Director

Juri Padel grew up in Münster, Westphalia, lived in Venezuela for some time, and wanted to become something like an Art Director at the age of 17. Without knowing exactly what that ment. Back in Germany, he studied acting instead, followed by studies of Media Science at the University of Cologne, graduating as Master of Arts. As an actor, on stage and on screen, his credits include productions at Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Schauspiel Köln and Schaubühne Berlin. In films and series such as „Gladbeck" or "The Queen's Gambit“, which won several prices. First own productions as a Director at Theatre followed: The 3 hour multi-media performance of his text "Don Diggi- Versuch über Don Juan zu Beginn des 3. Jahrtausends", or the immersive installation „Haus Nummer Null“ (Invitation Stückemarkt Berliner Theatertreffen 2014). In 2015 Juri moved to Berlin, where he worked as an Assistant Directorto Thomas  Ostermeier, Simon Mc Burney or Nicolas Stemann. He further

realised his own interactive multi-media stageplay KITTY HAWK at Theaterdiscounter Berlin, that was inspired by Jørgen Leth's famous short film "The Perfect Human“. His first feature film JUNK SPACE BERLIN premiered at the 29th Filmfest Oldenburg. In 2023 the film will be released in cinemas by UCM.ONE/Darling Berlin. As in other works, my artistic focus in JUNK SPACE BERLIN was on immersive forms and a utopian to sometimes dystopian, artificial aesthetic. Also in terms of content, my gaze, based on current social discourses, often goes into the future. I deal a lot with technologies like digital surveillance and artificial intelligence, with

topics like racism, social division and new concepts of society. On the one hand, the film Junk Space Berlin is a child of its time; on the other hand, I

think it’s a radically free and courageous work that has already completed its own turnaround, creating a first "subversive" place where the "new" people experience their future wonderland. Let me just put it like that: In JUNK SPACE BERLIN „stranger things“ happen, it’s a modern Shakespearean Drama which unfolds in a frightening „Inland-Empire- Dystopia“, where four outsiders „Enter The Void“ to finally celebrate in an utopian nigthclub.