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Grigorij Stanislav Richters (born 21 May 1987) is a German-Czech film director, activist, and producer. He is best known as the co-founder of Asteroid Day with Dr. Brian May and for directing the British independent film, 51 Degrees North.

Early Life
He began his career in front of the camera as a child model in his home country of Germany. By the age of six he was already obsessed with cameras and began making his own films on a JVC Hi-8 camcorder. Grigorij made a documentary on Franz Kafka that he sold to a German university and directed a 30 minute short film called Dean’s Life before the age of 16. He completed his A-Levels at film college Hurtwood House in the UK and went on to study under two-time Academy Awards winning Czech-American director Milos Forman at FAMU Film School in Prague. Following a stint in New York City working as a freelance social media consultant for MTV.

Kevin Spacey's Filmmaker in Residence
In 2010, he moved back to the UK and was appointed the Kevin Spacey Filmmaker in Residence at the Old Vic Theatre in London.

51 Degrees North
Being the Kevin Spacey Filmmaker in Residence provided the platform for the young filmmaker to conceive of and develop his first full-length feature film entitled 51 Degrees North. After watching a BBC documentary called Asteroids: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, which examined the devastating threat posed by asteroids to Earth. His time was immediately consumed by research into the potential cataclysm our planet faces at the hands of Near-Earth Objects (NEOs). Richters realised that in order to make a subject of this magnitude relatable, he needed to filter it through a human prism. His imagination set alight, he set out to pour all of his passion and research into a feature film called 51 Degrees North.

http://brianmay.com/brian/briannews/briannewssep14a.html#08

Dr Brian May, astrophysicist and lead guitarist for legendary rock band Queen, was captivated by the subject matter and agreed to provide the soundtrack for the film. Once the film was finished, May suggested that Richters screen the film at Starmus Festival in Tenerife, an astronomy related event combining science, art and music. 51 Degrees North was met with acclaim and inspired Richters, May and some of the most notable names in science to propose the idea of a day dedicated to raising awareness of the asteroid threat around the world.

Asteroid Day
After screening his film 51 Degrees North at the Starmus Festival, he met Stephen Hawking, Russian Cosmonaut Alexey Leonov, photographer Max Alexander, Astronomy Magazine Editor-in-Chief David J. Eicher, physicist Mark Boslough and Richard Dawkins helped Richters to conceive Asteroid Day: An annual global awareness movement where people from around the world come together to learn about asteroids and what we can do to protect our planet, our families, communities, and future generations. Asteroid Day will be held on the anniversary of the 1908 Siberian Tunguska event, the largest asteroid impact on Earth in recent history. It was co-founded by filmmaker Grigorij Richters and Dr. Brian May, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist. Over 100 astronauts, scientists, technologists and artists, including Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, Peter Gabriel, Jim Lovell, Alexei Leonov, Bill Anders, Kip Thorne, Lord Martin Rees, Chris Hadfield, Rusty Schweickart and Brian Cox co-signed the Asteroid Day Declaration. Asteroid Day was officially launched on December 3, 2014.

UEFA Champions League
In 2013, Richters was hired by Hamish Jenkinson and Jonny Grant to produce and direct a film for the Opening Ceremony of the 2013 UEFA Champions League Final, between German football clubs Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund at Wembley Stadium, London. One of the volunteers was activist Stephen Sutton.

Stephen Sutton Documentary
After meeting Stephen Sutton during rehearsals for the UEFA Champions League Final, Richters teamed up with Sutton to produce a documentary about Sutton's fight against cancer and his activism.