SVEN KIRSTEN
Born: 27 August 1955, Hamburg, Germany, as Sven A. Kirsten.
Education: Studied Photo and Optics, Berlin; San Francisco Art Institute [1980]; American Film Institute [graduated in 1982].
Career: After his study in Berlin he became a c.asst working for NDR-tv. Went to the USA [California] when he turned 25. After finishing the AFI, he started working on music videos as a gaffer and began ph himself in 1987 with the Tom Waits' video 'Blow Wind Blow'. Ph music videos with a: Billy Joel, The Cramps, Alice In Chains, a.o. Ph commercials for Toyota, McDonalds, Kellogg's, a.o. Wrote the book 'The Book of Tiki' [2000], an example of 'urban archaeology' and a thorough exploration and explanation of the nearly-defunct American pop 'Tiki' cult or style inspired by aspects of Polynesian culture.
FILMS & TELEVISION
1977 Punk in London [Wolfgang Büld] c; doc/111m; cph: Helge Weindler & Willy Brunner
1984 Grottenolm [Rainer Kirberg] c
1987 Tom Waits - Big Time [Chris Blum] c; concert film/87m; lighting cons + co-c.op; ph: Daniel Hainey
1990 Final Stage [Barry Primus] c; short/35m
1991 Liquid Dreams [Mark S. Manos] c
1991 Mistress/Hollywood Mistress [Barry Primus] c
1992 Doppelganger: The Evil Within [Avi Nesher] c; efx ph: David Stump
1993 Teresa's Tattoo/Natural Selection/Mystery Model [Julie Cypher] c
1994 Play Time [Dale Trevillion] c
1994 Beyond Desire/Vegas Heat [Dominique Othenin-Girard] c
1995 Mörderische Zwillinge [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm
1996 Der Venusmörder [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm
1996 Adrenalin [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm; 2uc: Christoph Chassée
1996 No Strings Attached [Josef Rusnak] c; addph; ph: Wedigo von Schultzendorff
1997 Die Sieben Feuer des Todes [Carlo Rola] tvm
1997 Die heilige Hure [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm/95m; the 'Director's Cut' (2000) is 105m
1998 Die Fremde in meiner Brust [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm
1998 Sieben Tage bis zum Glück [Peter Ily Huemer] tvm
1998 Schrei - denn ich werde dich töten!/School's Out/Scream Before I Kill You [Robert Sigl] tvm/16mm
1999 Liebe ist stärker als der Tod [Dominique Othenin-Girard] tvm
1999 Nie mehr Zweite Liga [Kaspar Heidelbach] tvm
1999 Neonnächte - Der U-Bahn-Schlitzer [Peter Ily Huemer] tvm
2000 Die Traumprinzen [Marc Hertel] tvm
2000 Das Mädcheninternat - Deine Schreie wird niemand hören/Dead Island: Schools Out 2/Isle of Fear/School's
Out 2 - Die Insel der Angst [Robert Sigl] tvm
2000 Ich kämpfe, solange du lebst [Donald Krämer] tvm/16mm
2001 Love Crash [Donald Krämer] tvm
2002 Mann gesucht, Liebe gefunden [Dennis Satin] tvm
2003 White-Out/I Know What You Did Last Winter [Emilio Ferrari] V/c
2003 Wilsberg [ep #9 'Letzter Ausweg: Mord' dir by Dennis Satin (DS) & #10 'Der Minister und das Mädchen' dir by DS] series,
1995 & 1998-04
2003 Broti & Pacek - Irgendwas ist immer [various] 22-part series/16mm, 2002-04; 2nd season, 2003-04; other ph: Dario
Sedo (3 ep) & Valentin Kurz; 2uc: Dirk Morgenstern
2004 Liebe in der Warteschleife [Dennis Satin] tvm
2004 Sommer mit Hausfreund [Dennis Satin] tvm; 2uc: Matthias Bolliger
2004 Edel & Starck [various] series/16mm, 2002-present; 4th season, 2005; other ph: Anton Peschke & Jochen Radermacher
MISCELLANEOUS
1978 Brennende Langeweile [Wolfgang Büld; tvm] scrpl; ph: Helge Weindler
1983 Hardbodies [Mark Griffiths] electrician; ph: Tom Richmond
1987 Slamdance/Slam Dance [Wayne Wang] gaffer; ph: Amir Mokri
1988 Les Français vus par/The French as Seen by... [seg 'The Cowboy and the Frenchman' dir by David Lynch; tv-series]
electrician; ph: Frederick Elmes