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Kai Wessel, born September 19, 1961, in Hamburg, already made his first experience with the film business at the age of 14 as an actor in Ottokar Runze's film "Das Messer im Rücken" ("Knife in the Back ", 1975).
From 1983 on, he produced the newsreel "Hamburger Wochenschau" that was shown in Hamburg's arthouse cinemas. Wessel made his debut as a director in 1988 with the socio-critical drama "Martha Jellneck" that won a nomination for the German film award. Besides occasional productions for the movie screen like the family movie "Das Sommeralbum" ("The Summer Album", 1991), the children's detective story "Die Spur der roten Fässer" ("The Trace of the Red Barrels", 1995/96), or the humorous teen movie "Das Jahr der ersten Küsse" ("First Kiss", 2002), Wessel mainly works for TV productions.
During his career, he directed numerous award-winning TV productions, including the 12-part TV series "Klemperer– Ein Leben in Deutschland" (1999) about the life of the Jewish intellectual in Nazi Germany, the Hitler farce "Goebbels und Geduldig" ("Goebbels & Geduldig", 2001), starring Ulrich Mühe, or the psychological drama "Leben wäre schön", starring Dagmar Manzel, that won two Grimme awards for "Best director" and "Best leading actress", among other awards.
In 2006, Wessel caused a stir with the highly praised TV crime film "Das Geheimnis im Moor", as well as with the controversially discussed two-part TV movie "Die Flucht" ("March of Millions") about the escape of German citizens from East Prussia during World War II. In early 2009, Kai Wessel who also works as a theatre director in Hamburg finally returned to the movie screen. "Hilde", Wessel's biopic about the life of Hildegard Knef, with Heike Makatsch in the title role, premiered at the 2009 Berlinale.Despite mixed reviews, "Hilde" received four nominations at the German Film Awards. Despite mixed reviews, "Hilde" received four nominations at the German Film Awards.
Wessel's next TV projects, the tragicomedy "Alles Liebe" (2009) starring Hannelore Elsner and the drama "Es war einer von uns" (2010), were well received. Following "Mord in Ludwigslust" (2012, TV) and "Lena Fauch und die Tochter des Amokläufers" (2012, TV), he helmed the TV miniseries "Zeit der Helden" (2013), which won the German Television Award and the Grimme Award.
Shortly afterwards, Wessel received an award by the Deutsche Akademie für Fernsehen for his direction of "Mörderische Hitze" (2014), an episode of the TV series "Spreewaldkrimi". After helming the 2015 TV productions "Frau Roggenschaubs Reise" and "Pampa Blues", Wessel returned to the big screen with "Nebel im August" (DE/AT 2016), which relates the true story of teenage boy Ernst Lossa, who fell victim to the Nazis' murderous euthanasia program. The film garnered several accolades, including a Bavarian Film Award for Best Director, before being released theatrically in September 2016. At the German directing award Metropolis 2017, Wessel won in the category Best Director Feature Film.
In the next few years, he again realized several television dramas. For example, the highly acclaimed "Spreewaldkrimi" episode "Zwischen Tod und Leben" (2017) and the dystopian drama "Aufbruch ins Ungewisse" ("Break-Out to the Unknown", 2017), set in the late 2020s. The thriller six-parter "Die verlorene Tochter" (2019) received mixed reviews, followed by the "Spreewaldkrimi" episode "Totentanz" (2021) and the very positively received "Tatort" episode "Saras Geständnis" (2022) with the Freiburg investigator duo Tobler & Berg (Eva Löbau and Hans-Jochen Wagner).
In parallel, Wessel realized the documentary feature "Cicero - Zwei Leben, eine Bühne" ("Cicero") a tribute to the exceptional musicians Eugen Cicero and Roger Cicero, starting in 2018. After a screening at the Hofer Filmtage 2020, the film was released in cinemas in March 2022.