Wolfgang Becker

Wolfgang Becker (1954–2024) was one of the most influential German film directors and screenwriters of his generation. Born in Hemer, Westphalia, he studied German, history, and American studies at the Free University of Berlin before enrolling at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) in 1981, where he specialized in cinematography and worked with figures such as Michael Ballhaus and Istvan Szabó.

Becker’s graduation film, Schmetterlinge (Butterflies, 1988), an adaptation of a short story by Ian McEwan, marked his international breakthrough. The film won the Student Academy Award (Student Oscar), the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival, and the Max Ophüls Prize. He went on to direct the acclaimed Tatort episode “Blutwurstwalzer” (1991) and the drama Kinderspiele (Child’s Play, 1992), which found success both on television and in cinemas.

In 1994, Becker co-founded the production company X Filme Creative Pool with Tom Tykwer, Dani Levy, and Stefan Arndt, which quickly became a hub for innovative German filmmaking. His first feature for the company, Das Leben ist eine Baustelle (Life Is All You Get, 1997), premiered at the Berlinale and became a cult film of the 1990s.

Becker achieved his greatest popular success in 2003 with Good Bye, Lenin!, a film that was celebrated internationally and won numerous awards, including the César in France and the Goya in Spain for Best European Film. In 2013, he adapted Daniel Kehlmann’s novel Ich und Kaminski (Me and Kaminski) for the screen, and his final project was the feature film Der Held vom Bahnhof Friedrichstraße.

Wolfgang Becker lived and worked in Berlin, shaping German cinema for decades as a director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, and mentor. He died in Berlin on December 12, 2024, at the age of 70.