Andreas Dresen, born in Gera in 1963, comes from a theatre family and recorded his first amateur films as early as 1979. In 1984/85 he was a sound technician at the Schwerin Theatre, then completed a traineeship at the DEFA Studio for Feature Films and worked as an assistant director to Günter Reisch. From 1986 to 1991, Andreas Dresen studied Directing at the Konrad Wolf Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg. Dresen has worked as a freelance author and director since 1992. He lives near Potsdam and is a member of the Academy of Arts, the European Film Academy and a founding member of the German Film Academy. He commenced a part-time artistic professorship for film acting at hmt Rostock on 1 June 2018.

His debut film Stilles Land (1992), a tragicomedy about the transition period at the beginning of the 90s in the East German provinces, already won him the Deutscher Kritikerpreis (German Film Critics' Prize). Dresen had his breakthrough at the 1999 Berlinale with his episodic film Nachtgestalten; which was followed by Die Polizistin (2000) and the completely improvised tragicomedy Halbe Treppe (2001), for which he received the Silver Bear at the Berlinale and other prizes. With one million cinema-goers, Sommer vorm Balkon (2005) is his biggest audience success to date. Wolke 9 (2007), an improvised drama about love and sexuality at old age, won various prizes, including the jury prize of the Coup de Coeur in the "Un Certain Regard” section of the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Dresen portrayed the film business in his comedy Whisky with Vodka (2009), and was awarded the prize for best director at the Karlovy Vary Festival. Halt auf freier Strecke (2011), an improvised film about a dying family father, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was awarded the main prize of the "Un Certain Regard" section and 4 German film awards (Best Film - Gold, Best Director, etc.). Dresen took part in the Berlinale for the third time in 2015, with his film adaptation of Clemens Meyer's young adult novel ALS WIR TRÄUMTEN and made his successful and multi-award-winning debut as a children's film director in 2016 with TIMM THALER ODER DAS VERKAUFTE LACHEN. In 2018, GUNDERMANN, the portrait of the East German excavator driver and rock musician, became an overwhelming success with audiences and the press and won 6 German Film Awards (Best Film - Gold, Best Director, among others). RABIYE KURNAZ VS. GEORGE W. BUSH, about a Turkish mother's struggle against the arbitrary arrest of her son, was Dresen's fourth competition entry to the Berlinale in 2022 and won the awards for Best Leading Role and Best Screenplay. The production also received 4 German Film Awards.

Dresen also makes documentaries and, in addition to cinema, has worked continuously in theatre since the mid-90s. In 2006, he premiered his debut as opera director with Mozart's Don Giovanni in Basel, followed by Le Nozze di Figaro at the Potsdam Schlosstheater in 2011, ARABELLA by Richard Strauss in 2015 and La Fanciulla del West by Giacomo Puccini at the Bavarian State Opera in 2019.

Andreas Dresen was a lay judge at the Constitutional Court in the state of Brandenburg from 2012-2022. Together with the actor Alexander Scheer, he regularly tours in a band that performs songs by Gerhard Gundermann. Dresen teaches at various film academies in Germany and abroad. His new film about the life of resistance fighter Hilde Coppi is currently in the final stages of production.

1992               Stilles Land
1999               Nachtgestalten
2000               Die Polizistin
2001               Halbe Treppe
2002               Herr Wichmann von der CDU (Dokumentarfilm)
2005               Sommer vorm Balkon
2007               Wolke 9
2008               Whisky mit Wodka
2011               Halt auf freier Strecke
2014               Als wir träumten
2016               Timm Thaler oder das verkaufte Lachen
2018               Gundermann
2021               Rabiye Kurnaz gegen George W. Bush
2023               In Liebe, eure Hilde