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Regina Schilling was born in Cologne on October 27, 1962. She studied literature and education in Cologne and then worked as a press officer at the publishing house Kiepenheuer & Witsch. In 1997 she began working as a freelance journalist and documentary filmmaker. Together with Corinna Belz, she made "Der junge Mann und sein Buch" (1999), a TV reportage about the writer Benjamin Lebert, and the documentary "Leben nach Microsoft" (2001), about young, partly burnt-out Microsoft billionaires who are looking for new goals in life despite their wealth.
In addition, Schilling has been co-responsible for the program of the lit.COLOGNE International Literature Festival from the very beginning, i.e. since 2001, and has written several books for young people: "Fanny und Pepsi" (2000), "Fanny & Pepsi - alles wird gut" (2001), "Ich bin nicht Du" (2003) and "Mach's gut Herr Wurst!" (2009)
Her documentary "Bierbichler," a portrait of actor Josef Bierbichler, premiered at the 2007 Hof Film Festival and also received a theatrical release shortly before its television broadcast (the latter in a shorter version). For "Geschlossene Gesellschaft" (2011), a TV documentary about the abuse cases at the Hessian reform boarding school 'Odenwaldschule', Schilling was awarded a Grimme Prize together with her co-director Luzia Schmid. "Titos Brille" ("Tito's Glasses", 2014), about the unusual life of actress, author and director Adriana Altaras, also received very positive reviews and won awards at several festivals.
Schilling's documentary "Kulenkampffs Schuhe" ("Kulenkampff's Shoes", 2018, TV) attracted a lot of attention. Based on her own family history, in it she illuminated the lives of prominent television entertainers of the postwar period, especially Hans-Joachim Kulenkampff, Hans Rosenthal and Peter Alexander, who were shaped in very different ways by the Nazi era (Rosenthal, for example, was Jewish). "Kulenkampffs Schuhe" received excellent reviews, was a ratings success and was awarded the 3sat Documentary Film Prize, the German Television Prize 2019 and the Grimme Prize 2019.
In May 2019, Regina Schilling began filming "Igor Levit - No Fear," a cinematic portrait of the unconventional and feisty star pianist Igor Levit. The film was released in German cinemas in fall 2022.