Xavier Koller

Xavier Koller (born 17 June 1944, Schwyz, Switzerland) is a Swiss film director and screenwriter. He is most known for his work on the Disney live action film Squanto: A Warrior's Tale, an adventure historical fiction film based on the life of Squanto, and his film Journey of Hope, which won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 1990.

Early life
After graduating from high school, Koller first went through a four-year apprenticeship as a precision toolmaker and then, after three years of training at the Academy of Drama in Zurich, Switzerland, graduated as an actor/director. The next several years he spent acting and directing at German and Swiss theatres. He did a number of TV-plays as an actor, directed commercials, acted in movies, and then started to write and direct feature films.

Filmography

 * Hannibal (1972) (director, screenplay)
 * Mädchen, die am Wege liegen (1976) (director: additional scenes)
 * Trilogie 1848: Der Galgensteiger (1979) (director, writer) (TV film)
 * The Frozen Heart (Das gefrorene Herz) (1979) (director, screenplay)
 * Tanner (Der schwarze Tanner) (1985) (director, writer)
 * Journey of Hope (Reise der Hoffnung) (1990) (director, writer)
 * Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994) (director)
 * Gripsholm (2000) (director)
 * Cowboy Up (2001) (director)
 *  (2002) (director, writer) (short film)
 *  (2006) (director) (TV film)
 *  (2012) (director, writer)
 * Die schwarzen Brüder (film) (2013) (director)
 *  (2015) (director, writer)