The Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, the Goethe-Institut, and the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung invite you to their annual commemoration of the 1938 November Pogrom (Kristallnacht).

The commemoration will include formal remarks, a candle lighting ceremony, a performance by violinist Sharon De Kock, a screening of the film Das Tagebuch Der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) (2016), followed by a keynote address from director Hans Steinbichler.

Hans Steinbichler was born in Solothurn, Switzerland, and grew up near Lake Chiemsee. He lives in Munich with his family.

Steinbichler’s graduation film Hierankl (HFF Munich) marked his debut and earned numerous awards, including the Förderpreis Deutscher Film (2003), the Bavarian Film Prize, and the Grimme Gold Award for script and directing.

His second feature, Winterreise (2006), opened the Munich Film Festival and was nominated for the German Film Prize for Best Film, with Josef Bierbichler receiving the Best Actor Lola.

In 2008, Steinbichler directed The Second Woman, starring Matthias Brandt and Monika Bleibtreu, the official German contribution to the Toronto Film Festival. The film earned him another Grimme Prize for directing and was released in French cinemas.

In 2010, he directed Blue of the Sky, featuring Juliane Köhler and Hannelore Elsner, which won the Bavarian Film Prize (2011) for Best Picture. He subsequently directed several acclaimed episodes of Polizeiruf 110 with Matthias Brandt, garnering multiple awards including the German Television Award.

From 2013 to 2015, Steinbichler served as Professor of Directing at the Cologne International Film School.

In 2016, his feature Das Tagebuch der Anne Frank (The Diary of Anne Frank) premiered at the Berlinale, followed by a nationwide release. The film earned Steinbichler the German Director Award Metropolis, while lead actress Lea van Acken received the Bavarian Film Prize. That same year, he was appointed a full member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.

His next feature, An Unheard Woman (2016), starring Rosalie Thomass, won the One Future Prize at the Munich Film Festival, the German Television Award (2018), and the Grimme Prize (2018).

In 2017, Steinbichler directed the ZDF historical mini-series Walpurgisnacht, filmed in Prague and the Czech Republic, followed by Hannes (2021), based on the novel by Rita Falk.

In 2020/2021, he co-directed the third season of Das Boot for Sky, filmed in Prague and Malta, released in spring 2022.

Most recently, Steinbichler completed A Whole Life (2023), an adaptation of the acclaimed novel set in the Alps. The film has been a major box-office success and received multiple nominations for German and Austrian film awards.