Biography

Uli Hanisch was born in Nuremberg in 1967.

Studying graphic arts in Düsseldorf, he began his collaboration 1989 with Christoph Schlingensief on experimental films as THE GERMAN CHAINSAW MASSACRE and designed the movies of Germany's exceptional comedian Helge Schneider.

Working in several European art departments for films of Enki Bilal or Peter Greenaway, he also designed various German feature films with directors like Leander Haußmann, Oliver Hirschbiegel or Sönke Wortmann.

Since 1996 he collaborated many times with Tom Tykwer and has been awarded in 2007 with 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 bey 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 on CLOUD ATLAS, Hanisch designed three parts of this epic story. For this he received the German Film Award for best design and got nominated for the Art Director's Guild of Los Angeles Production Design Award. He also has collaborated at the Berlin part of the Netflix series SENSE 8, both directed by the Wachowskies and Tom Tykwer.

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, produced by Bill Horberg.

In 2016 he started to work for the German TV perio series BABYLON BERLIN, produced for SKY and ARD, directed by Tom Tykwer, Henk Handloegten and Achim von Borries. For this he developed and designed the new permanent backlot street for STUDIO BABELSBERG, the NEUE BERLINER STRASSE.

Since 2001 Hanisch is holding lectures at various filmschools all over germany and Europe. He is Professor for production design at the INTERNATIONAL FILM SCHOOL (IFS) in Cologne since 2018.

Uli Hanisch lives in Berlin.

© Photo by Anne-Lena Michels

Awards

2017   German Television Award
          Adolpf Grimme Preis
          Babylon Berlin 1&2
2013   German Film Award
          Cloud Atlas
2012   Ruhrpreis for Art and Science,
          of the City of Mülheim an der Ruhr
2007   German Film Award
          Bavarian Film Award
          European Academy Award
          Perfume: The Story of a Murder
2001   German Film Award
          The Experiment

Filmography (selection)

2020   Babylon Berlin, Season 4
          Tykwer, Handloegten, von Borries
2019   The Queen's Gambit
          Scott Frank
2018   Babylon Berlin, Season 3
          Tykwer, Handloegten, von Borries
2016   Babylon Berlin, Season 1&2
          Tykwer, Handloegten, von Borries
2015   Timm Thaler
          Andreas Dresen
2014   Sense 8
          The Wachowskis , Tom Tykwer
2014   A Hologram for the King
          Tom Tykwer
2012   In Secret
          Charlie Stratton
2011   Cloud Atlas
          Tom Tykwer, The Wachowskis
2010   Hotel Lux
          Leander Haußmann
2009   Drei
          Tom Tykwer
2008   Season of the Witch
          Dominic Sena
2007   The International
          Tom Tykwer
2006   Perfume: The Story of a Murderer
          Tom Tykwer
2003   Stauffenberg (TV)
          Jo Baier
2002   Das Wunder von Bern
          (The Miracle of Bern)
          Sönke Wortmann
2001   Heaven
          Tom Tykwer
2000   The Experiment
          Oliver Hirschbiegel
1999   Der Krieger und die Kaiserin
          (The Princess and the Warrior)
          Tom Tykwer
1997   Winterschläfer
          Tom Tykwer
1996   Praxis Dr. Hasenbein
          Helge Schneider
1990   Das deutsche Kettensägenmassaker
          (The German Chainsaw Massacre)
          Christoph Schlingensief