Jochen Alexander Freydank

Jochen Alexander Freydank was born in 1967 in East Berlin. After a directing traineeship at the German Television Broadcasting, seminars at the Ernst Busch University of Theatre Arts Berlin, and several unsuccessful applications to film schools, he went on to study theatre studies at Humboldt University of Berlin. Freydank began his film career as an editor and assistant director, and from the mid-1990s onwards wrote screenplays for television series for ARD, RTL, Pro7, and ORF. Following a one-year stay in London and the founding of his own production company, he also began writing screenplays for short films, which he both directed and produced himself. During this period Freydank also worked as a producer on two series for ARD. His short films received numerous awards.

In 2008 Freydank directed the historical short film TOYLAND. The film, which explores individual responsibility during the Holocaust, won more than 40 international awards and received the Academy Award in 2009. Since then, Jochen Alexander Freydank has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

In 2011 he directed at the Volksbühne Berlin, where the comedy JOHNNY CHICAGO starring Kurt Krömer premiered. He also directed two episodes of the long-running crime series TATORT, HEIMATFRONT and ALLLMÄCHTIG. In 2012 he directed the tragicomedy UND WEG BIST DU for SAT.1, for which he received the Bavarian Television Award for Best Director. In 2014 Freydank directed the feature film KAFKA’S THE BURROW. The dystopian psychological thriller was nominated at numerous international film festivals, including three A-list festivals. In the same year he directed the melancholic Baltic Sea comedy GROßE FISCHE, KLEINE FISCHE for ZDF, based on his own screenplay. Further television films followed, including the thriller ZORN and an instalment of the series NORD BEI NORDWEST. In 2016 Freydank directed an episode of POLIZEIRUF 110 in Magdeburg. The following year he adapted DAS JOSHUA PROFIL, a thriller based on the novel by Sebastian Fitzek, for RTL. In 2018 he directed DEIN LEBEN GEHÖRT MIR for SAT.1, followed in 2020 by the miniseries DU SOLLST NICHT LÜGEN. This was followed by another literary adaptation, ZERO, a near-future thriller based on the novel by Marc Elsberg, dealing with the subject of digital surveillance.

In 2021 Jochen Alexander Freydank directed the miniseries HERZOGPARK, a satirical social comedy. In 2022 he directed the international co-production RIESENDING – JEDE STUNDE ZÄHLT (Germany/Austria/Switzerland/Croatia), which was nominated for the Grimme Award and the Romy Award and is currently available on Netflix. This was followed by another episode of TATORT and an additional crime film.

In 2023 Freydank was among the initiators of the initiative Quote-Ost, which advocates greater visibility and more authentic representation of East German life and perspectives in film and television.