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Arne Birkenstock, born on December 7, 1967, in Siegen, studied economics, politics, history and roman languages and literature in Cologne, Buenos Aires and Córdoba, Argentina. While still a student, he already made TV documentaries for German television stations, including the award-winning "Man sieht ja mit den Ohren - Über den Fußballwahnsinns samstags im Radio".
Arne Birkenstock gave his directorial debut in 2005 with "12 Tangos - Adios Buenos Aires", about a popular tango club in Buenos Aires. In the following years, he directed various, often award-winning cinema documentaries, including "Chandani und ihr Elefant" (German Film Award for Best Children's Film 2011), "Sound Of Heimat" (together with Jan Tengeler; German Record Critics' Award 2014), "Beltracchi – The Art of Forgery" (German Film Award for Best Documentary 2014) and "Schlagerland" (TV, nominated for the Austrian Romy Award 2017).
As a producer, Birkenstock has worked with directors such as Uli Gaulke, André Hörmann, André Krummel, Lena Leonhardt, Florian Opitz, Milo Rau, Yasemin Şamdereli, Enrique Sánchez Lansch, Regina Schilling, Michael Schmitt and Pablo Ben Yakov. In addition to cinema documentaries, Birkenstock and his production company Fruitmarket have also launched transmedia projects and acclaimed documentary series such as "Capital B. Who owns Berlin?" (2023) and "Till Murder Do us Part - Söring vs Haysom" (2023).
The cinema documentaries "Pol Pot Dancing" (2024) and "Stasi FC" (DE/GB 2023), which Birkenstock also co-directed and which was released in March 2025, were the last Fruitmarket productions, as Birkenstock had to close his company in 2025 for health reasons.
In addition to his work as a filmmaker, Birkenstock was a member of the board of the German Film Academy, the AG Dokumentarfilm and the advisory board of German Films. He also taught at film schools and in international training programs and has been a member of various funding, festival and film award juries. He published several non-fiction books and academic studies. Birkenstock also wrote books on tango and Latin American music and was an accordionist in the Cologne dialect band "Schmackes", which was founded in 2005.
Arne Birkenstock died November 28, 2025, age 57.