Thomas Heise

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 PotsdamBabelsberg HFFB His first film the documentary Wozu denn über diese Leute einen FilmWhy 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 freelance 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 Heises documentaries have attracted national and international attention Since 2007 hes been teaching as a Professor for Film and Media Art at Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe Thomas Heises earlier films dealt with social phenomena in the GDR and the countrys bureaucratic apparatus From the late 80s his focus has moved to the changes individuals families and regional communities have had to undergo in the aftermath of the German reunification The works of the filmmaker encompass a wide range of contemporary socially relevant topics such as privatisation the reorganisation of the formerly industrial sphere unemployment and rightwing radicalism to name but a few