Feo Aladag is an Austrian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

screenwriter A screenplay writer (also called screenwriter, scriptwriter, scribe or scenarist) is a writer who practices the craft of screenwriting, writing screenplays on which mass media, such as films, television programs and video games, are based. ...

, producer, and

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...

best known for her film ''

When We Leave ''When We Leave'' (german: Die Fremde, tr, Ayrılık) is a 2010 German-Turkish drama film, produced, written and directed by Austrian filmmaker Feo Aladag. The film received worldwide acclaim, and represented Aladag's debut as a producer, wri ...

'', which won the 2010

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by TriBeCa Productions, Tribeca Productions. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive progra ...

Early life and acting

Aladag was born as Feodora Schenk in 1972; She later married fellow director

Züli Aladağ Züli Aladağ (born 2 January 1968, Van, Turkey) is a German film director, film producer, and screenwriter. He is of Kurdish and Turkish descent. Biography Aladağ immigrated to Germany in 1973 and grew up in Stuttgart. After a short theatre ...

. She began her film career as an actress, completing her training in London and Vienna from 1990–1995. While studying acting she also completed a masters in Psychology and Journalism, continuing on to receive her Doctorate of Philosophy in 2000. She acted in numerous film and television productions while attending master-classes and directing seminars at the

European Film Academy The European Film Academy is an initiative of a group of European filmmakers who came together in Berlin on the occasion of the first presentation of the European Film Awards in November 1988. The Academy—under the name of European Cinema Soc ...

and the German Film and Television Academy. During this time she also maintained a career as a successful scriptwriter and commercial film director; directing various spots for

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

and writing scripts for the German television series

Tatort ''Tatort'' ("Crime scene") is a German language police procedural television series that has been running continuously since 1970 with some 30 feature-length episodes per year, which makes it the longest-running German TV drama. Developed by ...

''When We Leave''

Aladag's directorial debut ''

'' had its world premiere at the

60th Berlin International Film Festival The 60th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 11 to 21 February 2010, with Werner Herzog as President of the Jury. The opening film of the festival was Chinese director Wang Quan'an's romantic drama ''Apart Together'', in comp ...

in 2010, where it won the Europa Cinema Label Award. It went on to win the World Narrative Feature Competition at the 2010

, as well as the

German Film Award The German Film Award (), also known as Lola after its prize statuette, is the national film award of Germany. It is presented at an annual ceremony honouring cinematic achievements in the German film industry. Besides being the most important ...

for Best Actress for

Sibel Kekilli Sibel Kekilli (born 16 June 1980) is a German actress. She gained public attention after starring in the 2004 film '' Head-On''. She won two Lolas, the most prestigious German film awards, for her performances in ''Head-On'' and ''When We Leave ...

, and the for Best Film in Bronze. The film's festival run included several international film festivals, where it won some "best of" and audience awards at festivals like the

São Paulo International Film Festival The São Paulo International Film Festival ( pt, Mostra Internacional de Cinema de São Paulo), also known internationally as Mostra, is an annual film festival held in the city of São Paulo, Brazil. A non-profit event, the festival is organized ...

, the Fort Lauderdale Film Festival and the Angers European First Film Festival in France. ''

'' was selected as the German entry for the

Best Foreign Language Film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...

at the 83rd Academy Awards, but didn't make the final shortlist.

''Inbetween Worlds''

In June 2013, Independent Artists wrapped their new feature film ''

Inbetween Worlds ''Inbetween Worlds'' (german: Zwischen Welten) is a 2014 German drama film produced, written and directed by Feo Aladag. The film tells the story of a friendship between the German soldier Jesper and his young Afghan interpreter Tarik. Both men ...

'', which was secretly filmed on location in the region of

Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...

and

Kunduz , native_name_lang = prs , other_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = Kunduz River valley.jpg , imagesize = 300 , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_ ...

in Afghanistan. ''Inbetween Worlds'' had its premiere at the competition section of the 64th Berlin International Film Festival in 2014 and was nominated for the German Directors Award Metropolis and the VGF Producers Newcomers Award in 2014.

Independent Artists Filmproduction

In 2005 Aladag founded Independent Artists Filmproduktion. Based in Berlin, Germany, Independent Artists was the production company behind ''

'' and ''

'', as well as Aladag's upcoming projects.

References

External links

*
Independent Artists, Feo Aladag's Berlin-Based Production Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aladag, Feo 1972 births Living people Austrian film actresses Austrian film directors Austrian television actresses Austrian women film directors