Vita

Dr. Sebastian Voltmer was born in 1981. He began his studies at the Kassel Arts University in 2000 and then became the student of Professor Floris Neusüss in the photography field as well as of Professors Nicolaus Ott and Bernard Stein in the graphic design field.  He completed his studies as student of Professor Yana Drouz with the film “The Return of Mars – as close as never before since 56.000 years”. In 2003 he was the holder of a scholarship in Fine Arts at the Kingston University in London, and in 2004 at the Film Academy of the University of Music and Representative Arts in Vienna (relevant updates on Wiki).

In 2000, Sebastian Voltmer was the regional and national prize winner of “Jugend forscht” (a youth research program) for his work “Astro-photography as a method to discover comets” and received, as such, an invitation from Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

At the age of seventeen, he shot his first film entitled “The face of the MOON” for which he received the film prize for a special tonality at the “Landshuter open competition for film makers under the age of 24”.  Since then, he is devoting much more time at composing film music.  His second film “The face of the SKY” was integrated by the “Bayerischen Rundfunk” (bavarian broadcasting company) in their TV program “Space Night” and was presented by the Co. Telepool/Munich at the International Television Fair in Cannes.  At the end of 2001, he produced in Manchuria the film “Shooting Stars over China – Leonids 2001” which was broadcasted by the Bavarian Television on 15 December 2002.

In July 2005 he presented his own compositions (film music) in the German radio of “SR2” on the occasion of the Deep Impact mission (NASA) on comet Tempel 1.

His astro-photographs are being edited since 1996/1997 in numerous magazines, calendars and books, i.e. “Natur & Kosmos”, “Sterne und Weltraum”, “Interstellarum”, “GEO”, “FAZ”, “Sky and Telescope” (USA), “Ciel et Espace” (France).  Since January 2007, he covers the astronomy page of the magazine “Natur & Kosmos”.

His enlarged photographs can be seen at exhibitions since 1996, such as in 1999 at the “Gebläsehalle des Weltkulturerbes Völklinger Hütte” and at the “Geologischen Museum” in Saarbrücken, in 2002/2003 at the “Planetarium” in Stuttgart, in 2004 at the “Kulturfoyer” of the city Saarbrücken, in 2005/2006 at the “Theodor-Zink-Museum” in Kaiserslautern, in 2007 at the “Eurogress” in Aachen, in 2008 at the gallery “Kulturraum” in the cathedral of Speyer and subsequenly as a super large projection on the house frontages in the frame of the “Kulturnacht der Museen” (the cultural night of museums).

 

Filmography

  • April 12th 2014: Broadcast of the feature "Music Saved His Life - The Composer Rudolf Strassner" on SR-Fernsehen / ARD, editorial "Kulturspiegel". Repeats: April 17th 2014, Feb 18th / 19th, 2015
  • Jan 26th 2014: World premiere of the documentary "DESNA - Music Saved My Life" as part of the "Max Ophüls Preis" festival at "CineStar".
  • 2013/2014: Video Operator for the ARD series "TATORT".
  • November 2013: Full-Dome Aurora explosion (Timelapse) for the “Think tank Birmingham science museum".
  • August 2011: Feature "50 years of manned spaceflight" about the "Starmus Festival" on Tenerife, (among others with Neil Armstrong and Alexei Leonow) on behalf of "Spektrum der Wissenschaft" / "Sterne und Weltraum"
  • Feb 2011: Award (Best Narrator) at the "Los Angeles International Underground Film Festival", Jan 2012.
  • 2011/2012: Film Awards for the documentary "The Return of Mars": "official best of fest", Seattle
  • Sep 30th to Oct 2nd in 2011: Member of jury for the youth film competition "Créajeune 2012". Award ceremony in the categories "Films of children" and "Films of young people" from the Greater Region (Luxembourg, Lorraine, Saarland, Rhineland-Palatinate, Wallonia) and the cross-border city network "QuattroPole".
  • Jan 3rd 2011: Broadcast of the feature "Bullermanns Reisen - a gorilla life from Cameroon to Shanghai" on "Südwest 3". Camera operator in Shanghai, 2009
  • 2010/2011: Scriptwriting Camp Freiburg, Wiesbaden and Sony-Center Berlin Module I to Masterclass (with Andres Veiel), funded by "Hessische Filmförderung".
  • December 2010: Film funding by "Saarland Medien" for the documentary "DESNA - Music saved my life", completed in August 2013.
  • February 2009   Presentation of the film “Wiederkehr des Mars” (the return of Mars) as the final exam at the Kassel Arts University, noted with “distinction marks”.
  • June 2008   Super large astro-projection on the frontage of the “Galerie Kulturraum” at the Speyer cathedral in the frame of the “Kulturnacht Speyer” (cultural night in Speyer)
  • June - Sept. 2007   Daily movie projections of instructional films in the Brussels Hall of the “Eurogress Aachen” at the occasion of the exposition “Geheimnis Weltall” (The Mystery of Universe).
  • July 2007   Movie projection of the films “John Dobson, the Sidewalk Astronomer” at the occasion of the “Rundgang” (tour) of the Kassel Arts University.
  • November 2006   Production of a HDTV image video for the firm “Sintermetalle Prometheus”.  From 14 to 17 November 2006, presentation of the SMP image videos at the “Electronica 2006” fair in Munich.
  • January 2006   Film incentive for the project “Musikalische Spurensuche in den Alpen” (search for musical trails in the Alps) sponsored by the “Landesmedienanstalt Saar” (regional media institution of the Land Saar).
  • February 2006   Studio shooting for the TV broadcasting “Narrenschau” (fools show) on “Südwestfernsehen” (approximately three hours) broadcasted on 25 February 2006, length of film 59 minutes and 19 seconds.
  • Since 2005   Presenter of the broadcasting “Super Nova” on “Okto” (viennese TV cable 8) and author of several films for “Okto”:  “John Dobson”, “Sidewalk Astronomera”, “Total Solar Eclipse” and “Sternwarte Mariazella” (Mariazella star observatory).
  • 2004   Author of the trailers and composer of the title melody for the broadcasting “Super Nova” (Okto/Vienna).
  • 2003   Elaboration of  the real animation of the lunar eclipse for the american movie film “Twilight Men”.
  • July 2003   Author of the experimental film “Flickerfarben – Rotation I und II” (color compilation - rotation I and II) shown at the “Rundgang 2003” (tour) of the Kassel Arts University.
  • 2002   Presentation of the instructional films “Shooting Stars over China” and “The Face of the Sky” at the “Kino im Fluss” (movie theatre) in Saarbrücken (“Cinefleuve” festival).
  • 2002   Author of a “Piktogramm-Animation” (pictograph animation) for the art project “über zeichen sprechen” (let’s talk about signs) / Kassel Arts University; was shown several times per day at all main railroad stations at the occasion of “Dokumenta 2002”.
  • Nov. 2001  Author of the film “ Sternschnuppen über China – Leoniden 2001” (Shooting Stars over China – Leonids 2001), for which the “Bayerische Rundfunk” (bavarian broadcasting company) acquired the broadcasting rights.  The film was broadcasted on 15 December 2002.
  • Since 2001   Assistant cameraman for the SR/ARD channel, primarily for the elaboration of “Aktueller Bericht” (The up-to-date report).
  • 2000   Author of the second film “The Face of the Sky”, which was presented at the International Film Fair at Cannes by the Co. Telepool Munich. Purchase of the film by the “Bayerischen Rundfunk” (bavarian broadcasting company) for the program “Space Night”: to be broadcasted on a weekly basis, 12 times per night, over a period of two years (first broadcast scheduled for 1 December 2002).
  • 1999   Author of the film “The Face of the Moon”, prize for a special tonality at the “Landshuter Offenen Wettbewerb für Filmemacher unter 24 Jahren (Landshuter open competition for film makers under the age of 24).

Exhibitions

  • Apr – June 2008: Exposition in the “Kulturraum Speyer” gallery at the cathedral.
  • Dec 2002 – Feb 2003: exhibition at the Stuttgart Planetarium: “Das Gesicht des Himmels”.
  • Oct 1999 photo exhibition Stars * Comets * Solar Eclipses in Würzburg.
  • Aug 1999: exhibition Stars * Comets * Solar Eclipses at the Saarbrücken Geological Museum
  • Apr 1999: exhibition at the European Solar Eclipse Congress 1999.
  • Mar – Mai 1999: photo exhibition at the Saarbrücken Geological Museum.
  • Mai 1998: Exhibition “homage to sun, moon and stars” during the music days at Saarlouis in 98
  • 1997: exhibition “Ausflug ins All” (Voyage into Space) at the Saarbrücken BMW concession.
  • Sept 1996: first exhibition in the Karstadt photo department in Saarbrücken.

Honours / Certificates

  • 3 February 2009:  Presentation of the film “The Return of Mars” as the final exam at the Kassel Arts University, noted with “distinction marks”.
  • 29 June 2000: passed, with distinction, the examination on the subject of "identification of the transcendent artistic talent" at the Kassel Academy of Arts.
  • 19 September 2000: invitation by Chancellor Gerhard Schröder to the Chancellery in Berlin to greet the national prize winners of the competition “Jugend forscht” (juvenile research).
  • 21 May 2000: national prize winner and special prize in the national competition “Jugend forscht” (juvenile research); invitation to the International Astronomical Youth Camp in Huesca, Spain (1-22 August 2000).
  • 6 April 2000: regional prize winner in the regional competition “Jugend forscht" (juvenile research) with the piece of work: astro-photography as a method to discover comets.
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