Born 1966 in Bern/Switzerland as the son of actress Elisabeth Trissenaar and director Hans . First encounter with film-industry 1982 as production assistant for the feature Penthesiliea.
He worked several years as camera assistant and operator for R.W. Fassbinder's former DP Xaver Schwarzenberger and Wim Wenders close collaborator Robby Mueller. In early years he founded his own low-budget orientated production company Giselafilms Berlin.
Since his study at the german film and television school (dffb) in Berlin, he is responsible for the cinematography of more than 60 features and documentaries and additional for the lighting design of various stage plays in opera and theater. He is giving master- camera -classes in major film schools in Germany for more than 20 years.
Benedict Neuenfels is member of the german, austrian and european film-academy. His work has been awarded numerous times. He received several times both the prestigious Grimme Award and the German Television award, the Bavarian and the German Film Award each, as well as seven times the German Camera Award for outstanding cinematography.
The counterfeiters, which he photographed in 2007, won an Academy Award for best foreign feature film the following year. In 2011 he was honored by the German Academy of Arts for outstanding achievement in cinematography. In 2018 he received various awards for the feature STYX.
In 2019 he received the Lifetime Honory Award for Cinematography - German Camera Award . So he will join the chain of outstanding former recipients like Michael Ballhaus, Robby Mueller, Renato Berta, Slawomir Idziak, Xaver Schwarzenberger, Judith Kaufmann, Elfie Mikesch, Jürgen Jürges...
