Franziska Buch (born 15 November 1960 in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

) is a German

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 ...

and

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. ...

. In her work she concentrates on issues that deal with childhood and youth. The main topic in almost all of her movies is family and its difficulty shown out from children's perspectives. Franziska Buch is mainly known for the movie ''

Emil and the Detectives ''Emil and the Detectives'' () is a 1929 novel set mainly in Berlin, by the German writer Erich Kästner and illustrated by Walter Trier. It was Kästner's first major success and the only one of his pre-1945 works to escape Nazi censorship. The ...

'' (2001). In addition, she teaches Scriptwriting at the Film Academy in Ludwigsburg since 1996. She is also the principal of the screen-play at film academy of Baden-Württemberg since 2002.http://www.filmportal.de/person/franziska-buch_f9054a1911774ca49f981e978a7e37a1 , www.filmportal.de.

Career

''Early career –1999''

After studying

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

German philology German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

at Stuttgart University as well as at Rome University Franziska Buch graduates with an M.A. In 1986 she moved on to the

University of Television and Film Munich The University of Television and Film Munich (German: Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München, short: HFF Munich) is a publicly funded film school in Munich, Germany. The school was established in 1966 by decree of the Bavarian government. T ...

. She started with the short feature film ''Die Ordnung der Dinge'' (The order of things), for which she won the European Short Film Award in Berlin 1987. One year after Buch directed a 45-minute feature film ''Tod eines Idioten'' (Death of a fool) that was co-produced with the Bavarian Television. Her graduation film ''Die ungewisse Lage des Paradieses'' (The uncertain situation of paradise) is a children's film that shows a girl escaping from reality into a bizarre dreamworld. It was shown in cinemas in 1993 and is to be seen as her debut feature film. Since 1991, Buch has worked as a freelance author and director. From 1993–1994, Buch was a fellowship-holder at the Screenplay Workshop Munich. She wrote several screenplays for the TV crime series ''O.K.'' (1993/1994, Bavaria Film) and ''Faust'' (1994/1995, ZDF). At the same time, she completed the 45-minute TV film essay on the life and work of Else Lasker-Schueler, ''Mein Herz – Niemandem'' (1994).

''1999–2004''

Finally she manages the breakthrough with ''Verschwinde von hier'' (Disappear out of here) in 1999. The film is about a young man caring affectionately about his partner's son because he is neglected by his mother. The film won the Max-Ophuels Prize in the category "Best Movie" 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 the best screenplay in 2000. In her further children's and family's movies she continues focussing on the issue of family that is often described from the children's perspectives: The literature filmings of

Erich Kästner Emil Erich Kästner (; 23 February 1899 – 29 July 1974) was a German writer, poet, screenwriter and satirist, known primarily for his humorous, socially astute poems and for children's books including '' Emil and the Detectives''. He received ...

's ''

'' (2001) and ' (2002) as well as the comedy ''Unsere Mutter ist halt anders'' (2003) (Our Mother is just different) were published. Her commercially most successful movie so far ' (2004) counts 1,3 million spectators and was awarded as the Best film at Chicago International Children's Film Festival.

''2004-today''

In spite of her success with cinema feature films, Franziska Buch shifts her focus to television in the following years. She directs high-quality children, youth and family films such as ''Heimliche Liebe – Der Schüler und die Postbotin'' (2005) (Secret Love: The Schoolboy and the Mailwoman) about a boy that falls in love with an older woman while he is on holiday and ' (2008) about two single parents and their attempt to found a family with their kids. Buch's next cinema feature ' was published in 2010. Similarly to her debut film ''Die ungewisse Lage des Paradieses'' (1992) the story is about a girl handling with her problems and fears by escaping into a fantasy world. This is followed by '' Adieu Paris'' (2012), a film showing rather adult topics and problems. Several completely different people meet in the metropolis Paris and start to structure their lives in a new way.

Filmography

;Director * 1987: ''Die Ordnung der Dinge'' (''The Order of Things'') * 1994: ''Mein Herz – Niemandem'' (''My Heart – Nobody'') * 2003: ''Unsere Mutter ist halt anders'' (''Our Mother is just different'') * 2003/2004: ' * 2007: ''Angsthasen'' (''Fearful Hares'') * 2009/2010: ' * 2010: ''Rosannas Tochter'' (''Rosanna's Daughter'') * 2011–2013: '' Adieu Paris'' ;Director and Writer * 1988: ''Tod eines Idioten'' (''Death of a Fool'') * 1991/1992: ''Die ungewisse Lage des Paradieses'' (''The Uncertain Situation of Paradise'') * 1999: ''Verschwinde von hier!'' (''Disappear out of here'') * 2000/2001: ''

'' * 2010/2011: ' ;Writer * 1993/1994: ''O.K.'' * 1994/1995: ''Faust'' * 1996: ''Kinder der Straße'' (''Children of the Street'') * 1996: ''Babyraub'' * 2002: ' * 2007: ' ;Producer 2011/2012: ''Im Alleingang – Die Stunde der Krähen'' (''In Single-handedly – The Crows' Hour'')

Awards and nominations

Awards * 1999: Producers' Award for the Best Feature Film Production (Verschwinde von hier) * 2000: Max-Ophuels Prize for the Best Film (Verschwinde von hier) * 2000:

German Television Award The Deutscher Fernsehpreis (''German Television Award'') is an annual German award for television programming, created in 1999 by German television channels Das Erste, ZDF, RTL and Sat.1. It was created to be an equivalent to the Emmy Awards, tho ...

for the Best Screenplay (Verschwinde von hier) * 2001: Bavarian Film Award for the Best Screenplay (

) * 2002: Bavarian Film Award for the Best Children's Film (The flying classroom) * 2002:

for the Best Children's Film (The flying classroom) * 2004: Chicago International Children's Film Festival in the category Best Film (The flying classroom) Nominations * 2001:

(Emil und die Detektive) * 2004: Adolf Grimme Award (Unsere Mutter ist halt anders)

Bibliography

www.filmportal.dewww.kidlixglobal.com

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Buch, Franziska 1960 births Living people Film people from Stuttgart