Maria Schrader

It all began in 1989 in the kitchen of her ex-boyfriend’s flat, between cleaning plans, free love and a kitchen clock running backwards. Already in this, her first film, RobbyKallePaul (1989), in addition to playing Malu, she also participates as a scriptwriter, as she does so often later. With films like Silent Night (1995), Aimée & Jaguar (1999) and Before Dawn (2016), she became the “godmother of German-Jewish history”. Since Meschugge (1998), she has also repeatedly taken on the role of co-director. With Liebesleben (2007) she finally presents her successful directorial debut. Despite the serious subjects, there is often a subtle humour, a satirical undertone running through her work. (e.g. Am I Beautiful? 1998, I Am Your Human, 2021).

In her work, truthfulness is more important than the glittering show. Time and again, she approaches the very big themes with sensitivity and realises them in an unagitated but uncompromisingly authentic way. This is precisely why, for example, the author Deborah Feldmann entrusts her with her book Unorthodox (2020) and the two journalists Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey with their story surrounding the Weinstein scandal and the birth of the #MeToo movement (She said, 2022).
She can’t do anything with the term “strong women”, saying herself: “When you reduce characters to one buzzword, you make them small.” Maria Schrader certainly cannot be reduced to a single catchword. Actress, author, director and narrator, bank robber (Burning Life, 1992), life-weary single (Keiner liebt mich, 1994), politician loyal to the line (Deutschland 83, 2015) or boarding school headmistress (Hanni und Nanni, 2016) – with diligence, talent and a keen sense for material and characters, she works her way up from the small shared kitchen to the big screens of Hollywood.
In 1992, she received her first award at a film festival – the Max Ophüls Prize for Best Actress. In the following years, she won the Romy, the Bavarian Film Award, the German Film Award and the Silver Bear, among others. Finally, in 2020, she became the first German director ever to win the Emmy for Best Director.

We are very pleased that the Goldener Mops, the prize of the Sparkasse Bremen awarded in cooperation with the Filmfest Bremen, can now join this impressive collection!