Biography:

Thomas Wilkening was born in 1956 in Potsdam, East Germany. He studied production at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. In 1989, he defended his thesis on Das Vietnam-Syndrom im US-amerikanischen Spielfilm (The Vietnam Syndrome in US Feature Films). He was one of the founders of and the head of the artistic production group DaDaeR at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films, which existed from 1990 to 1991. During this time, the DaDaeR group produced three films: Letztes aus der DaDaeR, Banale Tage and Das Land hinter dem Regenbogen.

In 1991 Wilkening co-founded—along with director Helke Misselwitz, who was already internationally known for her documentaries—the Thomas Wilkening Filmgesellschaft mbH production company, which produced Herzsprung, the first independent East German film production. Thomas Wilkening later became known for his Tucholsky-adaptation, Gripsholm, and for the episodes he made for the Polizeiruf 110 television series. He died in 2005.