Michael Obert

Michael Obert (2014)

Michael Obert (born 1966) is an award-winning German book author and journalist who has been compared with the likes of Bruce Chatwin, Jon Krakauer and Ryszard Kapuściński. His debut movie Song from the Forest[1] was honored with the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013.[2][3]

Obert is currently based in Berlin.

Journalism

As a journalist Michael Obert reports mainly from Africa and the Middle East and writes for a wide range of prestigious periodicals in Germany, Switzerland and Austria, such as Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin, GEO,[4][5] ZEITmagazin, Die Zeit,[6] Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Obert´s work is also published by international media like Sunday Times Magazine, Courrier International, GQ France, The Journal (New York),[7][8] Dagens Næringsliv (Oslo) and Himal Southasian (Kathmandu).[9]

Literature

In his travelogue Regenzauber (On the River of Gods), published by German National Geographic Editions, he describes traveling for seven months on Africa’s third longest river, the Niger, from its source in the rainforest of Guinea, 2,600 miles through the Sahel and Southern Sahara, into the mouth of the Niger at the Bay of Benin.

In Die Raender der Welt (The Edges of the World), a selection of Obert’s finest literary travel writing, he explores 25 lost locations often overlooked by travelers so far, including war zones like Afghanistan, Sudan, Nigeria, but also forgotten paradises such as the Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea, and Bhutan.

In Chatwins Guru und ich (Chatwin´s Guru and Me) Obert, a self-described modern nomad and writer, follows in the footsteps of the nearly hundred-year-old writing vagabond, Patrick Leigh Fermor. To find this mentor, Obert travels from Berlin via Vienna to Bratislava, through Hungary, Serbia, Rumania, Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania before reaching the southern Peloponnese. Along the way, he gets to know what is, for him, an unfamiliar part of the world. His encounters become part of a portrait of Eastern Europe that is as personal as it is poetic.

Michael Obert´s literature is not yet published in English language.

Film

Song from the Forest,[10] Michael Obert´s debut movie, tells the story of American Louis Sarno who has lived among the Bayaka pygmies (also Aka people) in the central African rainforest for 25 years and travels with his son, 13-year-old pygmy boy Samedi, to New York City.

The film premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam 2013 [11][12] where it was honored with the Award for Best Feature-Length Documentary.[13][14] The film also won the 2014 Grand Prix at Planete+Doc International Film Festival in Warsaw [15] and was nominated for the Golden Eye Award for Best International Documentary Film at the Zurich Film Festival 2014.[16]

Bibliography (Selection)

Filmography

Awards (Selection)

References

  1. ↑ http://songfromtheforest.com/ Song From the Forest
  2. ↑ http://www.screendaily.com/news/song-from-the-forest-wins-at-idfa/5064163.article/ Screen Daily, Song From the Forest wins IDFA Award
  3. ↑ http://www.idfa.nl/industry/press/29-november-song-from-the-forest-wins-the-vpro-idfa-award-for-best-feature-length-documentary.aspx/IDFA, Song From the Forest wins IDFA Award
  4. ↑ http://www.geo.de/GEO/reisen/fernziele/54678.html
  5. ↑ http://www.geo.de/GEO/reisen/50077.html
  6. ↑ http://www.zeit.de/autoren/O/Michael_Obert/index.xml
  7. ↑ http://www.obert.de/index.php?id=1674&L=1/ The Journal, New York: Bhutan
  8. ↑ http://www.obert.de/index.php?id=1506&L=1/ The Journal, New York: Afghanistan
  9. ↑ http://www.himalmag.com/component/content/article/26.html/ Himal Magazine, Kathmandu: Turn Around or Go On
  10. ↑ http://songfromtheforest.com/ Song from the Forest
  11. ↑ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/song-forest-idfa-review-659585/ Hollywood Reporter, Review Song from the For-est
  12. ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/article/review-gorgeous-song-from-the-forest-tracks-how-louis-sarno-joined-a-pygmy-tribe-started-a-family-and-returned-to-new-york/ Indiewire, Review Song from the Forest
  13. ↑ http://www.screendaily.com/news/song-from-the-forest-wins-at-idfa/5064163.article/ Screen Daily, Song from the Forest wins IDFA Award
  14. ↑ http://www.idfa.nl/industry/press/29-november-song-from-the-forest-wins-the-vpro-idfa-award-for-best-feature-length-documentary.aspx/IDFA, Song from the Forest wins IDFA Award
  15. ↑ http://planetedocff.pl/index.php?page=news&i=3564&lang=en
  16. ↑ http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3003858/awards?ref_=tt_awd
  17. ↑ http://songfromtheforest.com/ Song From the Forest
  18. ↑ http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/song-forest-idfa-review-659585/ Hollywood Reporter, Review Song From the For-est
  19. ↑ http://www.indiewire.com/article/review-gorgeous-song-from-the-forest-tracks-how-louis-sarno-joined-a-pygmy-tribe-started-a-family-and-returned-to-new-york/ Indiewire, Review Song From the Forest
  20. ↑ http://www.swr.de/unternehmen/deutscher-dokumentarfilmpreis-ludwigsburg/-/id=3586/did=14476422/nid=3586/1ml6w96
  21. ↑ http://www.europeanpressprize.com/winners/shortlist-2014
  22. ↑ http://planetedocff.pl/index.php?page=news&i=3564&lang=en
  23. ↑ http://www.henri-nannen-preis.de/der-wettbewerb/die-nominierten/2014
  24. ↑ http://www.screendaily.com/news/song-from-the-forest-wins-at-idfa/5064163.article/ Screen Daily, Song From the Forest wins IDFA Award
  25. ↑ http://www.idfa.nl/industry/press/29-november-song-from-the-forest-wins-the-vpro-idfa-award-for-best-feature-length-documentary.aspx/IDFA, Song From the Forest wins IDFA Award

External links

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