Martin Eigler, born in Cologne, in 1964, studied German literature, theatre studies, and philosophy in Berlin and worked as a freelance TV journalist before he enrolled in director"s class at Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb). During his studies, Eigler already took internships at Hamburg"s Deutsches Schauspielhaus and at Berlin"s Schiller Theater and worked as an assistant director for Dominik Graf and Matthias Glasner. After several short films such as "Gute Nacht, Christine" and "5 Minuten Ikarus", Eigler graduated from dffb with his first feature-length film, "Freunde" ("Trust Me"). Leading actor Benno Fürmann won the Bavarina film prize for his performance in "Freunde" ("Trust Me"). In the meantime, Martin Eigler directed three episodes of the ARD series "Der Fahnder" as well as the successful "Tatort" episodes "Gewaltfieber" (for SWR) and "Schützlinge" (for WDR). Together with writer Sven Posner, Eigler developed the TV series "Solo für Schwarz" and directed two episodes of this thriller series: "Tod im Park" (2003) and "Tod im See" (2005). In 2006, Martin Eigler directed the "Tatort" episode "Blutdiamanten".