Thomas Heise (22 August 1955 – 29 May 2024) was a German documentary filmmaker.

Life and work

Heise was born in

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

on 22 August 1955, the son of philosophy professor Wolfgang Heise. He was a printer's apprentice between 1971 and 1973. After a year in the

National People's Army The National People's Army (, ; NVA ) were the armed forces of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (DDR) from 1956 until 1990. The NVA was organized into four branches: the (Ground Forces), the (Navy), the (Air Force) and the (Bord ...

, Heise worked as a director's assistant between 1975 and 1978 in East Germany's

DEFA DEFA (''Deutsche Film-Aktiengesellschaft'') was the state-owned film studio of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) throughout the country's existence. Since 2019, DEFA's film heritage has been made accessible and licensable on the PR ...

Film Studios, finishing his final exams at night school. In 1978 he studied to be a director at the Konrad Wolf Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen. Following his first film, ''Why make a film about these people'' (''Wozu denn über diese Leute einen Film?''), about the culture of East Berlin before the wall came down, he broke off his studies, and began to work as a freelance writer and director. All of his early

documentary films A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill Ni ...

were banned or prohibited from screening by the East German government, as well as his radio works. In December 1989, four weeks after the

fall of the Berlin Wall The fall of the Berlin Wall (, ) on 9 November in German history, 9 November 1989, during the Peaceful Revolution, marked the beginning of the destruction of the Berlin Wall and the figurative Iron Curtain, as East Berlin transit restrictions we ...

, his radio feature ''Widerstand und Anpassung - Überlebensstrategie. Erinnerungen eines Mannes an das Lager Dachau'' (''Resistance and Adaptation - Survival Strategies. Memories of a Man of the Dachau Camp'') was finally broadcast on Berlin radio. After the fall of the Wall, Heise finally became known, creating a number of disputed works, on topics affecting his country, such as the radical right-winged youth movement in Halle. Between 1993 and 1998 he directed a number of theater works, until in 2005 his film ''Mein Bruder. We Will Meet Again'' premiered at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

in 2005. Heise continued to live and work in Berlin and as a film professor at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design from 2007. In 2019, he created a documentary film entitled ''Heimat ist ein Raum aus Zeit'' (''Heimat is a Space in Time''), that won the main award from Nyon's reputable ''Visions du Réel''. and won the main prize at the Muestra de Cine de Lanzarote. Heise died on 29 May 2024, at the age of 68.

Filmography

* 1980: ' (''Why Make a Film About These People?''), 33 min * 1981: ''Anka und…'' ever completed* 1982: ''Erfinder 82'' * 1984: ' (state documentary of the former East German Republic) * 1985: ' (state documentary of the former East German Republic) * 1987: ''Heiner Müller 1'' * 1989: ''4. November 1989'' * 1989–1990: ''Imbiß-Spezial'' * 1989–1990: ''Zuchthaus Brandenburg, Dezember 1989'' * 1991: ''Eisenzeit'' * 1992: ''STAU - Jetzt geht's los'' * 1997: ''Barluschke'' * 1999–2000: ''Neustadt (Stau - Der Stand der Dinge)'' * 2000: ''Meine Kneipe'' * 2002: ''Vaterland'' * 2004–2005: ''Mein Bruder - We'll Meet Again'' * 1999–2006: ''Im Glück (Neger)'' * 2007: ''Kinder. Wie die Zeit vergeht'' * 2009: ''Material'' * 2011: ''Sonnensystem'' * 2012: ''Die Lage'' * 2012: ''Gegenwart'' * 2014: ''Städtebewohner'' * 2019: '

Sources

External links

*
Official homepage

Biography

Biography on kinoreal.at
* * Stefan Reinecke
taz-Interview with Thomas Heise about his film ''Mein Bruder - We'll meet again''
In: ''

Die Tageszeitung ''Die Tageszeitung'' (, "The Daily Newspaper"), stylized as ''die tageszeitung'' and commonly referred to as ''taz'', is a German daily newspaper. It is run as a cooperative – it is administered by its employees and a co-operative of sharehol ...

'', 17 February 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Heise, Tyhomas 1955 births 2024 deaths German documentary film directors Artists from Berlin Film directors from Berlin Academic staff of the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design Academic staff of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna Members of the Academy of Arts, Berlin