1. Biography

2. Stephen's Story

3. 51 Degrees North
     Synopsis    Production Highlights    Release  

4. Asteroid Day

5. Helping Refugees
     One Million steps for refugees    We Are The Children  

6. References

7. External links

Biography

Born and raised in Hamburg, Germany, Richters has been making films since he was old enough to hold a camera. He became a child model at the age of two. His childhood home had access to the river Alster, a right tributary of the Elbe river in Northern Germany. At the age of seven he setup a stand at the river and started selling hot dogs and drinks to people on boats, making him enough money to buy expensive camera equipment. In 2003 he moved to the UK and attended the sixth-form college Hurtwood House where he earned the school's "Best Director" award. In 2003 he directed his first commercial for the fitness and wellness chain Meridian SPA ^[8] In 2004 he used the money he saved from his days as a child model and directed a short film called "Dean's Life" which ran at several festivals. ^[9] German actor Mario Adorf was originally attached to play the character "Ashriel" but eventually dropped out due to a conflict in his schedule.

In 2006 he worked as an assistant at the Berlin-based production company Egoli Tossell Film where he helped to secure the music rights for Paul Verhoeven's film Black Book^[10] and helped cast Helen Mirren in The Last Station after Meryl Streep dropped out. That same year he directed a short film, IMAGINE, while studying direction under Academy Award-winning Czech film director Miloš Forman at the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. In 2007 he moved to New York City where he worked as a consultant for MTV on shows like the MTV Music awards while he developed the concept for a TV show with VH1. His apartment was overlooking the Hudson River. When Chesley Sullenberger landed the plane on the Hudson River, Richters saw it and filmed it.^[11] In 2010 he moved to London where he started working for Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic Theatre. During this time he also directed his first feature film 51 Degrees North which lead to the creation of the United Nations Asteroid Day. The IAU renamed small body (8664) Grigorijrichters after him for co-founding Asteroid Day.^[12]

Stephen's Story

In 2013, while working for Kevin Spacey at the Old Vic theatre in London he was hired by UEFA to film the Opening Ceremony of the Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley stadium. During the rehearsals he met Stephen Sutton who was one of many drummers during the Opening Ceremony. Richters and Sutton quickly became friends. Richters' production company Films United started managing Sutton's website, helping him run his social media and produced a documentary about his life which still hasn't been finished. After Sutton's death in 2014, Richters gave several interviews on his behalf. ^[13][14][15]

51 Degrees North

Richters began working on his debut feature film 51 Degrees North in 2010. It took him five years to make the film on a €10,000 budget.^[16][17][18]

Synopsis

Damon Miller is a filmmaker grappling with the pressures of an impoverished profession and a dissolving relationship. One routine assignment will change his life as he is involved in the disturbing research into Near-Earth Objects.

Production Highlights

While filming on Tower Bridge, a bus driver believing one of the actors to be carrying a bomb released the bus UNDER ATTACK signal and a counter-terrorism squad was called. For the climactic moment of the movie, the producers cast 600 Extras and asked them to act as if the world ended on a Saturday Night at Piccadilly Circus. To everyone's surprise 1500 Extras showed up and an additional 1000 passer-byers ended up being in some of the shots. This made the production the second largest film shoot at Piccadilly Circus and the low-budget movie with the most Extras in history.

Richters met QUEEN guitarist Dr. Brian May in late 2013. After watching an edit of the film, May agreed to compose the music for the film. They recorded the music in March 2014 at London's Sarm Studios.

Release

The first private screening of the film took place in September 2014 at the Starmus Festival. The screening was attended by Stephen Hawking, Alexei Leonov, Richard Dawkins and May. The official premier took place on June 30, 2015 at the Science Museum in London. Discovery Channel bought the rights to the film for one year and released the film worldwide in 2015. It became their first ever scripted film.^[19][20]

Asteroid Day

After screening his feature film 51 Degrees North at the Starmus Festival in 2014 he met Stephen Hawking who inspired Richters to create a global awareness day. Just a few months after the festival he teamed up with Brian May, President of B612 Danica Remy and Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart to create Asteroid Day.^[21][22][23] On 6 December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly declared 30 June as International Asteroid Day.^[24][25][26]

Helping Refugees

One Million steps for refugees

On October 27, 2018, Richters started walking from Paris to Berlin, making over one Million steps, to raise awareness about 1,000 unaccompanied children who live in refugee camps such as Camp Moria in Greece. His initiative is supported by Queen guitarist Dr. Brian May, influencers Lisa and Lena, astronaut Chris Hadfield, Stephen Fry but also politicians like German state minister Michael Roth. After arriving in Berlin on December 9, the German government agreed to finding a solution for the children. ^{[27][28][29][30]}

We Are The Children

In March 2019 Richters teamed up with British producer Danielle Turkov Wilson and German filmmaker Uwe Praetel. Together they launched the #WeAreTheChildren campaign. The three met while Richters was walking from Paris to Berlin, in 2018. On 20 March, 2019, they are schedule to host an event with Italian MEP Brando Benifei and President of the European Parliament Antonio Tajani. The goal of the event is to ask European MEPs and Government leaders to relocate the 1,000 children from Greek refugee camps to other European countries. At the centre of the campaign is a music video for the QUEEN song Is this the world we created...? which was co-written by Brian May and Freddie Mercury in 1984. The campaigners have asked the public to record themselves lip-syncing to the song. The final video will have its premier in Parliament on 20 March, 2019.^[31][32]

References

External links

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