Thomas Heise was born in Berlin, capital of the German Democratic Republic, in 1955. After school he trained as a printer. After his military service in the East German armed forces he began to work as an assistant director at the DEFA - Studio for Feature Films in Potsdam Babelsberg in 1975. Between 1978 and 1983 Heise studied at the Academy of Film & Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg (HFF/B). His first film, the documentary Wozu denn über diese Leute einen Film/Why a Film About These People - produced entirely with materials bought on the black market - was banned from public screening. Since 1983 he has worked as a free-lance writer and director in the areas of theatre, audio drama and documentary. Until the end of the GDR all his documentary efforts were however either blocked by what was – in official jargon – called 'operative means' or destroyed or confiscated.