Stephen Manuel

Stephen Manuel was born in 1971 in Dublin/Ireland but raised in the black forest area of southern Germany. He learnt to speak German in Kindergarten and English from his parents at home, so half the time his friends didn't know what he was talking about. His father used to take young Stephen frequently to the local cinema since for a long time there was no TV in the house, and that's where his love of film started: Superman, James Bond, and the Smurfs being the biggest favorites. Soon he would get interested in how movies were made and started making short films himself, using the local school kit and later, at 16, his own first video camera. At 17 he had several little short films made and entered one into an amateur film festival. He won first place and from then on he was hooked. After school he worked for two years first as an intern, then as a production assistant for the only film production company in the area, continually shooting short films on the side. Having won several