Nikolaus Geyrhalter was born in Vienna, Austria in 1972. Twenty-two years later he formed his own production company: Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion. He made his first film, EISENERZ, in 1992. Two years later, he shot his first documentary, WASHED ASHORE (1994) it is telling a story about the river Danube and often strange idiosyncrasies of the people who live along its banks. Geyrhalters static-camera, well-paced observational films tackle their subjects head-on, whether its exploring the terrain in Chernobyl, Ukraine (PRIPYAT - 1998), tracing the route of the Dakar Rally (7915 KM - 2008), or investigating the production of processed foods (OUR DAILY BREAD - 2005). In 2003 he received Austrian State Award for Film Art and in 2008 his film OUR DAILY BREAD won the Grimme Prize.