Thomas Förster is a german Cinematographer based in Hamburg. He works on movies and documentaries as well as commercials, music videos and art projects. He is a passionate partner when it comes to tell an emotional story and draw the audience into the scene. If a story is worth telling, he loves to be part of the journey.

His first feature film Suicide Club, shot on a very low budget, won the Interfilm Award at the Max Ophüls Preis and was released in theaters 2010. Among a wide variety of shorts and mid-length films he shot the cinema feature Lucky Loser – ein Sommer in der Bredouille in 2016 and the TV-movie Mit der Tür ins Haus in 2018. The documentary Spielerepublik Deutschland recently premiered on German Television.

He studied film and visual communication at the Kunsthochschule Kassel and graduated with distinction in 2009. In the same year, he and his fellow students won the Hessian Film Prize for the best graduation film. He has also benefited from working as an editor at Hessian Television for two years. In 2012 he received his Master’s degree in Cinematography from the Hamburg Media School – with his graduation film Erbgut/Liquidation being nominated for the Student Academy Award. His teachers included Michael Ballhaus, Judith Kaufman, Benedict Neuenfels and Kazimierz Bendkowski. Besides working as a cinematographer, he gained useful experience in film grading and postproduction for the big screen.

Awards:
Winner Best Cinematography at Węgiel Film Festival (Poland) for Cowboy und Indianer
Winner Third Place Award at Int. Cinematography Artfool Festival (Greece) for Cowboy und Indianer

Nominee Student Academy Award for Erbgut/Liquidation
Winner Diagonale Young Talent Award for Erbgut/Liquidation
Winner Goldener Spatz for Tschüss Papa
Winner Studio Hamburg Nachwuchsfilmpreis (Young Talent Award) for Tschüss Papa
Winner Interfilmpreis at Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival for Suicide Club
Winner Hessischer Filmpreis (Best Graduation Film) for Spielzeugland Endstation