Carl Heinz Choynski was born in Brooklyn, USA, on May 31, 1936. His father had moved to the USA from Germany to look for work in the 1920s. When Carl Heinz was one year old, his parents took him to visit family in Berlin and never returned to the USA. 

Alexandra Czok was born in Leipzig, East Germany, in 1970. After German unification, she worked as a photographer for Fandango publishing house in Hannover. From 1994 to 1997, she studied cultural history at the Universität Hildesheim and worked as an assistant director of photography. In 1997, she began studying cinematography at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen Konrad Wolf Potsdam-Bebelsberg.

Jörg d’Bomba was born in Ratibor (now Racibórz), Poland, on April 12, 1930. After WWII, he settled in the western part of Germany and worked in various professions. He studied architecture, acting, and directing. At the end of the 1950s, he moved to East Germany.

Painter, filmmaker, author and media artist Lutz Dammbeck was born in Leipzig in 1948. He studied at the Academy for Graphic Art and Book Design from 1967 to 1972. While a student he started working with animation and proposed ideas for films to the DEFA Studio for Animation Film. But it was not until 1975 that he produced Der Mond (The Moon), his first animated film. 

Fred Delmare was born in Hüttensteinach (Thuringia) on April 24, 1922. He studied at the Hebbel Theater Acting School, and from 1950 to 1970 he was a member of the Leipzig Schauspielhaus ensemble.

Thomas Roesler, whose artist’s name is Tohm di Roes, was born in Gera in 1960. He earned his living as a casual laborer, musician, and writer. He became known for his language plays, creations, and visual effects – “Dada excesses” – which he used in written and performed texts and poems.

Werner Dissel was born on August 26, 1912 in Cologne. As a young man, he was a photojournalist.

The actress Barbara Dittus was known for her talent at playing confident, sensible women. She was born in Guben (now Poland) on July 11, 1939. As a schoolgirl she could be heard on children’s radio. From 1956 to 1961 Dittus studied acting at the Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. She was a member of the company at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin (1962-67) and the Berlin Ensemble (1968-93).

Angelica Domröse was born in Berlin on April 4, 1941. At 16, she applied to the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg; although she was too young and was rejected, she continued dreaming of becoming an actress. She was selected from a pool of 1500 young girls who auditioned for the role of Siegi, a lively young woman worker in Slatan Dudow’s 1959 comedy, Verwirrung der Liebe.

Andreas Dresen was born in Gera, East Germany, in 1963. He initially worked as a sound engineer for the Schwerin Theater, before he studied directing at the Konrad Wolf Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. He began working as a screenwriter and director in 1992. His debut film, Stilles Land, took the 1993 Berlin Film Festival by storm.