Der Spatz im Kamin
fiction | 123 min | CH 2024 | Arri Alexa
Berlin Ulysses
a film by Kilian Helmbrecht & Alex Hasskerl
Directed by Kilian Helmbrecht
Director of Photography Alex Hasskerl,
Kilian Helmbrecht
Produced by ATARA FILM, ZDF, 3sat
on television march 2024
Raffly came to Germany from Jakarta to study and has become an expert in one of the most sought-after professional fields.
When he decides to stay in Berlin, he is challenged not only by one of the toughest housing markets but also xenophobic structures and restrictive authorities. As he navigates the bureaucratic challenges, the allure of a European life fades. Where will he choose to stay? And what does one expect from the place to call home?
Großstadt Odysseus
documentary | 31 min | DE 2024 | Panasonic
Von Salz und Federn
fiction | 9 min | D 2023 | Panasonic
The Girl and the Spider
Cahiers du Cinéma 2021 | Top 10 Film Award
Encounters Berlinale 2021 | Best Director
Berlinale 2021 | FIPRESCI Prize
German Film Critics Association Awards | Best Screenplay (Best Film – Nominee)
Film Critics Society Awards 2022 | Best Non-U.S. Release (Nominee)
Written and Directed by Ramon & Silvan Zürcher
Director of Photography Alex Hasskerl
Produced by Beauvoir Films, Zürcher Film, SRF
Cast Henriette Confurius, Liliane Amuat, Ursina Lardi, Flurin Giger, André M. Hennicke, Dagna Litzenberger Vinet, Lea Draeger, Sabine Timoteo, Birte Schnöink etc.
Lisa is moving out. Mara is left behind. As boxes are shifted, walls painted and cupboards built, abysses begin to open up, yearnings fill the room and an emotional rollercoaster is set in motion.
A tragicomic catastrophe film. A poetic ballad about change and transience.
Das Mädchen und die Spinne
fiction | 98 min | CH 2021 | Arri Alexa
RUBICON
documentary | 90-120 min | DE/TZ/NO/CN 2023
Rubicon (WT)
an ATARA FILM production
Directed by Robert Morgenstern & Kilian Helmbrecht
Director of Photography Alex Hasskerl
in cinemas autumn 2023
The future is always in flux and history never stops – for better or for worse. The noise of media is a constant, anxiety inducing cacophony of doom, warning of global pandemics, species extinction, catastrophic climate crisis, the end of democracy. Never did this drum beat felt more acute and more alive than in 2020.
As we enter 2021, we hope it will be brighter, we hope someone else will fix the problem – like a new government. Or perhaps we can ‘science’ our way out of the mess we’re in? But hope is often what we cling to when we feel we’ve lost control or power to change.
RUBICON is not a film about hope, it’s not about someone else providing the fix or suggesting answers to write a perfect future. The Film is about the power of doing something, no matter who or where you are.
The Love Europe Project (Babylon)
fiction | 99 min | D 2019
Grimme Award 2020 | Fiction
Episode BABYLON
Written and Directed by Sebastian Stern
Cinematography Alex Hasskerl
Produced by Sperl Film + Fernsehproduktion, ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel, ARTE
Cast Philipp Franck, Rosalie Malinská, Esther Kuhn, Sephan Zinner u.a.
A group of young directors teamed up to explain their love for Europe in short films. This love is not uncritical and grievances are not swept under the carpet.
“The Love Europe Project” combines nine of these shorts in a film in which Europe is rediscovered through the eyes and daily lives of people from different backgrounds.
BABYLON
fiction | 12 min | D 2019 | Red Dragon
Nicht ganz koscher
fiction | 120 min | DE/IL 2022 | Arri Alexa
No Name Restaurant
Bavarian Film Awards 2022 | Best Production
Munich Film Festival 2022 | One Future Prize
German Film Award 2011 | Best Screenplay
in Cinemas Summer 2022
No Name Restaurant
Directed by Stefan Sarazin & Peter Keller
Director of Photography Holger Jungnickel & Alex Hasskerl
Produced by Enigma Film
Cast (Numan Acar), Luzer Twersky, Hitham Omari etc.
To save the once largest Jewish community in the world from being shut down, Ben, an ultraorthodox Brooklyn Jew visiting Jerusalem, is sent out to be the desperately needed tenth man for the ceremonies of Pesach.
Having missed his plane and been kicked out of the bus in the Sinai desert, his last hope is Adel, a grumpy Bedouin looking for his camel. When their car breaks down, it becomes a matter of their very survival. Though rescued by the monks of St. Catherine, Ben is too sick to go on. It is the Bedouin disguised as Ben who rushes on toward Alexandria, to save the Jewish community…
FADO
Max-Ophüls Award 2016 | Best Director
New Berlin Film Award 2016 | Best Director
Sehsüchte Film Festival 2016 | Best Feature Film
FIRST STEPS Award 2016 | NO FEAR Award
Chicago International Film Festival 2016 | Best Director
German Film Critic’s Award 2016 | Best Debut Film
Written and Directed by Jonas Rothlaender
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl
Produced by Stickup Filmproduktion, ATARA FILM, dffb, primeira idade, rbb
Cast Golo Euler, Luise Heyer, Albano Jerónimo, Pirjo Lonka, Isbael Abreu, Duarte Grilo, Suzana Borges, Rui Morrisson
Young doctor Fabian travels to Lisbon to win back his ex-girlfriend Doro. While the two of them are gradually getting closer again they are being haunted by their fears. Fabian’s jealousy once again puts their relationship to the test…
FADO
fiction | 101 min | D/PT 2016 | Arri Amira
Wada
fiction | 28 min | DE 2015 | 16mm
Wada'
Filmfest München 2015 | Student Camera Award
San Sebastian International Film Festival 2015 | Cannes short film corner award
Carbonia Film Festival 2016 | Best short movie award
Directed by Khaled Mzher
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl
Produced by dffb, ATARA FILM
Cast Ahmad Faraj, Hani Al-Shami, Inaam Wali, Ahmad Dahawish, Ayham Majid Agha
Ibrahim is a refugee who has been living in Berlin together with his wife and son since the 80s. He recently entered a struggle with his feelings of responsibility towards his family back home who have immense difficulties because of the war raging in Syria.
Wada’ observes how war conditions shape people’s behaviors and thought patterns into new forms; how despair and inability to find solutions drive them to search for answers beyond reality.
Everything is fine with us
(Neue Heimat)
Written and Directed by Henrietta Langholz
Cinematography Alexander Hasskerl
Produced by ATARA FILM, dffb, HfbK
Cast Renate Serwotke, Marie Gruber, Mirco Reseg, Anne von Keller, Vincent Grages
Marielena is in her late 60s and it’s moving day. She’s leaving the house where she once raised her family.
Unhappy and overwhelmed, she pointlessly sorts through old files, invites a rep for glass cleaner into the house and moves like a sleepwalker through the chaos around her. Her son Martin is the only happy one, because he can finally sell the house.
Neue Heimat
fiction | 14 min | D 2015 | 35mm
La Incorrupta
fiction | 36 min | E/BR/DK 2016 | Red Dragon
The Uncorrupted
Directed by Tamar Guimarães
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl
Cast Fabu David Fernández, Nacho Sanchez, Itsaso Arana, Judith Pujol
Exposición producida por el Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia con el apoyo de la Danish Arts Foundation
The Strange Little Cat
German Film Critic’s Award 2015 | Best Cinematography (nomination)
Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival 2013 | Best Film International Competition
CPH PIX 2013 | New Talent Grand PIX
Int. Cinephile Society Awards 2014 | Best Picture
Indiewire Critics’ Poll 2014 | Best First Feature
Written and Directed by Ramon Zürcher
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl
Produced by dffb, Silvan Zürcher
Co-Produced by Ramon Zürcher, Alexander Hasskerl
Cast Jenny Schily, Anjorka Strechel, Mia Kasalo, Luk Pfaff, Matthias Dittmer, Leon Alan Beiersdorf, Armin Marewski, Sabine Werner, Kathleen Morgeneyer, Monika Hetterle, Lea Draeger, Gustav Körner
Siblings Karin and Simon are visiting their parents and their little sister Clara. That evening, other relatives will be joining them for dinner. This sequence of family scenes in a Berlin flat creates a wondrous world of the everyday: Coming and going, conversations, all manner of doings, each movement leading to the next, one word following another.
It is a carefully staged chain reaction of actions and sentences. And in between, silent gazes and anecdotes about experiences. Putting the absurdities of daily life on display, the film assembles seemingly unspectacular details and snippets into an exciting choreography of everyday life.
Das Merkwürdige Kätzchen
fiction | 73 min | D 2013 | Arri Alexa
Wild New Zealand
documentary | 3 x 59 min | DE/NZ/GB 2016
Wild New Zealand
Nomination for the German Camera Award 2017
Two international Emmy Awards nominations 2017 for “Outstanding Cinematography: Documentary” and “Outstanding Narrator” (Sam Neill)
Green Screen Festival 2017 | Best Cinematography
Deutscher Naturfilmpreis 2017 | Jury Award for Outstanding Cinematography
New Zealand - Earth's Mythical Island:
Wild Extremes
Directed by Robert Morgenstern
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl, Kilian Helmbrecht, Robert Morgenstern, Christina Karliczek-Skoglund, Moritz Katz
Produced by ATARA FILM, BBC, NDR, arte
Narrated by Sam Neill
Isolated from the rest of the world since the time of the dinosaurs, New Zealand’s magnificent wildlife has been left to its own devices for 80 million years, with surprising consequences.
Narrated by actor Sam Neill, this three-part wildlife series transports viewers to an exotic and mysterious island chain, revealing how the country’s rich, intriguing wildlife manages to survive.
The Great Plai Chumpon Death Party
fiction | 16 min | D 2010 | S16mm
Directed by Valerie Bäuerlein
Cast Eva Kessler, André Jung, Liv Lisa Fries, Dominik Bender, Denzel Ebe
Yesterday my Friend Bought a Bike
fiction | 10 min | D 2011 | Red
Directed by Ramon Zürcher
Cast Nadine Pasta, Nell Pietrzyk, Jeannette Franke
Jacqueline at the Beach
fiction | 20 min | D 2010 | S16mm
Directed by Maxim Lebedev
Cast Quila Maaß, Anna Grisebach, Robert Lyons, Iván Gallardo
A Minor History of Trembling Matter
art project | 32 min | BR 2017 | Red
Directed by Tamar Guimarães, Kasper Akhøj
Director of Photography Alexander Hasskerl, Bárbara Alvarez
One Man’s Land
documentary | 30 min | D 2017
Directed by Kilian Helmbrecht
Director of Photography Kilian Helmbrecht, Alexander Hasskerl
The Shirt
fiction | 6 min | D 2010
Directed by Jonas Rothlaender
Cast Johannes Allmayer, Michael Schweighöfer
Next-Generation Cannes 2011
Gated
fiction | 7 min | D 2012 | 35mm
Directed by Ingo J. Biermann
Cast Arnd Klawitter, Mark Zak
Hunting Grounds
fiction | 30 min | D 2011 | S16mm
Directed by Jonas Rothlaender
Cast Walter Plathe, Eric Bouwer, Julia Philippi, Nadja Engel
shooting THE SPARROW IN THE CHIMNEY
© Anna Korbut
Alex Hasskerl - Director of Photography
”It’s the creative process within filmmaking that drives me. To visualize a story by looking at things carefully. To transform emotions and the director’s visions in light and shadow and rhythm and compositions. To experiment with narrative perspectives and to challenge the ordinary viewing habits of an audience.”
Based in Berlin and working internationally
Alex studied at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb).
His first feature film as DoP, The Strange Little Cat (2013), premiered at the 63rd Berlinale Forum and was nominated for Best Cinematography by the German Film Critics Association.
In the same year he completed a two-month scholarship at the California Institute of the Arts in Los Angeles.
While shooting and producing in New Zealand for a BBC three-part series, he won the Student Camera Award for his work on Wada’.
As co-founder of, and DoP with ATARA FILM, he led his team to two International Emmy nominations, and a German Camera Award nomination for their acclaimed 2017 series New Zealand: Earth’s Mythical Islands. This was followed by a Grimme Award nomination for Einmannland in 2018.
He shot his second feature, Fado, in Portugal, which premiered at the Berlinale 2016, and was awarded Best Feature Film Debut by the German Film Critics Association during the festival. One year later Alexander joined the Berlinale Talent Campus.
His latest work, The Girl and the Spider, a Swiss production, premiered at the 71st Berlinale (Encounters) and won the FIPRESCI prize.
Alex is a member of the German Society of Cinematographers (BVK) and the European Film Academy.