Franz Böhm (director)

Franz Böhm

Born	1999 Gerlingen, Germany
Alma mater	National Film and Television School
Notable work	Dear Future Children Rock, Paper, Scissors

Böhm was born in 1999 in Stuttgart, Germany.^[3] His grandmother fled from East Germany to escape communism. When he was eleven years old, his father died in a motorcycle accident. Böhm started working on numerous films and commercials as a runner or production assistant.^[4] At the age of 16, he directed his first short film, Harmony of Others, which explores the interactions of young people from different social backgrounds. This was followed in 2017 by the medium-length, fictionalized documentary Christmas Wishes, which tells the stories of two homeless individuals in Berlin. For the film, Böhm spent a week living with homeless people. The project opened the 2017 BW Youth Film Award and won accolades at various film festivals.^[5]^[6]

Böhm made his international debut in 2019 with the short film Good Luck. The film premiered at the British Independent Film Festival 2019, where it won the award for “Best Cinematography”.^[7] He made his feature film debut in 2021 with the documentary Dear Future Children.^[8] The film won the Audience Award at its world premiere at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival and at its subsequent Swiss premiere at the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights, setting multiple records in the process.^[2] The 89 minute film was also nominated at several of the world's largest international documentary film festivals, including CPH:DOX. At Hot Docs International Film Festival, the film won the audience award. The film focuses on the subject of young, international activism through the experiences of three activists from Hong Kong, Uganda, and Chile. The project was funded via a campaign on Kickstarter.com, which raised €22,039 from 391 backers.^[9]^[10]

In 2022, Böhm became the youngest director to win both the Audience Award and the Grand Prize at the German Documentary Film Award.^[11]^[12]

Böhm completed his master's degree in directing at the National Film and Television School in Beaconsfield, England. His graduation film Rock, Paper, Scissors won in the Best British Short Film category at the 2025 BAFTA Awards^[13]It is based on the true story of a young Ukrainian soldier who Böhm met in the UK.^[14] The film stars the Ukrainian actor Oleksandr Rudynskyi. A British production, Rock, Paper, Scissors premiered at the Show Me Shorts Film Festival in New Zealand on 13th October 2024, an Academy Award®-qualifying festival. It later screened at several prestigious international festivals, including the British Urban Film Festival, Aesthetica Film Festival, Cambridge Film Festival, and Norwich Film Festival in the UK. It also gained recognition at the St. Louis International Film Festival in the United States, where it was nominated for the Audience Award for Best Live Action Short Film, another Oscar-qualifying category. ^[15]

Franz Böhm (director)

Biography

Filmography (selection)

References

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