Wolfgang Becker (director, born 1954)

Wolfgang Becker (born 22 June 1954) is a German film director and screenwriter, best known to international audiences for his work Good Bye Lenin! (2003).

Biography
Becker studied Germanistics, History and American Studies at the Free University in Berlin. He followed this with a job at a sound studio in 1980 and then began studies at the German Film and Television Academy (dffb). He started working as a freelance cameraman in 1983 and graduated from the dffb in 1986 with Schmetterlinge (Butterflies), which won the Student Academy Award in 1988, the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival, and the Saarland Prime-Minister's Award at the 1988 Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis Saarbrücken.

He directed an episode of the television drama Tatort, titled "Blutwurstwalzer", before making his second feature Kinderspiele (Child's Play, 1992) and the documentary Celibidache (1992).

In 1994, he co-founded the production company "X Filme Creative Pool" with Tom Tykwer, Stefan Arndt, and Dani Levy. From there he worked with Tykwer on the Berlinale competition feature Das Leben ist eine Baustelle (Life is All You Get, 1997).

He was a member of the jury at the Venice Film Festival in 2004.

Filmography

 * Schmetterlinge (1988)
 * Tatort (TV series) (1 episode, "Blutwurstwalzer") (1991)
 * Child's Play (Kinderspiele) (1992) – also writer
 * Life Is All You Get (Das Leben ist eine Baustelle) (1997) – also writer and actor
 * Good Bye, Lenin! (2003) – co-writer
 * Welcome to São Paulo (Bem-Vindo a São Paulo) (2004) (segment)
 * Ballero (2005) – also writer
 * Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation (2009) (segment "Krankes Haus") – also writer
 * Me and Kaminski (2015) – also writer

Awards

 * 1997 Berlin International Film Festival, Honourable Mention for Das Leben ist eine Baustelle
 * 1998 Bavarian Film Awards, Best Production for Das Leben ist eine Baustelle
 * 2003 Berlin International Film Festival, Blue Angel for Good Bye Lenin!
 * 2003 European Film Awards, Audience Award for Best Director for Good Bye Lenin!
 * 2004 Goya Awards, Best European Film for Good Bye Lenin!
 * 2004 Bavarian Film Awards, Audience Award for Good Bye Lenin!
 * 2004 César Awards, Best European Union Film for Good Bye Lenin!