Known For
Camera
Born
Aug 27, 1955
Place of Birth
Hamburg, Germany
Credits
35 titles
Sven Kirsten
Biography
Sven Kirsten was born in 1955 in the port town of Hamburg, Germany. He was supposedly conceived on a freighter of his grandfather's Hamburg-Chicago line between America and Germany (those were long trips). The sailor's bars of the Reeperbahn red light district and the curiosities of the Hamburg Anthropology Museum formed the fertile soil to inspire Sven to follow the call to other distant shores in 1980. After a brief stint at the San Francisco Art Institute, he continued his education as cinematographer at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Here he fell in love with the aesthetic extremes of L.A. In parallel to lighting and shooting music videos and features with Tom Waits, Sergio Mendes or Robert De Niro, he began to pursue his hobby of urban archeology. Over the last ten years he has photographed and collected the remnants of the vanishing Tiki cult in America. He hopes that his Book of Tiki adequately represents the visual seductiveness of this unique, never-before-recognized facet of American pop culture. When not shooting cable TV movies in Europe, Sven lives with his 9 year old son, Diego, in his hilltop home overlooking the Silverlake reservoir in the center of Los Angeles.
Known For
Filmography
Cabali And The Tiki Mug Obsession
Self
Bad Painter
Director of Photography
Kubanisch für Fortgeschrittene
Camera Operator
The DVD of Tiki Vol. 1 - Paradise Lost
Self
Biss zur großen Pause - Das Highschool Vampir Grusical
Director of Photography
Eine Liebe in St. Petersburg
Director of Photography
I Know What You Did Last Winter
Director of Photography
Mann gesucht, Liebe gefunden
Director of Photography
Roommate Wanted
Director of Photography
Love Crash
Director of Photography
Heart of Stone
Director of Photography
Welcher Mann sagt schon die Wahrheit?
Director of Photography
Dead Island: School's Out 2
Director of Photography
Die Traumprinzen
Director of Photography
Neonnächte - Der U-Bahn-Schlitzer
Director of Photography
School's Out
Director of Photography
7 Tage bis zum Glück
Director of Photography
Die sieben Feuer des Todes
Director of Photography
No Strings Attached
Additional Photography
Der Venusmörder
Director of Photography
Beyond Desire
Director of Photography
Play Time
Director of Photography
Teresa's Tattoo
Director of Photography
Doppelganger
Director of Photography
Mistress
Director of Photography
Liquid Dreams
Director of Photography
Tom Waits: Big Time
Camera Operator
The Cowboy and the Frenchman
Electrician
Slam Dance
Gaffer
Grottenolm
Director of Photography
Hardbodies
Electrician
Kortnergeschichten
Director of Photography
Women in Rock
Director of Photography
Punk in London
Director of Photography
Nur ein kleines bisschen Liebe
Client