Directors【German-speaking】
by angeliki_spatki | created - 06 Jan 2014 | updated - 5 months ago | PublicGerman speaking ﴾most lived in Germany﴿ directors ࿐ (see also New Gen)
1. 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 ...
"Amour" (2012), "The White Ribbon" (2009), "Caché" 2005, "La Pianiste" 2001, Code Inconnu 2000, The Castle (TV movie) 1997 - Munich, DE
2. 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 ...
All will be fine ** 2015, Land of Plenty ('06), "Paris, Texas" *** ('85), Wings of Love (1987), An American friend *** 1977, Wrong move 1975, Alice in the cities **** 1974 - DE
3. Johannes Schaaf
Director | Trotta
Johannes Schaaf was born on April 7, 1933 in Stuttgart, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Trotta (1971), Tätowierung (1967) and Große Liebe (1966). He was married to Stella Kleindienst and Rosemarie Fendel. He died on November 1, 2019 in Murnau, Bavaria, Germany.
4. 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 ...
Diplomacy (Η νύχτα πριν πέσει το Παρίσι) *** 2014, The Legend of Rita 2000, The Death of a Salesman *** 1985, Swann in love *** 1984, The lost honor of Katharina Blum **** 1975, Die Blechtrommel (Το Ταμπούρλο) ***, La Mer a l' Aube (Calm at Sea) **** 2017 - DE
5. 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 ...
6. Josef von Sternberg
Director | The Devil Is a Woman
Josef von Sternberg split his childhood between Vienna and New York City. His father, a former soldier in the Austro-Hungarian army, could not support his family in either city; Sternberg remembered him only as "an enormously strong man who often used his strength on me." Forced by poverty to drop ...
The Shanghai Gesture 1941, Der Blaue Angel 1930 - Vienna AT
7. 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, ...
Lola Montés 1958, Le Plaisir 1952
8. Ernst Marischka
Writer | Der veruntreute Himmel
Ernst Marischka was born on January 2, 1893 in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [now Austria]. He was a writer and director, known for Embezzled Heaven (1958), Sissi - Schicksalsjahre einer Kaiserin (1957) and Sissi - Die junge Kaiserin (1956). He was married to Lilly Marischka. He died on May 12, 1963 in ...
Sissi 1955 AT
9. 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. ...
Metropolis 1927, Fury (Νέμεσις) 1936 - Vienna AT
10. Georg Wilhelm Pabst
Director | Komödianten
Georg Wilhelm Pabst is considered by many to be the greatest director of German cinema, in his era. He was especially appreciated by actors and actresses for the humane way in which he treated them. This was in contrast to some of his contemporaries, such as Arnold Fanck, who have been ...
La Voce del Silenzio 1953 AT
11. Jessica Hausner
Director | Little Joe
Jessica Hausner was born on October 6, 1972 in Vienna, Austria. She is a director and writer, known for Little Joe (2019), Lourdes (2009) and Amour Fou (2014).
Amour Fou 2014 AT
12. Michael Curtiz
Director | Casablanca
Curtiz began acting in and then directing films in his native Hungary in 1912. After WWI, he continued his filmmaking career in Austria and Germany and into the early 1920s when he directed films in other countries in Europe. Moving to the US in 1926, he started making films in Hollywood for Warner...
Casablanca 1942, King Creole (Ο Βασιλιάς του Ροκ) 1958, starring Elvis Presley, Walter Matthau, Carolyn Jones - b. Budapest HU
13. 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.
Mon Petit (Monpti) 1956 DE
14. 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...
Veronica Voss 1982, Lola 1981, Marriage of Maria Brawn 1979, The bitter tears of Petra von Kant 1972, The Merchant of four Seasons 1971, Katzelmacher (The Greek Neighbor) 1969, watch Trailer - Prominent creator, founder of the so-called "New-German Cinema", lightened-up the lives of marginal or problematic people - things consisting also, his own impasses 1945 - 1982 DE
15. 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 ...
Downfall **** (Hitler's last days in Chancellery's basement) 2004 DE
16. 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 ...
Never look away 2018 (starring Tom Schilling, Sebastian Koch, Paula Beer), The Tourist 2010, The Lives of Others ('06) #52, Top#250 - Cologne, North-Rhine, Westphalia DE
17. Joel Schumacher
Director | The Phantom of the Opera
Joel Schumacher was an American film director, film producer, screenwriter and fashion designer from New York City. He rose to fame in the 1980s for directing the coming-of-age drama "St. Elmo's Fire" (1985), and the vampire-themed horror film "The Lost Boys" (1987). In the 1990s, he worked on two ...
The Phantom of the Opera 2004 DE
18. 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).
The Time Traveler's Wife *** 2009 DE
19. Bruce Beresford
Director | Driving Miss Daisy
Bruce Beresford was born in Australia and graduated from Sydney University in 1962. He served as Film Officer for the British Film Institute Production Board from 1966-1971 and as a Film Advisor to the Arts Council of Great Britain. Beresford has also directed several operas including Girl Of The ...
Mao's Last Dancer 2009 (The life of Chinese dancer Li Cunxin) - Sydney AT
20. 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...
Heaven 2002, Run Lola run 1998 - North Rhine-Westphalia, DE
21. 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 -...
Tschick (Βερολίνο, αντίο) 2016, The Edge of Heaven 2007, Head-On 2004 - TR (orig.), DE
22. 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...
Monster's Ball 2001, The Kite Runner *** 2007 - Illertissen, Bavaria DE
23. Michael Herbig
Actor | Der Schuh des Manitu
Michael 'Bully' Herbig studied photography and is well known in the German comedy scene as a writer, director and producer. In addition to his morning radio show 'Langemann und die Morgencrew' from 1992 to 1995, he also made 800 episodes of the comedy radio show 'Die Bayern Cops'. He has appeared ...
Baloon **** 2017
24. Dominik Moll
Writer | Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien
Dominik Moll was born on May 7, 1962 in Bühl, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He is a writer and director, known for With a Friend Like Harry... (2000), Only the Animals (2019) and The Night of the 12th (2022).
25. Til Schweiger
Actor | Inglourious Basterds
Actor, producer, writer, and director Til Schweiger is Germany's best-known actor and also the country's most successful director. With more than 51 Million admissions no other German filmmaker drew more people to cinemas. He runs his own production company Barefoot Films based in Berlin, Germany.
...
Kokowaah (coq'au vin) 2011
26. Sandra Nettelbeck
Writer | Bella Martha
Sandra Nettelbeck was born on April 4, 1966 in Hamburg, Germany. She is a writer and director, known for Mostly Martha (2001), Last Love (2013) and No Reservations (2007).
27. Sebastian Schipper
Director | Victoria
Sebastian Schipper was born on May 8, 1968 in Hanover, Lower Saxony, West Germany. He is an actor and director, known for Victoria (2015), Roads (2019) and The English Patient (1996).
Victoria 2015
28. Paul Verhoeven
Director | RoboCop
Paul Verhoeven graduated from the University of Leiden, with a degree in math and physics. He entered the Royal Netherlands Navy, where he began his film career by making documentaries for the Navy and later for TV. In 1969, he directed the popular Dutch TV series, Floris (1969), about a medieval ...
Elle ** 2016 NL
29. 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).
Kabale und Liebe 2012 TV movie
30. Felix van Groeningen
Director | Beautiful Boy
Felix van Groeningen was born on November 1, 1977 in Gent, Flanders, Belgium. He is a director and writer, known for Beautiful Boy (2018), The Broken Circle Breakdown (2012) and The Eight Mountains (2022).
Belgica *** Gent - Flanders (Γάνδη) BE
31. George Mendeluk
Director | Bitter Harvest
George Mendeluk was born on March 20, 1948 in Augsburg, Bavaria, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for Bitter Harvest (2017), Stone Cold Dead (1979) and Night Heat (1985).
Bitter Harvest *** (The Ukrains fight against Bolshevicks circa 1930) 2017 DE
32. Philipp Stölzl
Director | Nordwand
Philipp Stölzl was born in 1967 in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. He is a director and writer, known for North Face (2008), The Physician (2013) and Young Goethe in Love (2010).
Goethe! 2010
33. Maria Schrader
Director | She Said
Maria Schrader was born in Hanover, Federal Republic of Germany, on September 27th, 1965. She directed and co-wrote the screenplay of the awards-winning film Liebesleben (2007). As well, she directed Stefan Zweig: Farewell to Europe (2016) and the Emmy-award wining miniseries Unorthodox (2020) (...
Man of my dreams 2021, Stefan Zweig in Europe ** 2017 DE
34. Florian Gallenberger
Director | Quiero ser (I want to be...)
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 ...
Colonia *** (F. loc. Chile) 2015
35. Thomas Stuber
Director | In den Gängen
Thomas Stuber was born in Leipzig in 1981. After graduating from high school, he completed a number of different internships and assistantships in the film industry. Starting in 2002, he worked on several film and TV productions as a script/continuity supervisor and director's assistant. From 2004 ...
In the Aisles *** 2017 (starring Franz Rogowski) DE
36. 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 ...
Hannah Arendt *** 2012
37. 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...
Salt and Fire 2016 (F. loc. South America), Queen of the desert *** 2015 (The life of Gertrude Bell, F. loc. Morocco) DE
38. Gregor Schnitzler
Director | Die Wolke
Gregor Schnitzler was born in 1964 in Berlin, Germany. He is a director and cinematographer, known for Die Wolke (2006), What to Do in Case of Fire (2001) and School of Magical Animals (2021).
Bauhaus *** 2019
39. Jan Zabeil
Director | Three Peaks
Born in Berlin in 1981, Jan Zabeil studied at the University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 2007-2008 his short films "L.H.O." and "Was Weiss Der Tropfen Davon" screened at over hundred international film festivals and were awarded with several prizes. His debut feature "The River...
Three Peaks ** 2018
40. Eugen Burg
Director | Der wird geheiratet
Eugen Burg was born on January 6, 1871 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor and director, known for Der wird geheiratet (1921), The Hound of the Baskervilles (1915) and Alles aus Gefälligkeit (1916). He was married to Emmy Raabe-Burg. He died on November 15, 1944 in Theresienstadt Concentration...
Marie Antoinette 1922, Colonel Chabert 1920 (based on H.D.Balzac novel)
41. Jan-Ole Gerster
Director | Oh Boy
Born in 1978 in Hagen, North Rhine-Westphalia. In 2000, Jan-Ole Gerstner moved to Berlin, where he did an internship at the production company "X-Films Creative Pool" ("Run Lola Run", "The White Ribbon"). He then became Wolfgang Becker's personal assistant in the production of "Good Bye, Lenin!" ...
Oh boy (A coffee in Berlin) *** 2012 (no job, no girl, no coffee) starring Tom Schilling
42. Dennis Gansel
Director | Die Welle
Born in 1973 in Hannover, Germany, Dennis Gansel studied at Munich Film School HFF. Remarkably his first feature length movie Das Phantom (2000) was shot while he was still studying. Between his movies Girls on Top (2001), Before the Fall (2004) and The Wave (2008) he spent a long time struggling ...
Before Fall (Napola) 2004 - Hannover DE
43. Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Director | Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König
Hans-Jürgen Syberberg was born on December 8, 1935 in Nossendorf, Pomerania, Prussia [now Mecklenburg-Vorpommern], Germany. He is a director and producer, known for Ludwig - Requiem for a Virgin King (1972), Die Nacht (1985) and Scarabea - wieviel Erde braucht der Mensch? (1969).
Ludwig (The mad king) Ludwig of Bavaria DE
44. Sam Garbarski
Director | Irina Palm
Sam Garbarski was born the 13th of February 1948 in Munich, Germany. In 1970 he founded the advertising agency Garbarski Euro Rscg, where he directed more than 50 commercials, among which several won awards in many international festivals (Cannes, New York, London...). Since 1997 he has directed ...
Bye bye Germany 2017
Tell Your Friends