Born in 1959 in Düsseldorf, Philip Gröning started his own production company while he was still studying at the HFF Munich in 1986, and since then has been responsible on all his films for production, directing, screenplay, editing and parts of the cinematography.
Gröning first attracted attention in 1992 with his film The Terrorists, the TV broadcast of which the then German Chancellor Helmut Kohl unsuccessfully tried to pre- vent. The film won the Bronze Leopard in Locarno and ran at the Sundance Intl. Film Festival. Gröning gained international recognition in 2000 for his film L’amour, L’argent, L’amour, which won the Leopard in Locarno for lead actress Sabine Timoteo.
His greatest success both in Germany and internationally came in 2005 with Into Great Silence, a 162-minute artistic documentary film that was a surprise worldwide audience success and among others won the Special Jury Prize in Sundance, the European Film Award, the Bavarian Film Award and German film Critic’s Association Award as well a nomination for a German Film Award.
