Nils Clauss is a German cinematographer, photographer, director, and filmmaker born in 1976 in Wittmund, Germany. For many years, he was based in Seoul, South Korea, a country where he has lived since 2005. He has shot, directed, and edited a wide range of award-winning music videos, short films, feature films, and documentaries that have been screened at international festivals and widely circulated online.
After studying visual culture, art history, and film in Germany, Australia, and Hong Kong, Clauss further developed his technical expertise by completing an MFA in Cinematography at the Graduate School of Advanced Imaging Science, Multimedia and Film at Chung-Ang University in Seoul. His professional career has been largely shaped by his experience in Asia and is characterized by a strong interest in contemporary imagery, urban space, culture, and social transformation.
Clauss’s commercial work includes cinematography, directing, and editing for prominent national and international clients such as ARTE, Burberry, Cheil, Do Ho Suh, Goethe-Institut, Google, GS Caltex, Hyundai, Innocean, !K7 Records, MIT, MTV K, the Munich Chamber Orchestra, Nike, the Korea Tourism Organization, Platoon, Samsung, the Swedish Trade Council, Tamschick Media + Space, Vice, Western Union, Yonsei University, and ZDF, among others.
One of the most distinctive aspects of his work is the development of a recognizable visual and narrative language for numerous international music videos, many of them created in collaboration with Irish filmmaker Neil Dowling. The two began working together in 2008, when they founded the production company CONTENTED. Their collaborations include music videos for artists such as M83, Sigur Rós, Storm Queen, Schmidt, Wolf + Lamb vs. Soul Clap, and Röyksopp.
Alongside his commercial and music-related work, Clauss has developed photographic, documentary, and artistic projects such as Plastic Girls, Bikini Words, and Crossroads, which explore issues of identity, contemporary society, and cultural transformation in South Korea. After more than a decade living in Seoul, he moved with his family to Jeju Island around 2017, while continuing to maintain strong professional ties to South Korea.
