German film industry mourns pioneer Regina Ziegler

In a statement released by the company, it said: “With great shock and deep sadness, we must announce that Regina Ziegler died this morning, November 1st.” The company praised her as an “exceptional personality who shaped the German film and television landscape for decades.”

Regina Ziegler was born on March 8, 1944, in Quedlinburg, and received numerous awards throughout her more than 50-year career. Just a few weeks ago, she was present at the Frankfurt Book Fair alongside writer Jenny Erpenbeck and director Volker Schlöndorff, where the film adaptation of the novel “Heimsuchung - Eine Jahrhundertgeschichte” (Visitation - A Century History) received the Frankfurt Book Fair Prize for the best adaptation in 2026.

Ziegler collaborated with renowned directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder (“Kamikaze 1989”) and Ulrich Schamoni (“Chapeau Claque”) and also produced films by her second husband, director Wolf Gremm (“Fabian”). Her successful television productions include “Weissensee,” “Familie Bundschuh,” and “Kommissarin Heller.”

The grande dame of the industry received several lifetime achievement awards on multiple occasions, including in 2012, 2016, and 2018. In 2024, she was also honored with the German Entrepreneur Award. “The award encourages me to continue,” she said at the time.

Ziegler began her career in a male-dominated industry and founded her own production company in 1973 with only 60 Deutschmark in start-up capital. She described her beginnings in her autobiography “Geht nicht, gibt’s nicht” (2017) as difficult. “I always wanted to be the first and the best,” she said.

In addition to her production work, Ziegler, together with her daughter Tanja, fulfilled the wish to take over the Berlin cinema “filmkunst 66” in 2011. “In the end, a producer is responsible for everything. If something goes wrong, the producer is to blame. If it’s a success, then it was always someone else,” she said with a wink.

“Her passion for stories, her tireless commitment to film, and her courage will always remain in our memory,” read a statement from Tanja Ziegler and the Ziegler Team regarding the death of the producer.