Biography

Claus Drexel
Director
Claus Drexel, of Bavarian origin, spent most of his life in France. After graduating from high school, with a degree in science, and from the University of Grenoble, in audio-visual technology, he starts to work as a sound engineer. In 1991 he moves to Paris to attend film school. During his studies, he interns at several film companies in the USA, including LucasFilm, where he gets in touch with non-linear editing. After graduating from film school he works as a director of photography for several years. His career as a director starts in 1996, completing three short-films: C4 (1996), The Operating Theatre (Max au Bloc) (1998) and The Divine Inspiration with lead actor Keir Dullea (star of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001 - A Space Odyssey). The films participate in more than one hundred festivals worldwide and win several awards. In 2008, he directs his first feature, Family Values (Affaire de Famille), with French star actors André Dussollier and Miou-Miou. The film wins the Best Screenplay Prize by the French National Cinema Center and the Best European Film Award at the Avignon Film Festival. In 2012 he stages Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the renowned Cirque d’Hiver in Paris. In 2013 he directs On the Edge of the World (Au bord du monde) a feature-length documentary about the homeless people of Paris. The film premieres at the Cannes Film Festival (ACID selection), wins several international awards, including the 2013 FIPRESCI Award in Thessaloniki, Greece and is shown at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. Currently, Claus Drexel writes the screenplay of his third feature-film, for which he received a grant from the French cinema center, CNC.

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