Best German Directors
by FargoChris | created - 11 Sep 2011 | updated - 24 Mar 2016 | Public1. Ernst Lubitsch
Director | To Be or Not to Be
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...
2. Fritz Lang
Actor | Le mépris
Fritz Lang was born in Vienna, Austria, in 1890. His father managed a construction company. His mother, Pauline Schlesinger, was Jewish but converted to Catholicism when Lang was ten. After high school, he enrolled briefly at the Technische Hochschule Wien and then started to train as a painter. ...
3. Michael Haneke
Writer | Caché
A true master of his craft, Michael Haneke is one of the greatest film artists working today and one who challenges his viewers each year and work goes by, with films that reflect real portions of life in realistic, disturbing and unforgettable ways. One of the most genuine filmmakers of the world ...
4. Werner Herzog
Director | Fitzcarraldo
Director. Writer. Producer. Actor. Poet. He studied history, literature and theatre for some time, but didn't finish it and founded instead his own film production company in 1963. Later in his life, Herzog also staged several operas in Bayreuth, Germany, and at the Milan Scala in Italy. Herzog has...
5. F.W. Murnau
Director | Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
F.W. Murnau was a German film director. He was greatly influenced by Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, Shakespeare and Ibsen plays he had seen at the age of 12, and became a friend of director Max Reinhardt. During World War I he served as a company commander at the eastern front and was in the German air ...
6. Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Writer | Faustrecht der Freiheit
Above all, Rainer Werner Fassbinder was a rebel whose life and art was marked by gross contradiction. Openly homosexual, he married twice; one of his wives acted in his films and the other served as his editor. Accused variously by detractors of being anticommunist, male chauvinist, antiSemitic and...
7. Fatih Akin
Director | Aus dem Nichts
Fatih Akin was born in 1973 in Hamburg of Turkish parentage. He began studying Visual Communications at Hamburg's College of Fine Arts in 1994. His collaboration with Wueste Film also dates from this time. In 1995, he wrote and directed his first short feature, "Sensin - You're The One!" ("Sensin -...
8. Christian Petzold
Director | Barbara
Christian Petzold was born in Hilden in 1960. After studying German and Drama at the Freie Universität Berlin, he enrolled in Berlin's German Academy for Film and Television (DFFB). There he studied film direction while at same time working as an assistant director to Harun Farocki and Hartmut ...
9. Frank Beyer
Director | Spur der Steine
After school, Frank Beyer studied theater studies. He started his career with an internship at the theater and as a stage dramaturge. He later attended the Film School in Prague (FAMU). While still a student, he became Kurt Maetzig's assistant and accompanied films such as "Castles and Cats" (1957)...
10. Andreas Dresen
Director | Halt auf freier Strecke
Andreas Dresen was born on August 16, 1963 in Gera, German Democratic Republic. He is a director and writer, known for Stopped on Track (2011), Cloud 9 (2008) and Grill Point (2002).
11. Leni Riefenstahl
Producer | Das blaue Licht - Eine Berglegende aus den Dolomiten
Leni Riefenstahl's show-biz experience began with an experiment: she wanted to know what it felt like to dance on the stage. Success as a dancer gave way to film acting when she attracted the attention of film director Arnold Fanck, subsequently starring in some of his mountaineering pictures. With...
12. Robert Wiene
Director | Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari
Robert Wiene was born on April 24, 1873 in Breslau, Silesia, Germany [now Wroclaw, Dolnoslaskie, Poland]. He was a writer and director, known for The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Das wandernde Licht (1916) and The Knight of the Rose (1925). He died on July 17, 1938 in Paris, France.
13. Hans-Christian Schmid
Writer | 23 - Nichts ist so wie es scheint
Hans-Christian Schmid was born on August 19, 1965 in Altötting, Bavaria, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for 23 (1998), Storm (2009) and Lichter (2003).
14. Wim Wenders
Director | Der Himmel über Berlin
Wim Wenders is an Oscar-nominated German filmmaker who was born Ernst Wilhelm Wenders on August 14, 1945 in Düsseldorf, which then was located in the British Occupation Zone of what became the Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Federal Republic of Germany, known colloquially as West Germany until ...
15. Volker Schlöndorff
Director | Die Blechtrommel
Has studied economy and political sciences as well as at the Institut des Hautes Etudes Cinematographique (IDHEC) in Paris, France. Worked as an assistant director with Louis Malle, Jean-Pierre Melville and Alain Resnais. Founded his own production company Bioskop Film together with Reinhard Hauff ...
16. Dominik Graf
Director | Fabian oder Der Gang vor die Hunde
Dominik Graf was born on September 6, 1952 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Fabian: Going to the Dogs (2021), Dreileben (2011) and Der Felsen (2002).
17. Edgar Reitz
Director | Die andere Heimat - Chronik einer Sehnsucht
Studied theatre science, German philology, art history, and publicism in Munich. Published some poems and short stories during early 1950s, co-edited the literature magazine "Spuren". In 1952, he took acting lessons, co-founded a student theatre which became established as the university's studio ...
18. Douglas Sirk
Director | Schlußakkord
Film director Douglas Sirk, whose reputation blossomed in the generation after his 1959 retirement from Hollywood filmmaking, was born Hans Detlef Sierck on April 26, 1897, in Hamburg, Germany, to a journalist. Both of his parents were Danish, and the future director would make movies in German, ...
19. Caroline Link
Director | Nirgendwo in Afrika
Caroline Link was born on June 2, 1964 in Bad Nauheim, Hesse, Germany. She is a director and writer, known for Nowhere in Africa (2001), Beyond Silence (1996) and Annaluise & Anton (1999).
20. Walter Ruttmann
Cinematographer | Metropolis
Walter Ruttmann was born on December 28, 1887 in Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for Metropolis (1927), Mannesmann - Ein Film der Mannesmannröhren-Werke (1937) and Acciaio (1933). He was married to Christine Margarete Helene Prasch, Nina Hamson, Erna Treitel and...
21. Helmut Dietl
Writer | Schtonk
Helmut Dietl was born on June 22, 1944 in Bad Wiessee, Bavaria, Germany. He was a writer and director, known for Schtonk (1992), Rossini (1997) and Monaco Franze - Der ewige Stenz (1983). He was married to Tamara Dietl, Barbara Valentin and Karin Dietl-Wichmann. He died on March 30, 2015 in Munich,...
22. Tom Tykwer
Writer | Lola rennt
Director, writer, producer and composer Tom Tykwer was born in 1965 in Wuppertal, Germany. He showed an interest in film-making from childhood, making super 8 films from the age of 11. Among his first jobs was working at a local art-house cinema. Tykwer eventually relocated to Berlin, first working...
23. Mike Nichols
Director | The Graduate
He, along with the other members of the "Compass Players" including Elaine May, Paul Sills, Byrne Piven, Joyce Hiller Piven and Edward Asner helped start the famed "Second City Improv" company. They used the games taught to them by fellow cast mate, Paul Sills 's mother, Viola Spolin. He later ...
Born in Berlin ;-)
24. Marc Forster
Producer | World War Z
Marc Forster is a German-born filmmaker and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball (2001), Finding Neverland (2004), Stay (2005), Stranger than Fiction (2006), The Kite Runner (2007), Quantum of Solace (2008), and World War Z (2013).
His breakthrough film was Monster's...
25. Marcus H. Rosenmüller
Director | Wer früher stirbt, ist länger tot
Marcus H. Rosenmüller was born on July 21, 1973 in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Grave Decisions (2006), Trautmann (2018) and Welcome to Siegheilkirchen (2021).
26. Leander Haußmann
Director | Sonnenallee
Leander Haußmann was born on June 26, 1959 in Quedlinburg, German Democratic Republic. He is an actor and director, known for Sun Alley (1999), Berlin Blues (2003) and Hotel Lux (2011).
27. Wolfgang Becker
Director | Good Bye Lenin!
Wolfgang Becker was born on June 22, 1954 in Hemer, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Schmetterlinge (1988) and Child's Play (1992).
28. Helmut Käutner
Director | Der Hauptmann von Köpenick
Helmut Käutner was born on March 25, 1908 in Düsseldorf, Germany. He was a director and writer, known for The Captain from Köpenick (1956), The Last Bridge (1954) and The Rest Is Silence (1959). He was married to Erica Balqué. He died on April 20, 1980 in Castellina in Chianti, Tuscany, Italy.
29. Maren Ade
Producer | Toni Erdmann
Maren Ade was born in Karlsruhe on 12 December 1976 to a couple of teachers.She studied cinema at Munich's Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film. As of 2001 she co-founded, together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF, the "Komplizen" film company. It is through Komplizen that Maren would...
30. Joe May
Director | Asphalt
A businessman and operetta director, Joe May, one of the founders of the German cinema, started directing films in 1911 and started his own production company a few years later. He gave famous German director Fritz Lang his start in films, employing him as a screenwriter in his early films. After ...
31. Kurt Hoffmann
Director | Das Wirtshaus im Spessart
Kurt Hoffmann was born on November 12, 1910 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. He was a director and assistant director, known for Das Wirtshaus im Spessart (1958), The Haunted Castle (1960) and Aren't We Wonderful? (1958). He was married to Luise Schneider and Betti Grimm. He died on June 25, 2001 ...
32. Wolfgang Petersen
Director | Das Boot
A controversial film maker, Wolfgang Petersen has at once been lauded for his professionalism and attention to detail and decried for turning out a string of standard commercial Hollywood blockbusters. The son of a naval officer, Petersen held a lifelong fascination with the sea and naval subjects....
33. Alexander Kluge
Director | Abschied von gestern - (Anita G.)
Writer. Director. Producer. Studied law and graduated. Was one of the founders of the Oberhausener Manifest in 1962. Since 1962 Headmaster of the 'Institut fuer Filmgestaltung' at the 'Hochschule fuer Gestaltung' in Ulm, Germany. Since 1988 produces broadcastings dealing with cultural aspects in ...
34. Hans W. Geissendörfer
Writer | Lindenstraße
Director. Writer. Producer. Has studied germanistics, theatre, psychology and african languages between 1962 and 1967. Has travelled Africa and Asia. In 1971 co-founder of the german Filmverlag der Autoren. 1983 he founded his own production company. Geissendoerfer is producer and partly director ...
35. Detlev Buck
Actor | Männerpension
Directed his first movie at the age of 21. Studied at the 'Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie' (DFFB) til 1989. Founded the Boje Buck Filmproduktion in 1991. Founded the Boje Buck Produktion GmbH together with Claus Boje in 1992.
36. Doris Dörrie
Writer | Kirschblüten - Hanami
Dörrie completed her schooling at a humanistic high school, from which she graduated in 1973 with her Abitur. In the same year he spent two years in the USA. There she studied film and acting at the Drama Department at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California. This was followed by ...
37. Oskar Roehler
Writer | Die Unberührbare
Oskar Roehler was born on January 21, 1959 in Starnberg, Bavaria, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for Die Unberührbare (2000), Silvester Countdown (1997) and Agnes and His Brothers (2004). He has been married to Alexandra Fischer-Roehler since August 2000.
38. Rosa von Praunheim
Director | Anita: Tänze des Lasters
Rosa von Praunheim was born on November 25, 1942 in Riga, Ostland [now Latvia]. He is a director and writer, known for Anita: Dances of Vice (1987), Horror Vacui (1984) and Tough Love (2015). He was previously married to Carla Egerer.
39. Margarethe von Trotta
Director | Hannah Arendt
Margarethe von Trotta was born in Berlin in 1942. In the 1960s she moved to Paris where she worked for film collectives, collaborating on scripts and co-directing short films. She also pursued an acclaimed acting career, starring in films by well known German directors such as Rainer Werner ...
40. Christian Schwochow
Director | Die Unsichtbare
Christian Schwochow was born on September 23, 1978 in Bergen auf Rügen, East Germany. He is a director and producer, known for Cracks in the Shell (2011), Novemberkind (2008) and Munich: The Edge of War (2021).
41. Oliver Hirschbiegel
Director | Das Experiment
Born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1957. In his teens he left high school and worked as a cooker in a boat.
Then he studied painting and graphism in the Academy of arts in Hamburg where he also started experimenting with video and photography. Those experimental movies attracted the attention of some ...
42. Peter Schamoni
Director | Max Ernst: Mein Vagabundieren - Meine Unruhe
Peter Schamoni was born on March 27, 1934 in Berlin, Germany. He was a director and producer, known for Max Ernst: Mein Vagabundieren - Meine Unruhe (1991), Die widerrechtliche Ausübung der Astronomie (1967) and Niki de Saint Phalle (1996). He died on June 14, 2011 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.
43. Roland Suso Richter
Director | Der Tunnel
Roland Suso Richter was born on January 7, 1961 in Marburg, Hesse, Germany. He is a director and production manager, known for The Tunnel (2001), Eine Hand Voll Gras (2000) and Sara Amerika (1999).
44. Nico Hofmann
Producer | Land der Väter, Land der Söhne
Nico Hofmann is Chief Executive Officer of UFA Group. He oversees the creation and production of a diverse programme portfolio in Germany which ranges from daily dramas ("Good Times, Bad Times") and entertainment shows ("German Idols") to successful feature films and transmedia content. Four ...
45. Aelrun Goette
Director | Tatort
Aelrun Goette was born on July 6, 1966 in Berlin, Germany. She is an actress and director, known for Tatort (1970), Unter dem Eis (2005) and Keine Angst (2009).
46. Robert Schwentke
Writer | Der Hauptmann
Robert Schwentke was born in 1968 in Stuttgart, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for The Captain (2017), RED (2010) and Eierdiebe (2003).
47. Florian Gallenberger
Director | Colonia
Florian Gallenberger was born in 1972 in Munich, Germany. His first film experience was as a child actor. He studied philosophy before he went to Munich Film School HFF where he made several award winning live action short films. He won a Student Academy Award and an Academy Award for his ...
48. Max Ophüls
Director | La ronde
Director Max Ophüls was born Max Oppenheimer in Saarbrücken, Germany. He began his career as a stage actor and director in the golden twenties. He worked in cities such as Stuttgart, Dortmund, Wuppertal, Vienna, Frankfurt, Breslau and Berlin. In 1929 his son Marcel Ophüls was born in Frankfurt, ...
49. Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck
Director | Das Leben der Anderen
As the son of a Lufthansa manager, Henckel von Donnersmarck spent his childhood and school years in New York, Berlin, Frankfurt am Main and Brussels, where he passed his international high school diploma in 1991. He then spent two years studying in Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) with the following ...
50. Henry Koster
Director | Harvey
Henry Koster was born Herman Kosterlitz in Berlin, Germany, on May 1, 1905. His maternal grandfather was a famous operatic tenor Julius Salomon (who died of tuberculosis in the 1880s). His father was a salesman of ladies unmentionables who left the family while Henry was at a young age, leaving him...
51. Benjamin Heisenberg
Writer | Der Räuber
Benjamin Heisenberg was born in 1974 in Tübingen, Germany. He grew up in small village near Würzburg where his father was professor of neurobiology at the local university. After finishing school in 1993 he went to study at the academy of fine arts in Munich. In 1995 he became assistant of Walther ...
52. Kilian Riedhof
Director | Gladbeck
Kilian Riedhof was born on April 27, 1971 in Seeheim-Jugenheim, Hesse, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Gladbeck (2018), Stella: A Life (2023) and You Will Not Have My Hate (2022). He has been married to Jana Voosen since 2014.
53. Matthias Glasner
Director | Sterben
Matthias Glasner was born on January 20, 1965 in Hamburg, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Dying (2024), Der freie Wille (2006) and The Meds (1995).
54. Helge Schneider
Actor | 00 Schneider - Jagd auf Nihil Baxter
Helge Schneider was born on August 30, 1955 in Mülheim an der Ruhr, Germany. He is an actor and composer, known for 00 Schneider - Jagd auf Nihil Baxter (1994), 00 Schneider - Im Wendekreis der Eidechse (2013) and Texas - Doc Snyder hält die Welt in Atem (1993).
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