He began making films in 1981 through his interest in music. His filmography of short and documentary works includes: Dandy w/Blixa Bargel, Nick Cave, Lene Lovich and others; Nina Hagen = Punk + Glory (1999); Lemmy (2002) featuring Lemmy Kilmiser of Motorhead; 3 works on avant garde filmmaker Jonas Mekas, “Animals of Art (2011) featuring among others Jonathan Meese, Daniel Richter, Georg Baselitz, Yoshito Ohno, Peter Broetzmann, Antony & the Johnsons, Shumann, Razorheads; and the dance related films Kazuo Ohno: Dance Into the Light (2004); and Flamenco mi vida (2007). Sempel carries his films around the world and presents at festivals, special events, in off-cinemas, discos and all kinds of places.