Biography

Uli Hanisch was born in Nuremberg in 1967. Studying graphic arts in Düsseldorf, he began collaborating in 1989 with Christoph Schlingensief on experimental films such as THE GERMAN CHAINSAW MASSACRE. He designed the movies of Germany's exceptional comedian Helge Schneider. Working in several European art departments for films by Enki Bilal or Peter Greenaway, he also designed German feature films with directors like Leander Haußmann, Oliver Hirschbiegel, and Sönke Wortmann. Since 1996, he collaborated many times with Tom Tykwer. He was awarded in 2007 the Bavarian Film Award, the German Film Award and the Prix d'Exellence of the European Film Academy for best production design of Tykwer's THE PERFUME - The Story of a Murderer, produced by Bernd Eichinger. He worked on Tom Tykwer's THE INTERNATIONAL, produced by Chuck Roven for Columbia Pictures, and other international productions in Europe, like in Budapest 2008 for the medieval horror movie SEASON OF THE WITCH, again produced by Chuck Roven, directed by Dominic Sena. In 2011, Hanisch designed three parts of this epic story on CLOUD ATLAS. For this, he received the German Film Award for Best Design. He was nominated for the Art Director's Guild of Los Angeles Production Design Award. He also collaborated on the Berlin part of the Netflix series SENSE 8, directed by the Wachowskies and Tom Tykwer. In 2012, he went to Belgrade and Budapest again for the American arthouse project IN SECRET, starring Jessica Lange and Elisabeth Olsen, directed by Charlie Stratton and produced by Bill Horberg. In 2016, he started to work for the German TV period series BABYLON BERLIN, produced for SKY and ARD, directed by Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries. He designed the new permanent backlot street for STUDIO BABELSBERG, the NEUE BERLINER STRASSE. Since 2001, Hanisch has lectured at various film schools in Germany and Europe. He has been a Professor of production design at the INTERNATIONAL FILM SCHOOL (IFS) in Cologne since 2018. Uli Hanisch lives in Berlin. Information above via their homepage.