Joachim Hasler was born in Berlin on April 28th 1929. He was trained in the Agfa film laboratories in Wolfen and went on to work as an assistant cameraman for the DEFA production company. There he teamed up with renowned DOPs like Reimar Kuntze and Bruno Mondi, and later pursued his own career as a cinematographer. His most important works as DOP include the visually stunning dramas "Die Unbesiegbaren" (1953) and "Kein Hüsung" (1954) as well as the Science Fiction film "Der schweigende Stern".

When director Artur Pohl was severely injured in an accident and had to drop out of the production of the feature film "Spielbank Affäre" (1957), Hasler took over his duties as (uncredited) director. This marked the beginning of his second career, during which Hasler helmed ambitious projects like "Der Tod hat ein Gesicht" (1961) and "Nebel" (1963), which impressed with their visual style. From the mid-1960s on, he tried himself at more popular fare in form of highly successful musical comedies, including the teen movie "Heißer Sommer" (1968), which starred GDR pop artists Frank Schöbel and Chris Doerk and became a cult classic. Hasler later enjoyed a critical success with "Meine Stunde Null" (1970), a comic look at the turbulent times after the end of WWII.

After a string of unsuccessful films, Hasler retired from filmmaking in 1984. In January 1995, he passed away in Berlin at the age of 65.