Daniel Andreas Sager is a film director, documentary filmmaker and producer, having studied film directing at the renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and at the UCINE in Buenos Aires.
In recent years he has directed cinema and TV documentaries across the globe, often in crisis areas and war zones such as Ukraine, Iraq, Sudan, South Sudan, Iran or Colombia. He has covered a wide range of subjects, including the fight against ISIS in Iraq, human trafficking on the US-Mexican border, international drug trafficking and slum gangs in Kenya, the violent trail of cocaine production in Colombia, a remote hospital in a region occupied by armed rebels in Sudan, the fight against the youth through its strict social media policy in Iran, nomadic life in the Sahara Desert of Mauritania, and the struggle of Covid-19 patients in a lung clinic on the German coast of the Baltic Sea.
In his films he brings personal stories with deep political context with unconventional imagery to life. His cinema documentary film BEHIND THE HEADLINES about the investigative journalists of the Süddeutsche Zeitung was shortlisted for the German Film Award (Deutscher Filmpreis) and was shown at many international film festivals. It had its theatrical release in 2021 in German, Austrian and Swiss cinemas.
His latest feature film INVENTING TRUTH premiered at the 20th CPH:DOX documentary film festival in Copenhagen delving into one of the biggest media scandals of our time: A DER SPIEGEL star reporter's years-long deception in his reportages. The film is currently available for streaming on SKY.
Worked with
ZDF, ARTE, Sky/Sky Documentary, SRF, NZZ, Deutsche Welle, RBB, SWR2 Radio
Awards & Acknowledgements
Audience Award at Bolzano Filmfestival Bozen, 2022
Shortlisted for Deutscher Filmpreis, Lola 2021
Best Docs 2021, DokFest München, 2021
Juliane Barthels Media Award, Germany, Category: Online, 2017
Best Film Award at the Film Festival de San Lorenzon, Paraguay 2017
Docunexion Scholarship at Documentary Film Festival of Mexico, 2016
Nipkow Scholarship, 2016
Best Director Award at the Film Festival Zimbabwe 2016
Future Docs Scholarship at Watch-Docs Film Festival in Warsaw, 2015
Best Film Award Al Jazeera Film Festival 2014
First Steps Award, Germany 2015
Best Documentary Award at Open Eyes Film Festival, Germany 2014
Best Director Award at Cine Maiubit Film Festival, Rumania 2014
Docu-Village Scholarship at the Film Festival Haifa, Israel 2013
Best Film Award at Kurzsüchtig Film Festival, Germany 2012
Best Film Award at Localize Film Festival, Germany 2011