Jörg Foth was born in Berlin in 1949. He studied directing at the Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg from 1972 to 1977. After working as an assistant director at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films and GDR television, he made his directorial debut with Das Eismeer ruft. Employed as a director-in-training at DEFA as of 1984, Foth had to wait years until he was allowed to direct his next feature film, Biologie!—the only DEFA feature ever to deal with environmental issues.

Starting in the early 1980s, Foth lobbied for a role for the youngest generation of DEFA filmmakers in studio structures. He was finally promoted to director in spring 1990, a few months before the studio was closed. Since 1991, Foth has worked in television and film, as well as theater. Among his other films is Prenzlauer Berg Walzer, shot by Thomas Plenert; it is a documentary about people living in the center of Berlin using film material shot between November 9, 1989—the night the Wall fell—and 1992. Foth lives in Berlin.

Selected Filmography

1994 Tir na nOg (doc.)

1994 Prenzlauer Berg Walzer (Prenzlauer Berg Walz, TV, doc.)

1991 Happy End Durch Drei (transl. Happy End Divided by Three, TV)

1990 Letztes aus der DaDaeR (Latest from the Da-Da-R)

1989 Biologie! (Biology!)

1988 Tuba wa duo (short)

1988 Dschungelzeit (transl. Jungle Time, GDR/VN)

1983 Das Eismeer ruft (transl. The Arctic Sea Calls)