Thomas Heise

Biography

Thomas Heise was born in Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic, in 1955. After school he trained as a printer. After his military service in the East German armed forces he began to work as an assistant director at the DEFA - Studio for Feature Films in Potsdam Babelsberg in 1975. Between 1978 and 1983 Heise studied at the Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg (HFF/B). His first film, the documentary Wozu denn über diese Leute einen Film/Why a Film About These People - produced entirely with materials bought on the black market - was banned from public screening. Since 1983 he has worked as a free-lance writer and director in the areas of theatre, audio drama and documentary. Until the end of the GDR all his documentary efforts were however either blocked by what was – in official jargon – called 'operative means' or destroyed or confiscated. Since the beginning of the 1990s Heise's documentaries have attracted national and international attention. Since 2007 he's been teaching as a Professor for Film and Media Art at Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe. Thomas Heise's earlier films dealt with social phenomena in the GDR and the country's bureaucratic appa…

Directed

1. Heimat Is a Space in Time (2019) — Director
2. Vaterland (2002) — Director
3. Stau – Jetzt geht’s los (1992) — Director
4. The House, 1984 (1984) — Director
5. Iron Age (1991) — Director
6. Die Lage (2012) — Director
7. Solar System (2011) — Director
8. 24 Hours Berlin (2009) — Director
9. Material (2009) — Director
10. Im Glück (Neger) (2006) — Director
11. Neustadt (Stau – Der Stand der Dinge) (2000) — Director
12. Children. As Time Flies. (2008) — Director
13. Consequence (2012) — Director
14. The People's Police Force, 1985 (1985) — Director
15. Städtebewohner (2014) — Director
16. Barluschke (1998) — Director
17. So Why Make a Film About These People? (1980) — Director
18. Snack Bar Special (1990) — Director
19. Mein Bruder - We'll Meet Again (2005) — Director
20. Imbiß (1979) — Director
21. 20 × Brandenburg (2010) — Director
22. Der Ausländer (2004) — Director
23. Meine Kneipe (2000) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Heimat Is a Space in Time (2019) — Narrator (voice)
2. DAS! (1991)
3. Höllental (2021) — Self - Narrator
4. Detection (2012) — Bäckert (voice)
5. Documentary filmmaking: Christoph Hübner talks with Thomas Heise (2012) — Self
6. Wendezeit – Rückblick auf den Mauerfall (2019) — Self