Harald Bergmann was born in Celle in 1963. He first studied literature and philosophy in Munich, before enrolling in the film class at the California Institute of Arts in Los Angeles. As a filmmaker, Bergmann centered his work around the life and work of German poet Friedrich Hölderlin, and within ten years, he shot four radically different films about the artist: While "Das untergehende Vaterland" (1992) and "Hölderlin Comics" (1994) employ experimental forms of collage, "Scardanelli" (2000) uses a traditional narrative to portray Hölderlin"s later years. Adding another layer, the documentary "Passion Hölderlin" (2003) has Höderlin scholars speaking about their lasting fascination for the poet.

With "Brinkmanns Zorn" (2006), Bergmann continued his unique series of literary adaptations: The film focuses on the life and work of the late avant-garde poet Rolf Dieter Brinkmann, using original audio and film recordings from the author's estate. 2007 saw the DVD release of a nearly six-hours-long director's cut of "Brinkmanns Zorn", and in 2009, Bergmann won a Grimme Award for his film.

In 2012, he exhibited his film installation "HIN – Hölderlins Archive" in Halle an der Saale and also published a DVD edition of his films on the German poet. Bergmann's next theatrical release was "Der Schmetterlingsjäger - 37 Karteikarten zu Nabokov", a film essay on Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov.