Alexandra Sell
Alexandra Sell (born November 26, 1968 in Hamburg ) is a German director , screenwriter and photographer.
Life
Alexandra Sell was born and raised in Hamburg as the daughter of a children's book author and a civil engineer. After graduating from high school, she studied fine art with a focus on photography at the Berlin University of the Arts from 1988 to 1996 and completed her studies as a master student of the photographer Dieter Appelt . With a DAAD scholarship for Great Britain, she studied at Goldsmiths College, London in 1996/1997 and graduated with a Master of Fine Arts .
Her MFA work at Goldsmith marked her entry into cinematic work: The video He smiled at her and she smiled back was selected in 1998 for The New Contemporaries , the award for the best graduates from British art schools. During her art studies, Alexandra Sell worked as a freelance photographer and took part in exhibitions and festivals. In 1998 she began her film studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne , which she completed in 2001 with a diploma in the film / television department.
Works
In Cologne she made her first documentary The Avon Project , a film portrait of three British Avon consultants. The film was made as a co-production by KHM Cologne and FACT Liverpool. Sell developed the film idea after she, commissioned by Avon Cosmetics , had photographed the consultants in 1998. The contact remained, and, balancing between project and friendship, Sell showed in the film The Avon Project insights into the world of life and work of the cosmetics sellers. The Avon project has been shown at international festivals and exhibitions (including Goethe Institute Toulouse, Caixa Forum Barcelona, Foundation for Art and Creative Technology Liverpool).
The documentary film Durchfahrtsland (2005) is Sell's feature film debut, written and directed. For one year she and her team accompanied the protagonists in the world of the foothills. World views and life paths were broken down. The film was produced by Jörg Siepmann and Harry Flöter (2 Piloten Filmproduktion), co-produced by ZDF , Nordmedia , Filmstiftung NRW and the Kuratorium Junger deutscher Film (production). Sell impressed with Durchgangsland at the Festival of German Film 2005 and received the film art award “Special Award”. In 2005 the film Durchfahrtsland received the “Special Prix Europa” in the TV Non-Fiction category. The prize is donated by the European Parliament for the best program from a local or regional TV station or the best low-budget production.
In 2008 Sell moved back to Berlin. In 2010 she began preparing for her feature film debut. For the movie The Beginner, she undertook photographic research into the world of Berlin figure skating, because the focus of the film is a hobby figure skater in her late fifties. Sell took up a motif from The Avon Project ; one of the British protagonists was a passionate hobby figure skater, but had to give up her beloved sport. Sell's working premise and affair of the heart for The Beginner was to tell a story in which fiction gave the possibility of a happy ending. While doing research, Sell met the figure skater Christine Stüber-Errath . A legend in the east, largely unknown in the west, Stüber-Errath is the only Berlin world champion in figure skating. Inspired by interviews with Stüber-Errath, Sell wrote a script in which Stüber-Errath's real biography was interwoven with the fictional plot. The beginner tells the story of a late liberation at original locations in the Sportforum Berlin . Ulrike Krumbiegel plays Dr. Annebärbel Buschhaus, a grumpy doctor who puts on her skates at the age of 58 to look for her childhood dreams on the ice. Annekathrin Bürger plays the ruthless mother Buschhaus'. Sell wrote the role especially for Bürger and the actress worked in an advisory capacity on the development of the story line. Christine Stüber-Errath plays herself in a supporting role.
Filmography (selection)
- 1997: He smiled at her and she smiled back , Video, Goldsmith College London
- 2001: Policeman , video, camera, direction, editing, collaboration with Robert Elfgen,
- 2002: The Avon Project , director, screenplay
- 2005: Durchfahrtsland , speaker, director, screenplay
- 2005: Karger , dramaturgy
- 2017: The beginner , director, screenplay, editor
Awards
- 1996/67 DAAD scholarship for Great Britain
- 1998 Participation in "The New Contemporaries", exhibition and publication of the best theses from British art schools
- 2005: Festival of German Films , Film Art Prize "Special Award"
- 2005: “Special Prix Europa” in the TV Non-Fiction category, sponsored by the European Parliament.
- 2018 Presidents Award Best Director Award for Best Director / The Beginner Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival, Florida, USA
Participation in exhibitions and festivals
- 2005, February 5th: Berlinale with Durchgangsland , international film festival, Berlin / Germany
- 2005, October 8th: Warsaw Film Festival with transit land , Warsaw / Poland
- 2006, March 12th: Worth seeing , the joint film festival of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (organized by the Swiss Embassy, the Austrian Cultural Forum and the Goethe Institute) with transit country , Budapest / Hungary
Web links
- Alexandra sell in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Alexandra Sell at filmportal.de
Individual evidence
- ^ The Avon Project .
- ↑ transit country. In: kobv. Retrieved August 14, 2016 .
- ^ Special Prix Europe. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on December 29, 2017 ; accessed on August 14, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Sell, Alexandra |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German director and screenwriter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 26, 1968 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamburg , Germany |