Happy 44th Birthday, Maren Ade! Born today in 1976, this German screenwriter, producer and film director is also the co-founder of the film production company Komplizen Film.
Born in Karlsruhe, West Germany, Ade, years later a teenager, directed her first short films.
In 1998, Ade began studying film production and media management, and later film direction at the University of Television and Film (HFF) in Munich.
It was two years later with Komplizen Film that Ade produced her final student film. This was with the 2003 German drama film 'Der Wald vor lauter Baumen' ('The Forest for the Trees') at HFF.
The following year, the film went on to play at the 29th Toronto International Film Festival in September 2004. Later that same year, Ade successfully completed her studies at HFF.
Among other notable honors, 'The Forest for the Tress' received the Special Jury Award at the 27th Sundance Film Festival in January 2005. The film then went on to be screened at a large number of international festivals.
Four years later, Ade wrote and directed her second film. This was with the 2009 German romance/drama film 'Alle Anderen' ('Everyone Else').
The film was later celebrated its world premiere in the Official Competition section of the 59th Berlin International Film Festival in February.
There, 'Everyone Else' received the Silver Bear for Best Film (Jury Grand Prix) and the Best Actress Silver Bear for Austrian actress Birgit Minichmayr. 'Everyone Else' was afterwards released in theaters in over eighteen countries.
In 2012, Ade announced that she would be writing and directing a film called 'Toni Erdmann'. It told about a man who begins to play pranks on his adult daughter after he finds she has become too serious.
Four years later, Ade followed up on this by writing, co-producing and directing the film of which she is best known.
This was the 2016 German/Austrian/Monacan/Romanian/French/Swiss drama/comedy-drama film 'Toni Erdmann'.
With a runtime of almost three hours, the film follows Ines Conradi (Sandra Hüller), a hard-working woman who reluctantly agrees to spend time with her estranged father, Winfried (Peter Simonischek, aka Toni Erdmann), when he unexpectedly arrives.
However, as a dirty practical joker, the father does his best to reconnect by pretending to be his daughter's CEO's life coach.
Winfried is loosely based on Ade's own father, who actually likes to put in fake teeth to joke with people.
'Toni Erdmann' premiered In Competition at the 69th Cannes Film Festival in May of that same year.
There, it received the FIPRESCI Prize for Best Film In Competition. The film was also nominated for the Palme d'Or. However, it did not win.
Nonetheless, 'Toni Erdmann' was the favorite of many critics and observers at the festival to win the Palme d'Or. However, Ken Loach's ('Kes') 'I, Daniel Blake' won the Palme d'Or instead.
Cannes called 'Toni Erdmann' "A film gorgeously crafted, made with a fresh and a sensitive approach, that captures the complex relationship between father and daughter and comments on the lunacy of today's world."
'Toni Erdmann' was also the first German film to debut there in a decade.
It was later named the best film of 2016 by the Sight & Sound, as well as other respected cinema magazines. It was the 40th most successful film in the German market that same year.
One year later, 'Toni Erdmann' was nominated for an Oscar. However, it lost to Asghar Farhadi's ('A Separation') 2016 Iranian drama/thriller film 'Forušande' ('The Salesman'). This occurred at the 89th Academy Awards in late February 2017.
According to Ade's personal life, she currently resides in Berlin with her husband, German film director and writer Ulrich Köhler, and their two children. It is here where Ade teaches screenwriting at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg.
Together with German film producers Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, Ade also runs Komplizen Film.
With only three full-length features to her credit, Ade has become a name that counts in today's German cinema.
Ade has been active from 2000–present.
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