Biography

Thorsten Fleisch was born in 1972 in Koblenz, Germany. He made his first film experiments with his dad’s Super 8 camera while still in school. He studied experimental film with Peter Kubelka at the Städelschule in Frankfurt and works with digital and analog film. With materials such as the body, crystals, fire, and electricity, he has worked directly on 16mm filmstrips. Crystals are grown on the film and 30,000 volts burn through photo paper. The results are poetic and abstract visual systems with references to catharsis, the cosmos, and the universe. In 2003 Fleisch received an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica in Linz (Austria) for his computer-animated film Gestalt. High voltage is the center of his work Energie!, for which he has won international acclaim. He created commissioned work for Gaspar Noé, Red Bull, and Basement Jaxx, among others. His films have received several awards, showing at festivals worldwide including New York Film Festival, Ars Electronica, Transmediale, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, International Film Festival Rotterdam, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, and San Francisco International Film Festival. He lives and works in Berlin.