{{Short description|German actor and director (born 1966)}} {{BLP sources|date=January 2019}} {{use dmy dates|date=February 2020}} {{Infobox person | image = Dirk Kummer während der Dreharbeiten zu Blöd gelaufen © Sven Serkis (cropped).jpg | caption = Dirk Kummer 2020 | name = Dirk Kummer | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1966|9|29|df=yes}} | birth_place = Hennigsdorf, Brandenburg, East Germany | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Actor, director | years_active = 1979–present }} '''Dirk Kummer''' (born 29 September 1966 in Hennigsdorf) is a German actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing movies ''Sugar Sand'' (2017), ''Wohin mit den Witwen'' (1999) and ''Rosenzweig's Freedom'' (1998).
==Early life== Kummer first grew up in Falkensee<ref name="Schnaibel">{{cite news |last1=Schnaibel |first1=Marlies |title=Falkensee freut sich über Grimme-Preis |url=https://www.maz-online.de/Lokales/Havelland/Falkensee/Falkensee-freut-sich-ueber-Grimme-Preis |accessdate=28 January 2019 |work=MAZ - Märkische Allgemeine |date=22 April 2018 |language=de}}</ref> and moved to East Berlin in 1973. He had his first acting role in 1979 aged 13, in the two-parter TV movie ''Meines Vaters Straßenbahn'' on the Deutscher Fernsehfunk channel. After he had graduated from school in 1985, Kummer performed three years of military service with the border troops.<ref name="Heine" /> Then from 1989 to 1992, he was a master student of the Berlin Academy of Arts in the Performing Arts section. In parallel, he also studied between 1989 and 1990 as a guest at the Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg, specializing in directing and as a guest student at the state-run Berlin drama school Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts.
His first big movie role was in one of the last DEFA productions called ''Coming Out''.<ref name="Wagner" /> In addition to his involvement as one of the main actors in the role of 'Matthias', he worked in this production as assistant to director Heiner Carow.<ref name="ecommerce" /> The premiere of the film took place on the evening of the fall of the Berlin Wall (9 November 1989), at the East Berlin premiere at Kino International.<ref>{{cite news |first1=Maren |last1=Niemeyer |first2=Ulrich |last2=Clauss |url=https://www.welt.de/print-welt/article589742/Wie-die-DDR-im-Burgfrieden-unterging.html |title=Wie die DDR im Burgfrieden unterging |work=Die Welt|language=de |date=9 November 1999 |access-date=March 19, 2021}}</ref><ref name="falkensee">{{cite news |title=falkensee.de - Filmdarsteller Dirk Kummer kommt zur 7. Open-Air-Kinosommernacht – Gezeigt wird "Coming out – folge deinem Herzen" |url=https://www.falkensee.de/news/1/406523/nachrichten/filmdarsteller-dirk-kummer-kommt-zur-7.-open-air-kinosommernacht-%E2%80%93-gezeigt-wird-coming-out-%E2%80%93-folge-deinem-herzen.html |accessdate=28 January 2019|work=www.falkensee.de |date=25 August 2017 |language=de}}</ref>
In 1992, Kummer went to Switzerland and took acting classes there for one year at the University of Music and Performing Arts Bern (now part of University of the Arts Bern). From 1993 to 2002, he worked only sporadically as an actor and mainly as a directing assistant among others with Konrad Sabrautzky, {{ill|Richard Huber (director)|de|3=Richard Huber (Regisseur)|lt=Richard Huber}} (''Mein Leben & Ich''), Kaspar Heidelbach (''{{Ill|A Light in Dark Places|de|Das Wunder von Lengede (2003)}}''), Susanne Schneider (''The Day Will Come''), Anna Justice (''Remembrance (2011)'') and Gunther Scholz. In 2002, he received an author scholarship from the Drehbuchwerkstatt Nürnberg and the Bayerischer Rundfunk.
Since about 2003, Dirk Kummer works almost exclusively as a director and scriptwriter. After stops in Bavaria, Baden-Wuerttemberg<ref>{{cite web |title=Baden-Württembergischer Drehbuchpreis für Dirk Kummer / Debütwerk "Der Maulwurf" ausgezeichnet |url=https://www.presseportal.de/pm/7169/420767 |website=presseportal.de |accessdate=28 January 2019 |language=de |date=14 February 2003}}</ref> and Berlin, he now resides again in Brandenburg.
He has also directed plays at theatres including "Carl's Work - Part 1" (in 2014) and "The Abolition of the Night" (in 2015) at Schauspiel Köln.<ref name="falkensee" />
His short film ''Zuckersand'' was awarded the 'Bernd Burgemeister Fernsehpreis' at the 2017 Munich Film Festival,<ref name="falkensee" /><ref name="Heine">{{cite news |last1=Heine |first1=Frank |title=Blickpunkt:Film, News, Claussen + Putz im Interview: "Eigentlich gibt's das nicht mehr" |url=http://www.mediabiz.de/film/news/claussen-putz-im-interview-eigentlich-gibts-das-nicht-mehr/420026/1607?printScreen=1 |accessdate=28 January 2019 |work=mediabiz.de |date=7 July 2017 |language=de}}</ref> the 3sat Audience Award at the 2010 Baden-Baden TV Film Festival and the Grimme Prize in 2018.<ref name="grimme" /><ref name="Schnaibel" /> His script for the film was awarded a prize in 2003,<ref name="Schnaibel" /> the Thomas Strittmatter Award.<ref name="Heine" /><ref>{{cite web |title=Thomas Strittmatter Preis {{!}} MFG BW |url=https://film.mfg.de/preise/thomas-strittmatter-preis/ |website=film.mfg.de |accessdate=28 January 2019 |language=de}}</ref>
== Filmography == === Actor === {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Notes |- | 1979 | ''My Father's Streetcar'' | | (TV film, also known as ''Meines Vaters Straßenbahn'') |- | 1986 | ''Rund um die Uhr'' | 'Jugendlicher im Fuhrwerk' or teenager in wagon | (TV series, 1 episode) |- | 1988 | ''Die andere Liebe'' | as himself | (short documentary)<ref>Frackman, Kyle (2018) ''Shame and Love: East German Homosexuality Goes to the Movies''. In Frackman, Kyle; Steward, Faye (eds.) ''Gender and Sexuality in East German Film: Intimacy and Alienation''. Rochester, NY: Camden House</ref><ref>Kyle Frackman and Faye Stewart (editors) {{google books|oORaDwAAQBAJ|Gender and Sexuality in East German Film: Intimacy and Alienation|page=238}}</ref> |- | 1989 | ''Coming Out'' | 'Matthias' | <ref name="ecommerce">{{cite web |url=https://ecommerce.umass.edu/defa/film/3538 |work=DEFA Film Library |title=Coming Out |accessdate=21 January 2019}}</ref><ref>Von Hans Helmut Prinzler {{google books|tRG1DQAAQBAJ|Chronik Des Deutschen Films 1894–1994|page=P383}}</ref> |- | 1992 | ''The Mistake'' (or ''Die Verfehlung'') | Holger Bosch <ref name="Wagner">Brigitta B. Wagner (Editor) {{google books|PpGPBQAAQBAJ|DEFA After East Germany|page=199}}</ref> | |- | 1995 | ''Kanzlei Bürger'' | Edgar Wunsch | (TV series, 1 episode) |- | rowspan="2" | 1998 | ''100 Years of Brecht'' (or 'Hundert Jahre Brecht') | actor | Documentary<ref>{{cite web |title=One hundred years Brecht |url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/hundert-jahre-brecht_a328cbff339848d1b56f15ea80f1af82 |work=filmportal.de |language=de |accessdate=31 January 2019}}</ref> |- | ''{{Ill|A.S. (TV series)|it|3=A.S. - Indagine a Berlino|lt=A.S.}}'' | Sergio Pavese | (TV series, 1 episode "Letzter Bluff") |- | 1999 | ''Die Hochzeitskuh'' | Conductor | (TV movie) |- |}
=== Director === {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Year ! Title ! Notes |- | 1999 | ''Wohin mit den Witwen'' | (Short, also written by Kummer) |- | 2003 | ''Geschlecht: weiblich'' | (TV film) |- | 2005 | ''Charlotte und ihre Männer'' | (TV film), won the Audience Award in 2005<ref name="Koeln">{{cite web |title=Schauspiel Koeln - Dirk Kummer |url=https://www.schauspiel.koeln/ensemble/regie/dirk-kummer/ |website=www.schauspiel.koeln |accessdate=28 January 2019}}</ref> |- | 2009 | ''Keiner geht verloren'' | (TV film)<ref name="Heine" /> |- | 2010 | ''Dienstags ein Held sein'' | (TV film) |- | 2017 | ''Sugar Sand'' (Or ''Zuckersand'') | (TV film),<ref>{{cite web |title=Interview Regisseur - FilmMittwoch im Ersten - ARD {{!}} Das Erste |url=https://www.daserste.de/unterhaltung/film/filmmittwoch-im-ersten/zuckersand-regisseur-dirk-kummer-100.html |website=www.daserste.de |accessdate=28 January 2019 |language=de}}</ref> winner of 54th Grimme Prize 2018<ref name="grimme">{{cite web |title=Dirk Kummer |url=https://www.grimme-preis.de/archiv/2018/preistraeger/p/d/dirk-kummer/ |website=www.grimme-preis.de |accessdate=28 January 2019 |language=de |archive-date=29 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129122756/https://www.grimme-preis.de/archiv/2018/preistraeger/p/d/dirk-kummer/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> |}
==References== {{reflist}}
== External links == * {{IMDb name|0474985}} * [https://www.dirkkummer.de Dirk Kummer (professional website)]
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kummer, Dirk}} Category:1966 births Category:Living people Category:Film people from Brandenburg Category:German male actors Category:German gay actors Category:People from Oberhavel Category:21st-century German LGBTQ people Category:Male actors from Brandenburg