Johannes Praus

Johannes Praus was born in May 1983 in Dresden in the former GDR. He works as a Director of Photography / Cinematographer for Documentary and Fiction Films, and is a member of the German Society of Cinematographers BVK. He also works as a freelance Photographer. Johannes lives in Berlin and Dresden.

During his studies of cinematography at the Film University Babelsberg 'KONRAD WOLF', Johannes Praus began receiving prizes and nominations for his work. Among other accolades, he was awarded the Kodak Cinematography Award, while three of his films were selected for the CamerImage Film Festival Bydgosz. He received a diploma with honours in 2013 with his theoretical thesis 'NO RELATIONSHIP IS IMPOSSIBLE' ('KEINE BEZIEHUNG IST UNMÖGLICH'). His graduating film 'BEYOND WRIEZEN' ('NACH WRIEZEN') won the German Grimme Prize in 2015.

From April 2013 to March 2015 he studied as a part of the postgraduate "Meisterschüler" program with Prof. Peter Badel at the Film University Babelsberg. His feature fiction debut 'ANYWHERE ELSE' ('ANDERSWO') won the Dialogue en Perspective prize at the Berlinale and the Independent Camera Award at the Int'l Film Festival Karlovy Vary. Further, his documentary work has received numerous accolades, not least 'TRANSIT HAVANA' (nominated to the competition at the DOK.fest Munich and the Int'l Film Festival Karlovy Vary) and 'YOU WERE MY LIFE' ('DU WARST MEIN LEBEN') (Grimme Prize 2018 and nomination for IMAGO - Int'l Award for Cinematography in 2019). In 2020 he is nominated for the German Camera Award (Deutscher Kamerapreis) with his work on 'DRUCK'. A second time in a row he was noiminated for the German Camera Award (Deutscher Kamerapreis), this time with his work on 'HÜTER DER ERDE - HIRTEN IN KIRGISTANS HIMMELSGEBIRGE' in 2021.

Beside his cinematic work, Johannes is a freelance Photographer, presenting at a number of solo and group exhibits. In 2018 he published his photo book 'SHOULDERED INSTANTS OF A REALITY' ('MITGEBRACHTE AUGENBLICKE EINER WIRKLICHKEIT'), a selection of 54 black-and-white prints from his photographic work.