Maren Ade (German:[ˈmaːʁənˈʔaːdə]; born 12 December 1976) is a German
film director, screenwriter and producer. Ade lives in Berlin, teaching screenwriting at the
Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in
Ludwigsburg. Together with Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, she runs the production company Komplizen Film. She is best known for her film
Toni Erdmann, which was nominated for an
Academy Award.
Early life and education
Ade was born in
Karlsruhe, West Germany. As a teenager, she directed her first short films.[1]
In 1998, she began studying film production and media management, and later film direction at the
University of Television and Film (HFF) in Munich,[2] which she successfully completed in 2004.[1]
Career
In 2001, Ade co-founded the film production company Komplizen Film together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF.[2] It was with Komplizen Film that she produced her final student film The Forest for the Trees at HFF in 2003. Among other honors, the film received the Special Jury Award at the
Sundance Film Festival in 2005. The Forest for the Trees was screened at a large number of international festivals.
In 2012, Ade announced she would be writing and directing a film called Toni Erdmann about a man who begins to play pranks on his adult daughter after he finds she has become too serious.[3] The film debuted In Competition at the
2016 Cannes Film Festival, the first German film to debut there in 10 years.[4] The film won the top prize at the
European Film Awards (Best European Film), thus making Ade the first woman to direct a movie that won the top prize at those awards.[5]
In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Ade signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the
2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.[7][8][9]
Abel, Marco (2013). "Maren Ade: Filming between Sincerity and Irony". The Counter-cinema of the Berlin School. Boydell & Brewer. pp. 249–273.
ISBN978-1-57113-438-7.