Veit Helmer

"Absurdistan" director Veit Helmer shot his first film at the age of 14, before studying filmmaking at the Munich Film School. He began his career with a series of short films, starting in 1989 with "Tour d'amour." Helmer's 1995 short, "Surprise!," got a lot of attention at various film festivals, and that same year he worked as a writer on the fanciful Wim Wenders feature "A Trick of Light." In 1999, Helmer made his first feature, "Tuvalu," a fantastical love story that starred French actor Denis Lavant. In the 2000s, Helmer continued to make short films like "Caspian Bride" and "Boom," and he also directed the revealing documentary "Behind the Couch: Casting in Hollywood." In 2008, he directed the allegorical comedy "Absurdistan," which starred Max Mauff and Nino Chkheidze. "I hope that the movie will stay in the imagination of the audience," Helmer said in an interview. "I am not making a film which is easily digested." On most of his movies, Helmer has also functioned as a producer, and was a producer on his Wenders film, "A Trick of Light."