Wolfgang Hastert, called Wolf by his peers, is an award-winning documentary/ experimental filmmaker and media artist. He has been working with the European arts channel ARTE TV as an independent author, director, producer, and cinematographer. His films on American artists, photographers, and pop culture have been presented in festivals world-wide.
Wolfgang made films about “anonymous” director James Bidgood and his cult flick Pink Narcissus. He traveled through the Appalachian mountains for his film The Pictureman. Wolfgang’s seminal internet-music-docu-drama Click Me:) was presented at the IFP New York/ No Borders Competition. The feature length documentary had it’s North American premiere Canadian channel CBC and premiered on Trio in the US.
His short experimental films Cybervixen, Russian Brides and Tom Is Your Friend deal with the male gaze in video chat rooms and depict a generation of “love searchers” online. The films were presented at L.A Freewaves and gallery/ museum screenings in the US.
Using quirky and experimental approaches with low-resolution cameras, Wolfgang continues working on the intersection of the moving and the still image. In addition to his time-based works he embarked on making handmade books documenting his life as an immigrant.
Wolfgang has been teaching film & TV production, documentary and fiction narrative, digital editing, and experimental photography at the University of California, San Diego.
When he is not making images, Wolfgang enjoys building elaborate tree houses and beach shacks.
