Fred Kelemen
German-Hungarian film director and cinematographer
Fred Kelemen (born on 6 January 1964) is a European film and theater director, cinematographer and writer.
The late Susan Sontag helped to promote Kelemen's work in the mid-1990s, comparing it to the likes of Alexander Sokurov, Béla Tarr and Sharunas Bartas.
Fred Kelemen studied painting, music, philosophy, science of religions and theater before attending the German Film & TV Academy in Berlin from 1989 to 1994. His debut film Fate in 1994 received the German National Film Award. He has also directed Frost (1997/98), Nightfall (1999) and Fallen (2005), each drawing international attention and numerous awards.
Kelemen has served as cinematographer for film directors including Béla Tarr (Journey to the Plain, 1995, The Man from London, 2007, The Turin Horse, 2011), Rudolf Thome (The Visible and the Invisible, 2007), Gariné Torossian (Stone, Time, Touch, 2005), Joseph Pitchhadze (Sukaryot /Sweets], 2012/2013), Pavel Lungin (Esau, 2018) and others.
Since 2000 he has also directed several plays, including an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 at the Schauspielhaus in Hanover, and Eugene O'Neill's Desire Under The Elms at Volksbühne in Berlin. In addition, he has worked as a teacher at film and media institutes and universities at several locations.
With his production company Kino Kombat Filmmanufactur, Kelemen produced his film Krisana/Fallen (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005) and he produced or co-produced the films Moskatchka by Annett Schütze (co-producer: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, 2005), "Girlfriends" by Jana Marsik (co-producers: Laima Freimane/Screen Vision, Latvia, jana Marsik) and Fragment by Gyula Maár (producer: Béla Tarr/TTFilmműhely, Hungary, 2007).
Filmography
Director
1993 – Kalyi
1994 – Fate (Verhängnis)
1997/1998 – Frost
1999 – Nightfall
2005 – Krisana
2016 – Sarajevo Songs Of Woe
Cinematographer
1993 – Kalyi
1994 – Fate (Verhängnis)
1995 – Utazás az Alföldön (short)
1997/1998 – Frost
1999 – Nightfall
2000 – Tatau Samoa (documentary)
2007 – Stone Time Touch (documentary)
2007 – The Man from London
2007 – The Visible and the Invisible
2011 – The Turin Horse
2013 – Sukaryot
2016 – Blue Psalm for Wolves / Sarajevo Songs of Woe
2018 - Esau
2019 Missing People
2021 / 2022 (2025) Into the Heart
Awards
1994 – FIPRESCI-Award for "Fate" (original title: "Verhängnis")'
1995 – German National Film Award (Silver Ribbon) for "Fate" (original title: "Verhängnis")
1998 – FIPRESCI- Award for "Frost"
1999 – FIPRESCI- Award for "Nightfall" (original title: "Abendland")
2005 – FIPRESCI- Award for "Fallen" (original title: "Kisana")
2005 – Latvian National Film Award "Best Cinematographer" for "Fallen" (original title: "Krisana")
2005 – German Camera Award - Nomination
2011 – Golden Camera 300 - International Cinematographers' Film Festival Manaki Brothers / Macedonia for "The Turin Horse"
2011 – Carlo Di Palma Best European Cinematographer Award - Nomination
2012 – Hungarian National Film Award - Best Cinematographer
2013 – Innovation Award of the German Film Critics' Association
2016 – Special Prize MASTER, Yerevan International Film Festival "Golden Apricot"
2016 – St.
“Fred Kelemen” enters the record as german-Hungarian film director and cinematographer. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fred, Kelemen and German-Hungarian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q91925. VIAF identifies the subject as 120363911. The Library of Congress control number is no2017009882. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1964, 1989, 1994 and 1997.
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