Andreas Dresen is one of Germany’s most popular and successful filmmakers. His work is known for its meticulous and nuanced observation and near-documentary realism.

Born in Gera in the former East Germany in 1963, Andreas Dresen is the son of a theater director and an actress. He began creating his own amateur films at a young age, and then studied from 1986 to 1991 at the Film and Television University (HFF) “Konrad Wolf”. He has released some 20 television and feature films to date, winning numerous awards for his work. His current release “Halt auf freier Strecke“ (“Stopped on Track”, 2011) is the story of a man who discovers he has inoperable cancer. It took the top award in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes this year. Andreas Dresen also has worked on many theater productions. He lives in Potsdam, where he is currently staging Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro.”