Nicolette Krebitz

From the Anarchy of Bandits to Total Control

Nicolette Krebitz was born in Berlin in 1972 and began working in front of the camera before turning ten. But her name didn't truly break out until 1997 with the release of Bandits. That film, about a group of female prisoners who form a rock band, was a phenomenon in Germany and sold more than 700,000 copies of its soundtrack.

She herself co-wrote some of the songs and played drums.

The industry didn't know where to place her. After that musical explosion, she chose to move away from commercial labels and look for her own voice in directing. In 2001, she directed her first feature film, Jeans. It was a risky bet that blended reality and fiction in a style reminiscent of the direct cinema of the 1970s. But it wasn't until 2007 that international critics took her seriously as an author thanks to The Heart is a Dark Forest.

Animal Desire and Control of the Image

In 2016, she premiered her most radical work at the Sundance Film Festival. It's Wild. The film tells the story of a woman who develops an obsessive relationship with a real wolf in an urban setting. Krebitz avoided digital effects and chose to shoot with a real animal to capture a tension that couldn't be faked in post-production.

And the gamble paid off.

That project won the Best Film Bronze at the German Film Awards. But Krebitz never gave up acting. In 2019, she appeared in All My Loving under the direction of Edward Berger. Her acting style shuns artifice and favors silence over grand dramatic monologues (a direct legacy of her dance training).

Maturity After the Alphabet of Love

In 2022, she premiered in the official selection of the Berlinale with A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love. This time she explored the relationship between a veteran actress and a young man who steals her purse. The film stands out for its very specific use of color and a narrative that moves away from the moral judgments common in European romantic cinema.

For her, cinema is a tool for sensory exploration.

During the filming of this movie in 2021, 35mm cameras were used to achieve an organic texture. The production had a budget of 3.5 million euros, and the final edit was locked after twelve weeks of technical work in the studio.