The Award of the City of Hof 2020 goes to Axel Ranisch

AWARD OF THE CITY OF HOF 2020 for Axel Ranisch

This year, the City of Hof and the 54^th Hof International Film Festival 2020 pay tribute to a jack-of-all-trades, a particularly versatile film artist who, with his many facets, is active both in front of and behind the camera. His acting performances show versatility, are full of surprises and his directorial work juggles with reality and loss of reality.

The Award of the City of Hof, which is not endowed with prize money, is one of the special awards in German film. Since 1986, the Award of the City of Hof has been given to a personality who has been an important source of inspiration for German film and is associated with the film festival in the city on the River Saale.

Axel Ranisch, born in Berlin in 1983, made his first short film in 2002, even before he finished school. After several dozen short films made between 2002 and 2010, of which DER WILL NUR SPIELEN! (2008) and GLIOBLASTOM (2008) were shown on television, his big breakthrough followed with DICKE MÄDCHEN, which was celebrated as the audience and industry favorite at the festival in 2011.

This was followed by a shared directorial work with fellow directors Julia von Heinz, Chris Kraus, Robert Thalheim and Tom Tykwer about their joint mentor and university professor Rosa von Praunheim, the documentary film ROSA’S CHILDREN (2012). With the tragicomedies ICH FÜHL MICH DISCO (2013) and ALKI ALKI (2015), Ranisch consolidated his position as an exceptional director and author, followed by the films AMILIE LOTZMANN AUF DEN BARRIKADEN (2016), the two crime scenes BABBELDASCH (2016) and WALDLUST (2017), followed by several episodes of the series LÖWENZAHN. In addition to his work as a director, Axel Ranisch is also active as an actor. He has already presented six of his films in Hof.