Peter Sempel has passed away
It is with deep sadness and grief that we have learned of the passing of director Peter Sempel. He passed away during the night from Thursday to Friday at Marienkrankenhaus in Hamburg, shortly before his 72nd birthday, which would have been today, March 24, 2026.
We shared a long-standing personal and professional friendship with Peter Sempel. Almost none of his wonderful films were made without a track from our catalog; in particular, his friendship and admiration for Frank Ziegert of Abwärts led to numerous appearances in his films. But Blixa Bargeld, both as an actor and through the music of Einstürzende Neubauten, and most recently Derya Yıldırım in his last major work, ARTISTAS, were also featured by him and lovingly integrated into his films. With Peter Sempel, we have lost one of the great independent, unique, and pioneering filmmakers. In his New Year’s card, he wrote: “How lucky we are!! To work with music, to play… yippee!!! Keep on going!! With luck and good energy!” We will miss him and his good energy.