NARRATIVE
Feature-length conversations, uncut and without time limits, in German, English, French and Italian. More than 220 episodes.
View the series ↗
Robert Cibis
dare to think
In brief
Robert Cibis, from Westphalia, is a filmmaker, speaker and writer. His documentaries have won prizes at major festivals around the world, been sold to some 100 countries and often helped people see what would otherwise have been overlooked. Since 2020 he has been building OVALmedia, an independent platform for film, conversation, texts, books and events. 3,500 publications, 60 million views and more than 20 channel deletions have made him a player in the global information war.
Where to
Films
Cinema and television documentaries, his own series and co-productions since 2002.
View the filmographyTalks & Conversations
On media, attention and independent journalism. Along with the series NARRATIVE.
Invite Robert CibisOVALmedia
The platform he co-founded and runs: some 3,500 films, conversations and texts.
oval.media ↗Films
Works 2016 to 2026
- 2026
- 2021–2024
Director and writer, cinematographer, producer (prologue with Bert Ehgartner and Nathalie Signorini, parts 1–6 with Philipp Schnabel)
Documentary series, prologue in six language versions
Watch on oval.media ↗ - 2021–2022
Director and cinematographer (with Philipp Schnabel), producer
22 portraits on the consequences of Covid policy
Watch on oval.media ↗ - 2021
À pas aveugles
Co-producer, directed by Christophe Cognet
Berlinale Forum 2021
- since 2020
NARRATIVE
Host
more than 220 conversations in German, English, French and Italian
Watch on oval.media ↗ - 2019
Spitzenmedizin – Akupunktur, Mythos oder Therapie?
Director (with Lilian Franck)
Television documentary
- 2018
Director (with Lilian Franck)
Cinema documentary about the electro rapper Uffie, nominated for the music film prize at the German Documentary Film Award 2019
- 2017
trustWHO
Producer, directed by Lilian Franck
Premiered at the Double Exposure Festival, Washington; in cinemas in 2018
- 2016
Free Lunch Society
Producer and distributor, directed by Christian Tod
Released in cinemas on 1 February 2018 with panel discussions in some 100 cinemas on the same evening
The complete works, 1992 to 2026
2020 to 2026
- 2026
- 2026
CIBIS
His own commentary series
oval.media
- 2022–2023
MR. GLOBAL
Producer
Conversation series with Catherine Austin Fitts and C. J. Hopkins, four parts
- 2021–2024
Director and writer, cinematographer, producer (prologue with Bert Ehgartner and Nathalie Signorini, parts 1–6 with Philipp Schnabel)
Documentary series, prologue in six language versions
- 2021–2024
COMMENTARY
Producer
Commentary series
- 2021–2022
- 2021
À pas aveugles
Co-producer, directed by Christophe Cognet
Cinema, Berlinale Forum 2021
- since 2020
NARRATIVE
Host, producer
more than 220 conversations
2010 to 2019
- 2019
Spitzenmedizin – Akupunktur, Mythos oder Therapie?
Director (with Lilian Franck), producer
Television documentary
- 2018
- 2017
trustWHO
Producer, directed by Lilian Franck
Cinema, ZDF, ORF
- 2016
Free Lunch Society
Producer and distributor, directed by Christian Tod
Cinema, ZDF, ORF
- 2011
Lebensretter Ostblockviren – Ein Weg aus der Antibiotikakrise?
Producer, directed by Stefanie Schmidt
Television documentary
- 2010
Das Glück aus der Dose
Producer, directed by Stefanie Schmidt and Lilian Franck
Television documentary
- 2010
50 Jahre Pille – Karriere ohne Knick?
Producer, directed by Michaela Kirst
Television documentary
2000 to 2009
- 2009
Pianomania
Director (with Lilian Franck), producer
Cinema, ZDF, ORF · German Film Award 2011
- 2009
Patient als Beute – Der Streit um die Gesundheitsmilliarden
Director (with Martin Gronemeyer)
Television documentary, 52 min
- 2008
Jesus liebt Dich
Director (with Lilian Franck, Matthias Luthardt and Michaela Kirst)
Cinema, Berlinale 2008
- 2007
Ekelhaft gesund
Director (with Michaela Kirst)
Television documentary, 2 × 45 min
- 2004
Kapital: Mensch
Director (with Lilian Franck)
Television documentary
- 2004
Kommt Europa in die Hölle?
Director (with Michaela Kirst)
Television documentary
- 2004
Die Menschenfischer
Producer, directed by Sabine El Chamaa and Michaela Kirst
Television documentary
- 2003
Oh du Fröhliche!
Co-director with Matthias Luthardt, Sebastian Ko and Sören Senn
Television
- 2002
Halbe Chance
Director
Television · Young Talent Award of the Franco-German Journalism Prize
- 2002
love me, love me not
Director
Short film, Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris masterclass, Hessischer Rundfunk
- since 2002
Commissioned films
Director, producer
for E.ON, Deutsche Bank, L’Oréal and others
1992 to 2001
- 1999–2001
Führer Ex
Producer at Next Film, directed by Winfried Bonengel
Cinema
- 1999
Code inconnu
Second assistant director, directed by Michael Haneke
Cinema, with Juliette Binoche
- 1998–2000
Die Finsternis
Assistant director, directed by Thomas Tielsch
Cinema documentary
- 1998–2000
Cora und Entro-Toupie
Producer, photographer and assistant director, directed by Lilian Franck
Film poem and video installation, Le Fresnoy
- 1995
Fedra
Director
Short fiction film, 25 min
- 1993
Fly
Co-director
Music video
- 1992
Existenz
Director
Short fiction film, 12 min
Enquiries about co-production and film licensing: oval@oval.media
Awards
- German Film Award 2011Best Sound Design, Pianomania
- Golden Gate AwardSan Francisco International Film Festival 2010, Pianomania
- Semaine de la Critique PrizeLocarno Film Festival 2009, Pianomania
- Rated “especially valuable”German Film and Media Assessment (FBW), Pianomania
- Best Artistic Editing, DocumentaryDiagonale 2009, Pianomania
- Young Talent AwardFranco-German Journalism Prize 2002, Halbe Chance
Voices
All in all, a musical gem and a contemporary document of art of considerable stature!
Jury of the German Film and Media Assessment (FBW) on PianomaniaGrippingly told and as riveting as a crime thriller, the film brings together known and lesser-known facts and gives them a new frame.
Oliver Zimski, Achgut.com on Alles über AngelaPerfectly crafted in a sober documentary style …
Jobst Landgrebe, Globkult on Alles über Angela · Co-host of the series “Cibis & Landgrebe” on OVALmediaAn excellent film.
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian on Pianomania, four out of five starsFans will be in heaven, while others should find this disarming docu surprisingly absorbing.
Variety on PianomaniaLilian Franck and Robert Cibis’s film impresses because they do not explain but show, creatively …
Bianka Piringer, kino-zeit.de on Fuck FameIt is an extraordinary, wholly unfamiliar, unprecedented film …
Simi Horwitz, The Forward on À pas aveuglesThe most striking answer comes from the Frenchman Christophe Cognet …
Christiane Peitz, Der Tagesspiegel on À pas aveugles, Berlinale 2021Free Lunch Society Makes a Compelling Case For Universal Basic Income
Andrew Wright, The Stranger on Free Lunch Society
Sources: FBW jury statement on Pianomania; Achgut.com, 8 June 2026; Globkult, 7 June 2026; The Guardian, 19 August 2010; Variety 2010; kino-zeit.de 2019; The Forward 2022; Der Tagesspiegel 2021; The Stranger 2017 (headline of the review). Quotes originally in German are translated.
Formats
His own series since 2020
CORONA.film
Documentary series from the 2021 prologue to the sixth part: the prologue with Bert Ehgartner and Nathalie Signorini, parts 1 to 6 with Philipp Schnabel.
View the series ↗KOLLATERAL
22 short portraits of people telling how they fared during the Covid period. With Philipp Schnabel.
View the series ↗CIBIS
Short commentaries by Robert Cibis on current issues.
On oval.media ↗Talks & Conversations
On media, attention and independent journalism
Robert Cibis speaks about how films and conversations find their audience today, including at MedienImpuls, hosted by the Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Fernsehen, and at OVALmedia discussion evenings.
From NARRATIVE
- #180Patrik Baab
- #137Werner Patzelt
Platform
OVALmedia
Robert Cibis runs the platform www.oval.media. Some 3,500 films, conversations and texts have been published there, widening the space for public discourse. Much of it is freely accessible, the rest by subscription.
About me
Biography
Paris and Rome
Robert Cibis studied culture and communication as well as film studies at the Sorbonne Nouvelle in Paris and at La Sapienza in Rome. He completed his master’s thesis on the dramatic structure of Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia” in 1997 with “mention très bien”. He attended lectures by Francis Ramirez, Eric Rohmer, Umberto Eco, Giovanni Spagnoletti and Jacques Aumont. He co-founded the film criticism magazine “Zoo” and for four years curated and organised the film series at the Heinrich Heine House in Paris.
Apprentice years on set
He took directing and acting workshops in Rome and Berlin with Nelia Veksel, was second assistant director on Michael Haneke’s “Code inconnu” with Juliette Binoche, assistant director on Thomas Tielsch’s cinema documentary “Die Finsternis” and a producer at Next Film in Berlin. In 2001/02 he completed the Atelier Ludwigsburg-Paris masterclass run by the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and La Fémis. From 2004 to 2010 he was president of its alumni organisation. In that capacity, in 2009 he initiated, financed and organised the European Film Meeting in Strasbourg.
Documentaries for cinema and television
With OVALmedia, which he founded with Lilian Franck, he made cinema and television documentaries for ZDF, ARD, Arte, 3sat and ORF over two decades. “Pianomania” (2009), about the piano tuner Stefan Knüpfer and pianists such as Lang Lang and Alfred Brendel, won the German Film Award for Best Sound Design and the Golden Gate Award in San Francisco, and was rated “especially valuable”. The film was released in cinemas in 25 countries. Science films such as “Patient als Beute”, “Ekelhaft gesund” and “Spitzenmedizin – Akupunktur” combine research with cinematic storytelling.
Producer and distributor
As a producer he was behind Christian Tod’s “Free Lunch Society” and Lilian Franck’s “trustWHO”, about the influence of industry on the World Health Organization. He co-produced Christophe Cognet’s “À pas aveugles”, screened in the Forum of the Berlinale 2021. For “Free Lunch Society” he organised a cinema premiere on 1 February 2018 with panel discussions in some 100 cinemas on the same evening.
Since 2020: his own formats
When the Covid crisis began, projects with broadcasters were cancelled, and Robert Cibis went his own way. He launched the conversation series NARRATIVE: long, uncut encounters without time limits, in German, English, French and Italian. Together with Philipp Schnabel, the documentary series CORONA.film and the portrait series KOLLATERAL followed. They were joined by the expert series COMMENTARY and his own commentary series CIBIS. In 2026 “Alles über Angela – Teil 1” was released.
Press
For editors and event organisers
Short biography
Robert Cibis, from Westphalia, is a filmmaker, speaker and writer. His documentaries have won prizes at major festivals around the world, been sold to some 100 countries and often helped people see what would otherwise have been overlooked. Since 2020 he has been building OVALmedia, an independent platform for film, conversation, texts, books and events. 3,500 publications, 60 million views and more than 20 channel deletions have made him a player in the global information war.
Press photos in full resolution
- Portrait against black Photo: Norbert Cibis · 1200 × 1200
- Portrait in the office Photo: Lukas Link · 3000 × 2000
- Freiheit 36, landscape format Photo: Matthias Burchardt · 2665 × 2000
- Freiheit 36, portrait format Photo: Matthias Burchardt · 2665 × 4100
- MedienImpuls Photo: sh/FSF · 1000 × 667
- MedienImpuls, with graphic Photo: sh/FSF · 1200 × 800
Free to use in reports on Robert Cibis and his work, with credit to the photographers.
Enquiries: oval@oval.media