Today we’d like to introduce you to Fritz Frauendorf.
Hi Fritz, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I started my journey of becoming a filmmaker in New York City in the Fall of 2017, beginning my first year at New York Film Academy. Throughout that year, I made lots of connections and worked long, tiring hours on over 30 different projects, 11 of them being ones I directed. All of those sleepless days and nights of experience eventually led me to shooting my first thesis film, Take Me Out. This short, portraying one night in the life of a major depressive as he reaches the tipping point of all his bottled up emotions escaping his body, proved to be one of the most important stories of my life. It changed my understanding of what I can accomplish as a filmmaker, and alongside Thlipsi, paved way in developing my central theme of dissociation and disconnection that will remain prevalent in my work for the rest of my life. Graduating from my first year in New York, I transitioned into the NYFA Los Angeles campus in the Fall of 2018, where I studied two more years, gaining further knowledge of the industry and directing shorts films (he110, My American Dream) that have premiered at film festivals across the country.
I successfully graduated from my time at film school last Fall of 2020 with my Bachelor’s in Fine Arts, and am now working on submitting my senior thesis, re:attachment to several film festivals across the world. I believe it is my best work to date.
Since graduating, I have worked on numerous music videos for up and coming artists and professional sets ranging from Lucifer, Euphoria, and American Crime Story.
I currently operate as a freelance director, screenwriter, editor, and camera operator.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not entirely. My time in LA has not been what I had envisioned. I’ve been through many days. Days of nothing. The entire feeling I get from the industry and atmosphere out here feels very commercial and superficial. It doesn’t really pull on my creative juices as much I’d like, leaving me feeling alienated from the entire culture.
I haven’t always had the easiest time associating with or connecting with people either, and this has also made networking and progressing forward really difficult.
One of the hardest processes I had to go through was rejection after rejection. That short film, Take Me Out, I mentioned was something I was extremely proud of. To feel that level of rejection for something so personal that I had created was not a fun process, but at the end of the day, it was one of the many things that’s occurred over the past few years that’s helped me grow thicker skin… and I now have better ideas and ways of showcasing my stories.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’m a writer and director known best for my exploration of dark, internal subject matter. My stories primarily focus on mental health, the inner self, and perceptions of our existence.
Through my understanding of the human mind and our place in the network we know as reality, I hope to ultimately change it, itself through the stories I tell, the characters I write, and the worlds I build.
I’ve known what it’s like all my life to feel like an outsider, and I’ve been doing nothing but discovering all the reasons why over the past couple of years as I’ve worked and expanded my mind.
Taking all my inspiration, ranging from shows like Mr. Robot and True Detective, and that which lies in my subconscious, I hope I can do these feelings justice. I believe this deeper, more raw understanding I have of deeper emotions and ways of thinking is what sets me apart. It is what will make my work denser and heavier than others.
Right now, I am proud of the filmography I am building and everyone who has helped me along the way, giving me the privilege and confidence to keep doing what I’m doing without giving up… which is all too common in the field.
What matters most to you?
My thoughts are what matter most to me. All I have to keep myself grounded into what needs to be done are my thoughts and ideas to compartmentalize into fragments of my own reality. The parts of me that have always stayed despite all adversity.
Without all of them, I’d be nothing and I’d lose all sense of what’s important.
I don’t follow trends. I don’t follow the crowd. I stay true to my instincts and my voice, and I will never betray my vision for the sake of basic relatability.
These thoughts are what lead me to my subversive ideas and deeper dives. Without these ideas, I would never access the territory my work goes into, and without my work I would truly be nothing.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: https://www.fritzlewisfilms.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fritzandlewisfilms
- Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/fritzlewisfilms
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FritzLewisFilms
- Other: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm9899475/
Image Credits:
Stills from Take Me Out, shot by cinematographer Sebastian Rodriguez Fernandez
