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Maximilian Spohr

Filmmaker / Producer / Human Being / Event Manager

In 1997 I arrived in Vancouver determined to visit the Vancouver Film School in order to study film production. Keeping my hopes up to ever be able to work with my relative Michael Ballhaus who was at the time the Director of Photography of Martin Scorsese in LA. Meeting him 1996 at a German Film Festival in Würzburg I was stunned about my relative, I also met his wife and after he invited me to practicum on a students movies set from the Munich Film School.
From then on I kept talking to him regularly and one year later I moved to Vancouver.
While living in Vancouver for eleven years, I produced several documentaries two hip Hop Documentaries about the yet unsung story of the Vancouver Hip Hop scene in 1997.
While studying film production, I already got my first financial support grant from the Canadian National Film Board. After I was finished with Film School my first film “Hungry” was broadcast on Much Music. My former partner had sold it without me but I remained in the thank you credits, even though I was the overall producer of the whole film. But I just had received my permanent residence status, so I could not go wild taking any revenge or nothing. Lets put it this way, Life taught me a lesson and I decided to start again, as for my day job I worked in the movie industry as a member of the Iatse 891 lighting technicians’ Union. Michael Ballhaus invited me twice to Sets he was working one was “Gangs of New York” which was entirely shot in Rome in the Cine Citta Studios and the other one was “The Departed” in NYC and my dream to meet Martin Scorsese in person became reality. My million dollar handshake. The movie industry crowd is a tough and griddy crowd. Cocain and wheed were the favorite topics. On the side I filmed my other documentaries in my spare time. My Documentary “A Car for a Dollar” I was writing the drafts and stayed with it the final realease on TV and DVD. In the end I knew the whole game. “A Car for a Dollar” was a film about the old East German Trabant car. The endless passion within my three partners and myself paid for this film. Who can say their film ran in 10 countries on TV over 500 times. Well here we go ME!
Of course since you cannot make any money with documentaries these days, I decided to do something more important for the world than standing on a high rise roof in the total pouring rain for 16 hours regulating lights. So, I became a male nurse in Canada helping seniors.
Plus, my ex-wife and I we wanted kids and so we got them, me being working regular hours.
A year later in 2008 we moved back to Germany.I kept continuing editing my films while working full time in senior Care.
Always having organized concerts and events since I lived in Vancouver, I decided to start something which had to do with my passion of Film and Hip Hop.
2017 I was invited to the New York Hip Hop Film Festival and was so inspired afterwards by that visit to New York that I decided to found my own festival in Hamburg, Germany.
In 2018 The Golden Sneakers International Hip Hop Film Festival was born. A film festival against Hate and Racism!
I am still working a full time job and on the sidem, I became a licensed Event manager in 2021.
This years 2021 is the festivals’ fourth year and we are in the game for many more to come.