Jan Zabeil

Born in Berlin in 1981, Jan Zabeil studied at the University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 2007-2008 his short films "L.H.O." and "Was Weiss Der Tropfen Davon" screened at over hundred international film festivals and were awarded with several prizes. His debut feature "The River Used To Be A Man" premiered in Toronto in 2011. The film won "Best New Director" at San Sebastian IFF and "Best Cinematography" at the German Critics Association, among other awards. The film was screened at art institutions as MoMA - NYC, Mexican National Cinemateque, Deutsche Kinemathek and was distributed in Germany and Spain. His second feature "Three Peaks" starring Alexander Fehling and Oscar nominee Bérénice Bejo premiered on the Piazza Grande in Locarno in front of over 7,000 spectators, where it won the Variety Piazza Grande Award and was sold in various countries for a theatrical release, including USA and Germany by "The Match Factory". At the Berlinale 2018 he was one of "Variety's Europeans to watch" among 10 others and received the DEFA award for young German cinema for his past two films. The same year, he co-produced Veronika Kaserers film "Everywhere we are", which won the Kompass-Perspektive award at the Berlinale.