---
name: "Uta Briesewitz"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/uta-briesewitz"
fi1m_id: "uta-briesewitz"
imdb_id: "nm0003802"
tmdb_id: 51853
wikidata_id: "Q109355"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "1 September 1967"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 12
average_fi1m_score: 77
average_as: "director"
average_over: 11
updated: "2026-10-01T00:04:00.036812+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Uta Briesewitz

## Identity

Uta Briesewitz

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/uta-briesewitz
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** uta-briesewitz
- **IMDb ID:** nm0003802
- **TMDB ID:** 51853
- **Wikidata ID:** Q109355
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uta_Briesewitz, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109355, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003802/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/51853

Director. Born 1 September 1967 in Leverkusen, Germany.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 1 September 1967, Leverkusen, Germany
- **Active:** 2002–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 12: 11 directing, 1 crew
- **Frequently works with:** [Ernest Dickerson](https://film.one/person/ernest-r-dickerson.md), [Julie Anne Robinson](https://film.one/person/julie-anne-robinson.md), [Tricia Brock](https://film.one/person/tricia-brock.md), [Adam Bernstein](https://film.one/person/adam-bernstein.md), [Allie Grant](https://film.one/person/allie-grant.md), [Amanda Marsalis](https://film.one/person/amanda-marsalis.md), [Anthony Hemingway](https://film.one/person/anthony-hemingway.md), [Clark Johnson](https://film.one/person/clark-johnson.md)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 77, as director, over 11 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2000s 83 (2), 2010s 77 (7), 2020s 78 (3)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 78 to 79 across 10 titles
- **Score spread:** 4 at 80+, 7 at 60–79, 0 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 8, Sci-Fi & Fantasy 4, Comedy 3, Crime 3, Mystery 3, Action & Adventure 1
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uta_Briesewitz, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q109355, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0003802/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/51853

## Streaming the US now

- **Netflix:** [*Black Mirror*](https://film.one/tv/black-mirror.md) (81), [*Orange Is the New Black*](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md) (79), [*Stranger Things*](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md) (77), [*Suburgatory*](https://film.one/tv/suburgatory.md) (70)
- **HBO Max:** [*The Wire*](https://film.one/tv/the-wire.md) (90), [*The Deuce*](https://film.one/tv/the-deuce.md) (84), [*The Pitt*](https://film.one/tv/the-pitt.md) (81)
- **Apple TV:** [*Severance*](https://film.one/tv/severance.md) (86)
- **Disney+:** [*This Is Us*](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md) (76)
- **Paramount+:** [*Weeds*](https://film.one/tv/weeds.md) (76)
- **Hulu:** [*Fellow Travelers*](https://film.one/tv/fellow-travelers.md) (68)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Uta Briesewitz

> Uta Briesewitz is a director we rate for her handling of actors under pressure and busy ensembles. Her cinematography background matters, but the strongest reason to follow her is the attention she gives to people.

The staff in *The Pitt* (2025) have an exhausting job, and the series makes us care who is doing it. We warmed to the staff because Noah Wyle and Katherine LaNasa make them good company without making the job look easy. Briesewitz is one of its directors, and emotionally demanding ensemble scenes are a particular strength of hers. We would not credit her alone with what the programme gets right, or blame her for its awkward opening and underwritten supporting characters. But this is the sort of television in which her attention to actors has a clear purpose.

Before directing, she worked with David Simon as a cinematographer on 29 episodes of *The Wire* (2002). She moved into directing around 2009–2011, beginning with episodes of *Hung*. Lighting and composition remain important to her approach, but her treatment of intimate scenes is just as telling: she concentrates on the characters' feelings rather than the spectacle. That is a useful set of priorities for ensemble television, where a scene needs to make us care about the person speaking before moving on to somebody else.

*Stranger Things* (2016) requires a distinction: our strongest praise was for the first eight episodes, while her contribution came later. She directed two episodes of the third series in 2019. We found the programme's increasing scale less consistently rewarding, though that is a judgement on the later runs, not on her instalments alone. She had a different responsibility on *The Wheel of Time* (2021), directing the first two episodes and helping establish its tone. Managing fantasy on that scale is a skill, though we remain more interested in what she does with the cast.

*American Sweatshop* (2025), a thriller about content moderation, marks her feature debut as director. We would look to that move for a fuller sense of how she sustains a story, rather than assume that a feature automatically matters more than her television work. Start with *The Pitt* for Wyle and LaNasa, and give the opening time to settle.

## Biography

Uta Briesewitz is a German cinematographer and television director. Born in Leverkusen, she trained at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin and later received an MFA in cinematography from the American Film Institute.

She began her career as a cinematographer, working on series including *The Wire* (2002–2004). She has since directed episodes of *Black Mirror* (2011), *Stranger Things* (2016), *Severance* (2022) and *The Pitt* (2025), among many others. Her first feature film as director, *American Sweatshop*, was released in 2025.

*Sources: imdb.com, en.wikipedia.org.*

## On Fi1m (12)

### Directed (11) — the average rests on these

- *The Pitt* (2025), Fi1m 81, Director, Co-Executive Producer — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-pitt.md)
- *Fellow Travelers* (2023), Fi1m 68, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/fellow-travelers.md)
- *Severance* (2022), Fi1m 86, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/severance.md)
- *The Deuce* (2017), Fi1m 84, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-deuce.md)
- *Stranger Things* (2016), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md)
- *This Is Us* (2016), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md)
- *Westworld* (2016), Fi1m 74, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), Fi1m 79, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *Black Mirror* (2011), Fi1m 81, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/black-mirror.md)
- *Suburgatory* (2011), Fi1m 70, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/suburgatory.md)
- *Weeds* (2005), Fi1m 76, Director — [page](https://film.one/tv/weeds.md)

### Crew (1)

- *The Wire* (2002), Fi1m 90, Director of Photography, Cinematography — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wire.md)

## Complete filmography (54)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *All's Fair* (2025), series, Director
- *American Sweatshop* (2025), Director, Producer
- *The Pitt* (2025), series, Director, Co-Executive Producer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-pitt.md)
- *Fellow Travelers* (2023), series, Director — Fi1m 68, [page](https://film.one/tv/fellow-travelers.md)
- *The Old Man* (2022), series, Director
- *Severance* (2022), series, Director — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/tv/severance.md)
- *The Wheel of Time* (2021), series, Executive Producer, Director
- *CSI: Vegas* (2021), series, Director, Executive Producer
- *Here and Now* (2018), series, Director
- *Altered Carbon* (2018), series, Director
- *Salvage* (2018), Director
- *The Deuce* (2017), series, Director — Fi1m 84, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-deuce.md)
- *Marvel's The Defenders* (2017), series, Director
- *Marvel's Iron Fist* (2017), series, Director
- *Westworld* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/westworld-2016.md)
- *Lethal Weapon* (2016), series, Director
- *This Is Us* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/this-is-us.md)
- *Stranger Things* (2016), series, Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/tv/stranger-things.md)
- *Marvel's Jessica Jones* (2015), series, Director
- *Agent X* (2015), series, Director
- *Freaks of Nature* (2015), Director of Photography
- *Fear the Walking Dead* (2015), series, Director
- *UnREAL* (2015), series, Director
- *Mad Dogs* (2015), series, Director
- *Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce* (2014), series, Director
- *Jane the Virgin* (2014), series, Director
- *The 100* (2014), series, Director
- *Black Sails* (2014), series, Director
- *Orange Is the New Black* (2013), series, Director — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/tv/orange-is-the-new-black.md)
- *House of Lies* (2012), series, Director
- *Black Mirror* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/tv/black-mirror.md)
- *Suburgatory* (2011), series, Director — Fi1m 70, [page](https://film.one/tv/suburgatory.md)
- *Awkward.* (2011), series, Director
- *Arthur* (2011), Director of Photography
- *Vanishing on 7th Street* (2010), Director of Photography
- *Hung* (2009), series, Director, Director of Photography
- *Washingtonienne* (2009), Director of Photography
- *In Treatment* (2008), series, Director
- *Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story* (2007), Director of Photography
- *John from Cincinnati* (2007), series, Director of Photography
- *The TV Set* (2007), Director of Photography
- *Life Support* (2007), Director of Photography
- *Thief* (2006), series, Director of Photography
- *Weeds* (2005), series, Director — Fi1m 76, [page](https://film.one/tv/weeds.md)
- *Homeless to Harvard: The Liz Murray Story* (2003), Director of Photography
- *The Wire* (2002), series, Director of Photography — Fi1m 90, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-wire.md)
- *The Scoundrel's Wife* (2002), Director of Photography
- *XX/XY* (2002), Director of Photography
- *Session 9* (2001), Director of Photography
- *Seven and a Match* (2001), Director of Photography
- *Next Stop Wonderland* (1998), Director of Photography
- *Getting Personal* (1998), Director of Photography
- *A Guy Walks Into a Bar* (1997), Camera Operator
- *Bear Wars*, Director of Photography

## Awards

### Other awards — 2 won

- Kodak Vision Award 2007: Kodak Vision Award (won)
- Women in Film Honors 2007: Women in Film Honors (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/uta-briesewitz