“One of my most intense memories brings me back to a time right after high school graduation when, instead of going on a senior trip as did most of my classmates I set out to shoot a movie. I scrambled all friends yet uncommitted to the trip and begged them to give in to the “glamour” of filmmaking instead of the inevitable hangovers resulting from two weeks at an all-inclusive resort. Today, I wonder how it was possible to enthuse as many as fifteen of them to stay, carry heavy light equipment or hold a boom fourteen hours a day for two weeks without payment. Luckily, no one complained and all kept going to the end. For me, the experience truly was magic. Never before had I felt more alive. And never before was I more strained. Even the stresses of the extensive school leaving examinations faded in comparison to filmmaking. Nevertheless directing this film summoned spiritedness in me at levels previously unknown.

I realized that enthusiasm and intense work alone do not make a good film and understood what I was lacking most at the time: To be able to develop ideas that were important to me into enticing stories that mattered to others, I first and foremost needed life’s experience. Moreover I decided to found my aspirations on broader understandings of the history of cinema and art. I have done my best to study not only art, history and philosophy but the human mind and society as well. I have developed a keen interest in politics, world affairs and cultural events, ever trying to walk through life with open eyes and respect for the other, to forge a strong point of view out of theoretical knowledge and practical experience.

Consequently, I taught myself the basics of filmmaking and increasingly felt the need to develop narrative short films and consequently move into feature film writing and direction to express my ideas about human behavior and interaction, emotion and psyche. In my work, there are certain artistic features and qualities I am striving for. They are maybe best described in reference to three very different masters. Billy Wilder created a type of storytelling and lovingly rendered all of his characters in their vulnerability and yet all of them exhibit inner strength and a glowing individuality. Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Kieslowski successfully creates compelling narratives of the every-day and blends them with playful formal elements to speak about his themes of destiny and emotionality. Another influential director is Robert Bresson. Through his unique approach to style, narration and acting, he manages to express the human enigma, the impossibility to know everything about the other, about the world. These three filmmakers certainly are role-models to me. Their work exemplifies not only the scope of different possibilities within narrative film but exhibit cinematic achievements of the expression of ideas important to me as: rendering visible the ever present tensions between the human need to connect, be understood and loved and the
necessity to cope with one’s faults, beliefs, individuality and surrounding society. This dilemma is my definition of the human condition; it is the source of all behavior and emotion. Because of its qualities and traditions the art of narrative filmmaking is best form to express it. My ultimate goal is to probe the possibilities of the medium and develop cinematic means of my own to communicate the human condition in ways that affect my spectators. My want is to create motion pictures capable of conveying life in all its facets, tragedies and pleasures.

Even though I learned much already, I am aware of the limits of my self-education. Especially within the frames of commissioned work and related responsibilities it is hard to systematically develop one’s craft. I strongly feel that I have reached a point where I would profit the most from a practical education within an artistically and financially secure frame. My urge to move closer to my goal is the main driving force behind my wish to study film production and directing. I want to improve my ability to work fluently, creatively and in sustained effort within the special logic and expression of the medium. I therefore seek to acquire basic professional-level craftsmanship in writing for the screen, cinematography and lightning, directing, editing and production in a supportive and challenging environment, one that provides the room necessary for guidance and experimentation. While gaining more experience in all aspects of filmmaking, my special concern will be to enhance my knowledge of structured narrative screenwriting and systematically be trained in the direction of actors.

In addition to the development of my craft, I am looking for a stark change from my current environment. I’d like to bridge my own background to American thought and culture. Next to improving my English language skills and maturing my own outlook by drawing from the challenges of a life abroad, I look forward to add my perspective to the academic and artistic community in situ. I expect to meet a group of like-minded young men and women displaying international diversity and intellectual tolerance and hope to be acquainted with them as pupil, collaborator and friend.

Finally, I want to use the opportunities provided by a film school to probe my possibilities and limits, for I expect a very demanding program. At its end, I intend to meet all the qualifications asked of a skilled filmmaker. A diploma from an accredited university will help attest my capabilities to employers and sponsors, although my show reel will be even better proof of talent and education. Most importantly film school would have provided the foundation for my continuous work and artistic development.
UCLA offers the wisdom of experienced, professional and active faculty members. UCLA’s professors promise to provide a strong notion and perspective about their own work and be good mentors.

The school provides extensive practical training with the opportunity to conceptualize, shoot and edit several student films while not neglecting the importance of a good theoretical, historical and analytical basis. The school’s supply of equipment and its determination to teach independent filmmaking while being situated near the US film industry are very appealing to me as well. UCLA’s film program promises in many respects to be able to support my aims on a very high level.

In 1973, Elia Kazan stepped in front of students to give a long speech on what makes a film director. “So, my friends”, he concluded, “you’ve seen how much you have to know and what kind of a bastard you have to be. How hard you have to train yourself and in how many different ways. All of which I did. I’ve never stopped trying to educate myself and to improve myself.”

My dream is to look back someday and tell the same. I know I am capable of venturing this road. On it, film school would be the next step.”

Thanks to Paul for letting me publish this!

My UCLA Statement of Purpose

In 1945 Hitler’s Sudetenland became Czechoslovakia, the village of Heinrichschlag became Jindřiš and my adolescent grandparents became “ethnic Germans.” A soldier appeared at their homes and gave them one hour to leave. After wandering through Austria and Switzerland for years they settled in the British sector of Vienna, where my father grew up in poverty. His resulting ambition served him well when he moved to America after falling in love with a Nebraskan exchange student.
Five years, two degrees, a daughter and a divorce later he found his way to Chicago and met my mother. He moved to Michigan to be with her and founded an agricultural export company. When I was thirteen, fed up with endless mispronunciations and using the name Smith at restaurants, he changed our family name from “Kosnopfl” to “Kohl” and we joined a long tradition of Americanized names.
It made for an especially hellish year in middle school. The only thing worse than having an unpronounceable name was the cowardice implied in changing it. I self-medicated with stories. I believed then, and still do, that stories can save you. I read voraciously and reading naturally led to writing. In my Michigan world of doctors, lawyers and businessmen I assumed someone had to write what I was reading. It had not yet occurred to me that people, let alone armies of them, made films.
Toward the end of my time at Kalamazoo College I took courses in German Cinema and Documentary film production. The critical contact with cinema and my primitive documentaries affirmed a lifelong love of cinema. After a screening a close friend suggested I go to film school, an idea that I wholly embraced.
During my Fulbright year in Dortmund I wrote and directed my first unwatchable short film. In my dismay I realized that becoming a visual storyteller would require great resilience and discipline. In his Letters to a Young Poet Rilke wrote “that something is difficult must be a reason the more for us to do it.”
I postponed applying to film schools and moved to Berlin, where as an Austrian citizen I am fortunate enough to be able to live and work. I took writing classes, edited short films and worked as a production intern. I learned professionalism and production by day and screenwriting and editing by night. I taught English and came into contact with a multitude of people, stories, ideas and films. I am now doing a 9 month intensive screenwriting workshop and internship wherein I will complete my first feature length screenplay. This year is dedicated to a daily focus on the discipline and craft of writing.
The cultural dialectic that produced me is a rich source for storytelling. I feel as comfortable writing in German about homosexual culture in Berlin as I do in English about an ice hockey referee in Michigan. Each culture shapes and informs my ideas on the other. My increasing fluency in French continues to enrich my perspective.
I am deeply interested in studying Film at UCLA. Its focus on independent filmmaking and technical proficiency, as well as its location and large university setting are exactly what I am looking for. At UCLA I could learn as much from a diverse group of students as from the teaching and professional staff. I am realistic about the intense competition in film and understand the value of graduating with marketable skills to use while I continue to develop as a director.
Filmed drama is quite simply the lifeblood of my existence. In my favorite film a character turns to the camera and says “I don’t know if this is a comedy or a tragedy, but it’s a masterpiece.” Art is a medium through which we can transform the mundane into the sublime. I can think of no task more difficult or rewarding to dedicate my life to.