Joachim Lang was born in 1959 in Spraitbach. He studied German and History in Heidelberg and Stuttgart. From 1986, he worked at SWR as an editor, director, and writer. In 1991, he conceived the highly acclaimed ARD series "Das war einmal. Die Zeitgeistrevue mit Alfred Adabei," for which he also directed. Lang also worked in France, on the documentary series "Un siècle des écrivains."

In 1996, Joachim Lang developed the highly successful children's show "Tigerenten Club," for which he received the Bavarian TV Award in 2006. Additionally, he wrote the screenplay for the docudrama "Jud Süß - Ein Film als Verbrechen?" (2001, TV), starring Axel Milberg as Veit Harlan. As a director and writer, he made several films, including the documentary "Da wo ich bin ist Panama. Die Lebensreise des Herrn Janosch" (2011, TV) and the docudrama "George" (2013) about the life of actor Heinrich George and his career during the Nazi era. For this film, Lang, along with Jan George and Götz George (who portrayed his father Heinrich in the film), received a German Television Award in the Special Achievement category. Besides his own projects, Lang, as an editor at SWR, was responsible for several ambitious documentary films, such as "Butoh - Schritte zwischen Himmel und Erde," "Majubs Reise" (2013), and "Dancing Beyond..." (2015).

A central theme in Lang's work has always been his intensive engagement with Bertolt Brecht. On the occasion of the poet's 100th birthday in 1998, he created the five-part documentary "Denken heißt verändern" for ARD and Arte. For Brecht's 50th death anniversary in 2006, he made the documentary "Brecht - Die Kunst zu leben" (2006, TV) and worked with Claus Peymann on the Brecht Gala "Ungeheuer oben!" at the Berliner Ensemble. His 2006 doctoral thesis also focused on Brecht: "Episches Theater als Film: Bühnenstücke Bertolt Brechts in den audiovisuellen Medien." Furthermore, Lang was the Artistic Director of the renowned "Brechtfestival" in Augsburg from 2010 to 2016. Joachim Lang's first feature film also centered on Bertolt Brecht: "Mackie Messer - Brechts Dreigroschenfilm" ("Mack the Knife – Brecht's Threepenny Film", DE/BE 2018) deals with Brecht's failed attempt to film "The Threepenny Opera" in 1928.

In the following years, Lang, as a producer and editor, was involved in documentaries by other directors, including Andreas Ammer's "Die Kunst findet nicht im Saale statt! Der Plakatkünstler Klaus Staeck" (2019) and "Dance Around the World" (2019), Oliver Kracht's "Trümmermädchen - Die Geschichte der Charlotte Schumann" ("Germany Year Zero", 2021), and "Mein fremdes Land" ("My Strange Homeland",  2021) by Johannes Preuss and Marius Brüning.

At the Munich Film Festival 2024, Joachim Lang presented his next film: "Führer und Verführer" ("Führer and Seducer", DE/CZ), about the Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.