Biography
Jens Pfeifer was born in Hagen in 1976, studied ethnology and law in Hamburg and after his diploma took up his directing studies at the University of Television and Film in Munich. After graduating in 2009, he directed two television documentaries and at the same time started work on his first theatrical release: "Phoenix in der Asche" ("No Ashes, No Phoenix"), a feature-length documentary about the struggle of basketball club Phoenix Hagen to hold its ground in the first league, opened in Germany in November 2011. At the renowned Slamdance Film Festival in Utah (USA) "Phoenix in der Asche" won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary in 2012.
For television, Pfeifer realised the reportages "Umzug! - Von Null auf Hundert" (2013), about a 23-year-old student who unexpectedly becomes a father, and "Playlist Europa: Ist die EU gut für mich?" (2014). In 2018 he began working on his next documentary film: "Spider Murphy Gang - Glory Days of Rock 'n' Roll" portrays and accompanies the Bavarian cult band. After its premiere at the Munich Film Festival in 2019, the film was released in cinemas in July 2019.