Andreas Arnstedt

Andreas Arnstedt is a German actor, director, screenwriter, and producer who has evolved from a series actor to a prominent voice in independent cinema. He first became known to a wide television audience through roles in formats such as Gute Zeiten, schlechte Zeiten (Good Times, Bad Times) and, in particular, as paramedic Kai Norge in the ZDF series Küstenwache (Coast Guard), in which he was a regular cast member for many years. Further appearances in series such as Die Rosenheim-Cops, SOKO 5113, and SOKO Leipzig round out his profile in front of the camera. As a filmmaker, Arnstedt attracted attention with the social drama Die Entbehrlichen (The Disposable). Produced in 2009, the feature film is his directorial debut as writer, director, and producer and tells the story of a boy who tries to hide the death of his father. The film was shown at numerous festivals, won the Best Director Award at the São Paulo International Film Festival, and received the Special Jury Prize at the Max Ophüls Film Festival. Arnstedt thus instantly established himself as a director who tells precise and uncompromising stories about social fault lines and extreme family situations. In 2014, DER KUCKUCK UND DER ESEL (The Cuckoo and the Donkey) followed, another cinema project written and directed by Andreas Arnstedt. The satire about an unsuccessful cabaret artist and his seriously ill father premiered at the Hof Film Festival, where it was honored with the New German Cinema Award. The film combines dark humor with a keen observation of family conflicts, stylistically following on from Die Entbehrlichen. Arnstedt continued his directorial work with the drama Tod auf Raten (also known internationally as Short Term Memory Loss), which was made in 2016, as well as the political comedy Das schaffen wir schon and the later project Vollmond.