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Jonas Rothlaender, born on November 5, 1982 in Lübeck, made his first own short films after graduating from school and gained further practical experience as an assistant director on other productions. In 2007, he began studying directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). During his studies he realized several short films. His short film "Das Hemd" ("The Shirt", 2010) was included in the short film program "Next Generation Short Tiger" and screened at the film festivals in Cannes, Buenos Aires and Chicago, among others.
Rothlaender also made his first feature-length film while still a student with the documentary "Familie Haben" ("Familiar Circles", 2014), a very personal portrait of his family, which has been marked by deep discord for three generations. The film premiered at the 2015 Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival and received the Jury Prize at the Festival Univerciné Allemand in Nantes, France, in late 2015.
Rothlaender's next project, the feature film and jealousy drama "Fado" (DE/PT 2016), set in Lisbon, also premiered at the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival in January 2016. There, Rothlaender received the Film Award for Best Director. The film also won the Director's Award at the Achtung Berlin film festival and the Best Feature Film Award at the Sehsüchte student film festival in Potsdam-Babelsberg. "Fado" was released in German cinemas in August 2016. In February 2017, "Fado" received the award for Best Feature Film Debut at the German Film Critics Award.
In 2016, Jonas Rothlaender produced the radio feature "Imported Husbands", a documentary portrait of men who moved to Finland for love. Two years later, he realized (also for SWR 2) his first, nearly 80-minute radio play: "Satomis Geheimnis" (2018), a story set between Germany and Japan, about the attempts to revive an early love. Rothlaender came up with the idea during a fellowship at the Goethe-Institut's Villa Kamogawa in Kyōto.
Also in 2018, Jonas Rothlaender began work on his next feature-length project: for the documentary "Das starke Geschlecht - Männer reden über Sex" ("The Strong Sex"), he confronted different men with other men's statements about their sexual borderline experiences - whereby the interview partners are to take a look at their own image of women and sexuality. The film premiered at the Munich Film Festival 2021 and was released in theaters in May 2022.