Rainer Matsutani is one of Germany’s most ­successful film and TV directors. Rainer ­directed his first feature film OVER MY DEAD BODY, a campy fantasy comedy, in 1995, while he was still in film school. The film went on to win numerous awards at festivals, and achieved cult status among fans.

In 1996, he filmed an episode of the science-fiction mini-series LEXX – THE DARK ZONE (Episode: EATING PATTERN) for US Pay TV channel SHOWTIME. Rainer stayed true to the genre of fantasy films by directing THE ELEVATOR – SUPERNATURAL ENCOUNTER (1997/RTL) and FIREWALKER – CURSE OF THE VOLCANO (1998/ProSieben). Afterwards, he directed Germany’s first martial arts TV movie ULTIMATE FIGHTER (1999, ­ProSieben). His suspense thriller TRICKED (Sat1) became the most successful TV movie of 2000. He scored a theatrical hit with ­another fantasy comedy: 666 – SLEEPING WITH THE DEVIL. Between 2003 and 2005, with the thriller-­trilogy THE VOICES, UNFAITHFUL and ONCE YOU WERE SILENT, he created one of the biggest rating hits for RTL. The two Tatort episodes THE ETERNAL EVIL and LETHAL COVER round out his body of work in the thriller genre. 

These projects were followed by large event films for television, with RAGING INFERNO  (2007/ProSieben), THE FINAL PROCLAMATION (2008/RTL), FACTOR 8 (2009/Pro­Sieben) and WILD LAND (2013/Sat1). In between, ­Matsutani worked in the theatrical field again, with GANGS (2009) and 205 – ROOM OF FEAR (2012). As a regular director on the crime series SOKO STUTTGART (ZDF) since 2010 and DR. KLEIN since 2014, he has gained a wealth of experience in the field of episodic television. From 1994 to 2004 he was a co-owner and pro­ducer at Engram Pictures, which has since merged with Constantin Film. On ­almost all of his projects, Matsutani was also writer or co-writer.