Director
Axel Ranisch
Director Axel Ranisch was born in Berlin-Lichtenberg, where he still lives today. Initially devoted entirely to classical music, he went on to direct 80 short films starting in 2002; in addition, Ranisch has also appeared as an actor, writer, film composer, and editor.
From 2004 to 2011, Axel Ranisch studied directing at the Konrad Wolf University of Film in Potsdam-Babelsberg under Rosa von Praunheim, Andreas Kleinert, and Helke Misselwitz. He remains true to his style to this day, making films with a lot of heart, music, and humor, often working on the basis of improvisation.
Since 2002, the director’s films have been screened at countless film festivals and have received numerous awards. Ranisch’s films amuse, move, and polarize. His no-budget graduation film Dicke Mädchen (2011), Ich fühl mich Disco (2013), and Alki Alki (2015), but also his two Ludwigshafen-based TATORT episodes Babbeldasch (2017) and Waldlust (2018), as well as the comedy Familie Lotzmann auf den Barrikaden, for which he received the Grimme Prize in 2019.
From 2004 to 2011, Axel Ranisch studied directing at the Konrad Wolf University of Film in Potsdam-Babelsberg under Rosa von Praunheim, Andreas Kleinert, and Helke Misselwitz. He remains true to his style to this day, making films with a lot of heart, music, and humor, often working on the basis of improvisation.
Since 2002, the director’s films have been screened at countless film festivals and have received numerous awards. Ranisch’s films amuse, move, and polarize. His no-budget graduation film Dicke Mädchen (2011), Ich fühl mich Disco (2013), and Alki Alki (2015), but also his two Ludwigshafen-based TATORT episodes Babbeldasch (2017) and Waldlust (2018), as well as the comedy Familie Lotzmann auf den Barrikaden, for which he received the Grimme Prize in 2019.
In 2011, Axel Ranisch founded the production company “Sehr gute Filme” with his fellow students Dennis Pauls and Anne Baeker, as well as actor Heiko Pinkowski. In 2012, Axel Ranisch worked for the first time at the Bavarian State Opera under Artistic Director Nikolaus Bachler. Since then, he has directed at opera houses in Munich, Hanover, Hildesheim, Stuttgart, Lyon, and Hamburg.
In addition to films for the big screen, Axel also directs for television, writes novels and opera libretti, directs radio plays and stage plays, records podcasts, and appears as an actor.
With the festive gala marking the 75th anniversary of the Komische Oper Berlin and his production of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Saul, he is introducing himself to Berlin audiences as an opera director for the first time.