an honorable mention at Columbus IFF. It also aired repeatedly on the CBC documentary program: ”The Passionate Eye”.
“Forbidden Calling: Catholic Women Priests in America”
(Silver Award Worldfest Flagstaff International Film and Video Festival; Bronze Award Worldfest Houston)
His feature-length portrait of “The River Isar” turned out to be the documentary with one of the highest ratings to date on Bavarian Television and went on to win a Silver Chris Award in 2006 at the Columbus Intl. Filmfestival, a Silver Plaque at the Chicago Intl. Television Awards 2007 and a Platinum REMI Award in Houston, Texas (Worldfest 2007).
Currently in production is a two-part documentary for Bavarian Television “In The Heart of The Alps” and a documentary feature “Reason for Hope.”
Visit Lorenz Knauer’s homepage: http://www.lorenzknauer.com/