During his time at UCLA, Levine started shooting
avant-garde short films and in 1993, he directed his first short film
The Flying Dutchmen which premiered at the
43rd Berlin International Film Festival. In 1995, he founded the production company
Hank Levine Film GmbH. In 1996, Levine collaborated with
Maggie Hadleigh-West and produced the documentary,
War Zone, under the banner of
Hank Levine Film GmbH.
War Zone was filmed over several years and was premiered at the
48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1998. Levine's documentaries and feature films focus on environment, human-rights and socio-political conflicts. In 2000, Levine moved to Brazil where he collaborated with the
Brazilian film director,
Fernando Meirelles and produced
City of God for Meirelles's production company
O2 Filmes. In 2005, Levine directed and produced a sports documentary,
Ginga: The Soul of Brazilian Football, based on
football in Brazil. The film was nominated at
Prêmio Contigo! de Cinema Nacional awards in 2007, in the category
Best Director and
Best Documentary. In 2010, Levine produced
Rosa Morena, a Danish-Brazilian drama film directed by
Carlos Augusto de Oliveira. The film premiered at the
São Paulo International Film Festival in 2010. Later that year, he produced
Waste Land directed by
Lucy Walker. The film chronicles the life of the artist
Vik Muniz.
City of God and
Waste Land were nominated under the several award categories at the
76th and the
83rd Academy Awards respectively. In the year 2014, Levine produced
Futuro Beach, a Brazilian-German
drama film directed by
Karim Aïnouz and starring
Wagner Moura,
Clemens Schick and
Jesuíta Barbosa. The film premiered at the
64th Berlin International Film Festival and was nominated for the
Golden Bear and
Silver Bear awards. In 2017, Levine produced and directed
Exodus - Where I Come From is Disappearing. The film documents the story about people as
refugees and
asylum seekers at the various part of the world. The film's narration was written by
Taiye Selasi and was narrated by
Wagner Moura. The film was part of the
Reykjavík International Film Festival in the year 2017. Levine produced and directed
Dialogue Earth in 2019, a feature-length documentary based on the life of the German artist
Ulrike Arnold. ==Selected filmography==