Johannes Schmid

The German film and theater director Johannes Schmid (* 1973) will be honored as Grimm Professor of Poetics at the University of Kassel in 2024(www.johannesschmid.com). As part of his guest professorship (inaugural lecture, poetics seminar, commented film viewing), he will give 'workshop' insights into his directorial work in Kassel at the beginning of June.

Johannes Schmid lives and works in Stockholm. His artistic productions have a European focus and are based in Sweden, Germany and Austria as well as in Poland, Switzerland and Italy. He acts as a border crosser between the arts of film and theater, directing both film and theater productions, adapting literary 'classics' for stage and screen as well as children's books, legends and fairy tales or even unknown texts. One focus of his film work in particular, but also of his theater productions, is on children's, youth and family stories.

Johannes Schmid's family films GESCHICHTEN V OM FRANZ (A/D 2022) and NEUE GESCHICHTEN VOM FRANZ (A/D 2023) were great successes with audiences, especially in Austrian cinemas. In addition to these cinematic adaptations of Christine Nöstlinger's KJL book series (1984-2011), his emphatically author-reflexive literary adaptation AGNES (D 2016), based on Peter Stamm's novel of the same name (1998), impresses with its narrative presentation as well as its visual aesthetics. WINTERTOCHTER (D 2011) was awarded the German Film Prize (Golden Lola) in the 'Best Children's and Youth Film' category. His debut feature film BLÖDE MÜTZE! (D 2007) celebrated its premiere at the Berlinale in the 'Generation' section. The coming-of-age film WIR FÜR IMMER (D 2024) stages a special mother-son constellation with a fine portrayal of characters and will be shown in prime time on ARD in the fall.

As a theater and opera director, Schmid has already staged almost 50 productions on European stages - including for the Salzburg Festival, Malmö Stadsteater, Playhouse Teater Stockholm, Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Theatro alla Scala Milano. His productions include Franz Kafka's The Trial, The Double Bass by Patrick Süskind, Miguel de Cervantes' Don Quixote, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Abduction from the Seraglio and Leviathan by Dea Loher, as well as Ronja the Robber's Daughter by Astrid Lindgren, Paul Maar's A Week of Saturdays and The Snow Queen and The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. In 2007, his Odyssey based on Homer was named the best production of the year in Munich by the Munich daily newspaper 'TZ'.