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Johannes Preuss is a director and writer of nonfiction films and series. From theatrical documentaries and global stories for television to true crime and celebrity docuseries. His work has been shown on Netflix, ARTE and ZDF, alongside original productions for Sky and Prime Video. Honours include a Student Academy Award in Gold for Best International Documentary and the documentary award at Filmschau Baden-Württemberg. He combines depth with compelling storytelling to create films with broad audience appeal.

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Born in Berlin. A master’s degree in political science, history and Romance studies from the University of Bonn. Several years working in international development in West Africa, while studying journalism by distance learning. Then a diploma in directing from the internationally renowned Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. From community radio in Ghana to international documentary filmmaking. Personal stories and political realities, told with a feel for people and an instinct for suspense.

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Filming across Africa and South America. GALAMSEY takes him back to the Ghanaian town where he once worked in international development. NOLLYWOOD explores Nigeria’s film industry; ON HIGHWAY 7 ventures into Patagonia. In the theatrical documentary MY STRANGE HOMELAND, a young man travels to Bolivia in search of his birth mother. German public radio broadcaster Deutschlandfunk called it “an emotional roller coaster unlike anything seen in cinemas for a long time”.

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For the four-part Sky Original series JULY 22 (2022), Preuss reconstructs the attack at Munich’s Olympia shopping centre and investigates the story behind it. For Berlin daily newspaper Der Tagesspiegel, “a piece of television as intelligent as it is gripping”. Next came co-directing TERROR AT THE EMBASSY (2025), a German-Swedish co-production about the RAF hostage crisis in Stockholm.

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Co-director of LOREDANA & KARIM (2026). A documentary series following rapper Loredana and footballer Karim Adeyemi. Among Prime Video’s top ten documentary series in Germany for several months.

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