Caroline Link | |
|---|---|
 Link (2020) | |
| Born | (1964-06-02)2 June 1964 (age 61) |
| Occupations | Film director Screenwriter |
Caroline Link (born 2 June 1964) is a German TV andfilm director andscreenwriter.[1]
She is best known for directing critically acclaimedBeyond Silence, which was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film,[2] and for directingNowhere in Africa, which won anAcademy Award for Best International Feature Film[3] and was nominated for aGolden Globe Award.[4][5]
Caroline Link is the daughter of Jürgen and Ilse Link. From 1986 to 1990 she studied at theUniversity of Television and Film Munich (HFF), and then worked as an assistant director and script writer.
Link's early work includes the short filmBunte Blumen, from 1988. She was a co-director on the documentary filmDas Glück zum Anfassen (1989). For Bavaria Film, she wrote two screenplays to the detective seriesDer Fahnder (The Investigators).
Caroline Link grew up in a small town outside of Frankfurt, Germany in 1968. Despite her family giving her a strong moral compass, they were a "non intellectual and non artistic family." Link first became interested in pursuing filmmaking after being a nanny in America, when she came back to Germany she was working on set as an extra and engaged with a camera man. She thought it would be an interesting profession, she recognized that being a camera women was going to be hard but after studying what they did on set as an extra she was able to get herself an internship in the film industry. Link enjoyed working in the film industry but wanted the ability to create and express her politics.[6][7]
Link's first feature film,Jenseits der Stille (Beyond Silence, 1996) was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film,[8] and attracted attention for its portrayal of a family with deaf parents.[9] Her second feature film wasAnnaluise and Anton (1999), based on a novel byErich Kästner. Her third feature film,Nirgendwo in Afrika (Nowhere in Africa, 2001), adapted by Link from theautobiographical novel byStefanie Zweig and shot on location inKenya,[10] received theAcademy Award for Best Foreign Language Film as well winning theGerman Film Award (Deutscher Filmpreis) in five categories, includingBest Fiction Film.
Beyond Silence was Link's first break through, was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and brought her global recognition. Beyond Silence illustrates the struggles of the main character Lara, a child of deaf adults (CODA), among communicating with her deaf parents Martin and Kai. Link uses the theme of silence in her story as an allegory for censorship, generational trauma and oppression in the heart of Germany society. " This isn’t really a movie about deafness,Beyond Silence. It’s about deafness on the surface, of course, but the emotional substance is about communication in a family. I always try to speak about a universal emotion that most viewers will know and understand. So withBeyond Silence, I knew I wanted to make a movie about a father and a daughter – a daughter who loves her father very much but who feels drawn to a completely different world. This I knew from my own life, and this is what I wanted to write about before I knew I’d make a movie about a deaf family."[11]
“Women tend to worry a lot about their perception. We want to be nice people. But it’s not always possible to be calm, sweet and understanding when you are in a leading position or if you really try to get something that you need for your creative idea. I had to learn, that it is ok for a woman to WANT something, to be the boss and to sometimes even be aggressive”.
Link lives with her partner, the film director Dominik Graf, and their daughter, who was born in 2002.
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | Bunte Blumen | ||
| 1989 | Glück zum Anfassen | ||
| 1990 | Sommertage | ||
| 1996 | Beyond Silence | Director | [12][13] |
| 1999 | Annaluise & Anton | Director | |
| 2001 | Nowhere in Africa | Director | |
| 2008 | A Year Ago in Winter | Director | [14] |
| 2013 | Exit Marrakech | Director | [15] |
| 2018 | All About Me | Director | |
| 2019 | When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit | Director | [16] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Der Fahnder | ||
| 1992 | Kalle der Träumer |
| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | German Film Award | Most Popular German Film Of The Year | All About Me | Won | [17][18] |
| 2003 | Golden Globe Awards | Best Foreign Language Film | Nowhere in Africa | Nominated | [4] |
| 2002 | Academy Awards | Best International Feature Film | Won | [3] | |
| 1998 | Bavarian Film Award | Best Young People's Film | Won | [19] | |
| 1997 | Academy Awards | Best International Feature Film | Beyond Silence | Nominated | [2] |
| 1997 | Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix | Won | |||
| 1996 | Bavarian Film Award | Best New Director | Won | [19] |
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