Thomas W. Kiennast

Cinematographer and director Thomas W. Kiennast was born in Vienna in 1976. He studied film at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and has been working as a cinematographer on more than 33 movies and TV films in the last 25 years.

For the work on his first television film, IM REICH DER REBLAUS, Kiennast received the Austrian film and television award ROMY in 2006 for Best Cinematography.

In 2011, the international Walt Disney production HEXE LILLY 2 and the Emmy-winning television film DAS WUNDER VON KÄRNTEN by Andreas Prochaska, both with Thomas W. Kiennast as DoP, were released.
The renewed collaboration with Prochaska for the award-winning German-Austrian novel adaptation DAS FINSTERE TAL (The Dark Valley) in 2014 brought Kiennast the German Film Award LOLA for Best Camera, among other awards.

In 2018, Kiennast again received the German Film Award LOLA for his work on the film 3 DAYS IN QUIBERON by Emily Atef.
A year later, he shot the star-studded German musical film I'VE NEVER BEEN TO NEW YORK (2019) by Philipp Stölzl, a homage to Udo Jürgens.

CORTEX, Moritz Bleibtreu's directorial debut with Thomas W. Kiennast as DoP, was released in cinemas in October 2020. The thriller celebrated its world premiere at the Hamburg Film Festival 2020.
The same year, Kiennast worked again with Philipp Stölzl on filming SCHACHNOVELLE (The Royal Game). The film was nominated several times for the German Film Award, and Kiennast received another ROMY for Best Cinematography in 2022. He also received a ROMY for IM NETZ DER CAMORRA with Andreas Prochaska for Best Camera TV/Streaming 2022.

With director Christopher Schier, he filmed the IBIZA AFFÄRE, for which the team won many recognition and prizes, including the Grimme Prize for best mini-series in 2022. He worked again with Schier the same year as co-director and DoP for DER PASS 3.

In 2021 he worked with Frauke Finsterwalder on the movie SISI UND ICH, which premiered at the Berlinale 2023.

In 2015, Thomas W. Kiennast founded DAS RUND with Lisa Scheid, now one of Austria's most established creative film production companies.

In 2018 he founded RUNDFILM with Constanze Schumann to develop and produce sophisticated films and series.