The co-inventor of the children’s knowledge format “Checker Tobi” (Kika, Das Erste), Johannes Honsell, is dead. The journalist and director died on December 27th in Munich at the age of just 45 as a result of cancer, as relatives told the “Standard ” and the “Spiegel” are said to have confirmed. He leaves behind a wife and a son.
Most recently, Honsell was also responsible for writing and directing the documentary adventure film “Checker Tobi and the Journey to the Flying Rivers,” which was released in October. In the director’s first feature film, who has also made documentaries for adults, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf stars alongside presenter Tobias Krell.
Everything in “Checker Tobi and the Journey to the Flying Rivers” revolves around a treasure chest to which Tobi’s childhood friend Marina (Marina M. Blanke) has the key. Tobi sets off on a search and a journey from Vietnam to the Amazon rainforest. According to the obituary in “Spiegel”, it is currently the most successful German-language children’s film.
Honsell was born in Rosenheim in 1978 and grew up in Salzburg. In addition to studying history and politics, he also went to the German Journalism School in Munich. He was the editorial director of “Checker Tobi” and “Checker Can” and also directed many episodes. Among other things, the program “Checker Tobi – The Life and Dying Check”, for which he was also responsible for writing and directing, was nominated for the Grimme Prize in 2017.
