Director, Cameraman, Producer
Pavel Schnabel was born 1946 in Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, and grew up in Liberec. He studied at the Film and Television Academy in Prague (FAMU) and emigrated in 1968. Pavel Schnabel has worked for many years as a freelance director and cameraman in Germany and has been awarded several international and German prizes and nominations for his films.
Prizes & Awards (Selection)
1994
“Placa de Prata” – 23. International Film Festival Figueira da Foz 1994
1. Prize 21st Friedberger Film Days
1990
“PREMIO PUNTUAL” Festival de Santander
1989
“BEST SHORT” Barcelona Film Festival
1986
German Federal Film Prize: Gold Film Ribbon
French Short Film Award
1983
“Special Merit” – Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood
Nomination, German Camera, Cologne 1984
1982
“Adolf Grimme Prize in Gold”
“Film of the Month” – epd
“Sesterce d’Argent” – Int. Festival Nyon; “Silver Prize” – Film Festival Chicago
Honourable Mention by Young Socialists, Int. Film Festival Oberhausen 1982
Short Film Festival Oberhausen: Oberhausen Manifesto Award
1978
Awarded by the Film Journalist Association – Oberhausen Film Festival
1977
“Prize of the Staff of the Film Festival in Oberhausen”
Films (Selection)
2010 – 2015
HOME IS NOT A PLACE, 88 min. BKM/HessenFilm
Documentary. Pavel Schnabel accompanies the artists of the Frankfurt street theatre “antagon” during a thrilling and tension-filled season.
2007
A Life in the Saddle, 45 Min., A KRAFFFTWERK Production for arte/ZDF
A collaboration with Dennis Timm (Idea, Research).
“Discovering” the last Buckaroos in the USA.
2005
Producer and Cameraman:
Roberto & Paolo, 59 Min., ZDF/arte, HessenInvest Film, Filmstiftung NRW, Motovun FF
Director: Rajko Grlić
Documentary. Two lives for Theatre on the Ruhr – with and about Roberto Ciulli and Paolo Magelli.
2001
Producer and Cameraman:
Exile at Bosporus, 90/60 Min., 3sat/ZDF/Goethe Institute InterNationes
Director: Nedim Hazar
Documentary. Offspring of German exiles, persecuted in Nazi Germany and immigrated to Turkey, recall the events and their experiences of exile.
2000
Bodyguard of Raphael, 60 Min., SWR/arte
Co-Author: Andreas Schümchen
Never a day without art: observations in the daily life of a museum security guard.
Première: 15th Frankfurter Filmschau
1999
Out of Time, 98 Min., HR /arte
Documentary. Fifty years of European history wrapped in three biographies between East and West, West and East – before and after the fall of the Berlin wall.
Première: Forum at the Berlinale 1999
34th International Film Festival Karlovy Vary (Czech Republic), 1999
1994
Lisbon – Harbour of Hope 70 Min., NDR /arte
Documentary. For the thousands of refugees who fled National Socialism across Europe, Portugal was their salvation.
Documentary. 23rd International Film Festival Figueira da Foz, 1994 “Placa de Prata“
21st Friedberger Film Days 1994, 1st Prize
1991
BROTHERS AND SISTERS, 95 Min., SWR, ARD
Documentary. The Weimar and the fall of communism from the GDR to the FRG.
“Special Merit” – German Board of Film Classification
Première: Forum at the Berlinale 1992
1988
A Turkish Wedding 15 Min.
Short Film about the impenetrability of the federal border.
“Special Merit” – German Board of Film Classification
“BEST SHORTFILM” Barcelona Film-Festival 1989
“PREMIO PUNTUAL” Festival de Santander 1990
1985
Producer and Cameraman:
The Violin, 16 Min. 35mm Widescreen
Script: Karel Steigerwald, Director: Rudolf Růžička
Short Film. Story of a Jewish violinist in occupied Prague 1941.
“Special Merit” – German Board of Film Classification
French Short Film Award 1986
German Federal Film Award 1986: Gold Film Ribbon
1983
“Bonn, Return Ticket”, 45 Min
Co-Author: Harald Lüders
Documentary. Impressions of the Federal Republic in 1982: Chancellor Helmut Schmidt in a “dialogue with the youth”.
“Special Merit” – German Board of Film Classification
Honourable Mention by Young Socialists, Int. Film Festival Oberhausen 1982
1981
NOW… AFTER ALL THESE YEARS, 60 Min., HR, ARD
Co-Author: Harald Lüders
Documentary. The fate of the Jews in the Hessian village of Rhina, once known as
“Little Jerusalem”.
“Special Merit” – German Board of Film Classification
“Adolf Grimme Prize with Gold” 1982
“Film of the Month” – Jury of the Protestant Press 1982
“Sesterce d’Argent” – Int. Film Festival Nyon 1982
“Silver Prize” – Film Festival Chicago 1982
“Special Merit” – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Hollywood 1983
1978
In the Midst of Germany, 10 min.
A short film: German impressions after the fatalities in the prison of Stammheim.
Awarded by the Film Journalist Association – Oberhausen Film Festival 1978.
1977
Homage to August Sander, 22 min.
Documentary on the famous German photographer.
“Prize of the Staff of the Film Festival in Oberhausen” 1977