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.