Edgar Hagen was born in 1958 in Basel. He works for more than 30 years as an independent documentary filmmaker. Before he worked at the end of high school as an independent journalist, studied philosophy and German literature in Basel, changed in 1981 to West-Berlin, continued his studies at Free University of Berlin, graduated in 1987 with an MA in philosophy about Nietzsche and Schopenhauer (“Pity and Power”). After some work in the independent theater in Germany he is since 1989 an author and director of independent documentaries. He pursues in his films from the beginning to break down believes on fundamental human values. He follows in his films his philosophical, psychological and social interests. Edgar is besides his filmmaking engaged since 2008 as well in film policy work, first on the board of Balimage (2008-2010) then as a board member of the Swiss Directors and Screenwriters Association (2010-2018). He teached film at art schools (HGK Basel) and a film school (HSLU Lucerne), mentored many younger filmmakers and was from 2013-2022 Head of Directing Documentaries at Focal, the Swiss foundation for professional training in cinema and audiovisual media. In 2016 he founded the fimproduction company Vollbild Film Ltd in Basel, since 2018 together with Mathias Hefel as managing director and since 2020 also with Gudula Meinzolt as associate producer. With both he is cooperating in projects as well as in training programs for many years.
