Biography:

Bernd Sahling was born in Naumburg, East Germany, in 1961. After an internship at the DEFA Studio for Feature Film in 1983, he joined the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen (now Filmuniversität Babelsberg Konrad Wolf) in 1986. His 1988 student film, Aber wenn man so leben will wie ich, was the first GDR film that put East German punk culture at the center of a film story. This film discussed an East German taboo and was therefore controversial. Sahling graduated as a film director in 1991. His diploma film, Alles wird gut, picks up on his 1988 interview with the East Berlin punk, who moved to West Germany shortly before the Wall came down. The film was nominated as Best Documentary at the Mannheim International Film Festival.

Sahling has worked as a director, writer and assistant director to Rolf Losansky, Hannelore Unterberg and Helmut Dziuba from 1985 to 1992. His collaboration with director Helmut Dziuba, who was known for his outstanding children’s and youth films as well as his work with lay actors, was a big influence on Sahling’s career. Sahling served as assistant director for Dziuba’s children’s film Jan auf der Zille, set in 1934 Germany. He also worked on Dziuba’s Jana und Jan, a film that draws on the experiences of inmates of a GDR youth detention center in the turbulent months before and after German unification in 1990. 

The theme of Sahling’s films is often children faced with difficulties and conflict. Dziuba was not only Sahling’s mentor but he also co-wrote the script for Sahling’s full-length feature film debut, Die Blindgänger. This 2004 film, about two teenagers who are blind and live in a boarding school, was shown at many international film festivals and won major awards, including the German Film Award in Gold. Sahling’s 2013 children’s film Kopfüber, about a ten-year-old boy who suffers from ADHD, also received international attention. 

In 1995, Sahling was awarded a yearlong DAAD fellowship at Northwestern University and Columbia College Chicago. After his return to Germany, he worked as a family support provider at the Potsdam Youth Welfare Service. Since 2004, he has put on film workshops for children and young people in Europe, Asia and the U.S. From 2009-13, he lectured at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

Since 2020, Bernd Sahling has filmed and produced documentaries, interviews and live streams for the Berlin-based cie. toula limainois dance company.

Bernd Sahling is a member of the German Film Academy and also known as a scriptwriter and author of radio plays. He has been a member of the jury at many prestigious national and international children’s film festivals.

Festivals & Awards: