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Irene von Alberti was born in Stuttgart in 1963. While pursuing her degree in engineering, she began working as a freelance camera assistant in 1984, contributing to projects such as the television play "Marocain" (1989) by Elfi Mikesch, and directing various music videos. In 1987, she co-founded the video rental store Filmgalerie 451 in Stuttgart with Frieder Schlaich. By 1992, this evolved into a film distribution company and video label (now focused on DVDs). The distribution catalog primarily featured films outside the mainstream, including works by Werner Schroeter, Roland Klick, Monika Treut, Christoph Schlingensief, and Angela Schanelec. Filmgalerie 451 also served as a production company for Alberti’s and Schlaich’s own films.
Irene von Alberti made her directorial debut in 1991 with the short feature "Der Prototyp," which premiered at the International Film Festival Mannheim. Two years later, her short film "Zwischenhalt in Corazón" premiered in competition at Oberhausen. In 1995, after three years of collaboration, she and Frieder Schlaich completed their first feature-length film, "Paul Bowles – Halbmond" ("Paul Bowles – Halfmoon," 1992–95), an episodic adaptation of short stories by the American cult author. The film received the German Film Critics Award for Best Feature Film. Despite this success, von Alberti focused on film distribution in the following years, occasionally producing films such as Schlaich’s award-winning "Otomo" (1999) and Heinz Emigholz's experimental film "D'Annunzios Höhle" ("D′Annunzio′s Cave," 2002–2005), where she also worked as a cinematographer alongside Emigholz, Elfi Mikesch, and Klaus Wyborny. She returned to directing in 2005 with an episode of the Berlin anthology film "Stadt als Beute" ("Berlin Stories," 2005), produced by Filmgalerie 451.
In 2003, Schlaich and von Alberti moved Filmgalerie 451 to Berlin, strengthening its focus on production. Their projects, often credited to one of them as producer, include Christoph Schlingensief’s "Freakstars 3000" (2003) and "The African Twintowers" (2005–2008), Werner Schroeter’s "Diese Nacht" ("Tonight," FR/PT/DE 2008), and von Alberti’s "Tangerine" (DE/MA 2008), a character and societal study set in Tangier.
Other films produced by Irene von Alberti include Frieder Schlaich’s refugee drama "Weil ich schöner bin" ("Cause I Have the Looks," 2010–2012), Heinz Emigholz’s documentary "The Airstrip" (2011–2014), and Angela Schanelec’s "Der traumhafte Weg" ("The Dreamed Path"). Her next film as a director, "Der lange Sommer der Theorie" ("The Long Summer of Theory," 2017), which expanded on themes from "Stadt als Beute," was also a Filmgalerie production. It premiered at the Munich Film Festival in June 2017 and was released in cinemas that fall.
Irene von Alberti subsequently focused on producing. She played a significant role in the internationally acclaimed and award-winning film "Der Hauptmann" ("The Captain," DE/FR/PL 2017). Other productions included "Schlingensief – In das Schweigen hineinschreien" ("Schlingensief - A Voice that Shook the Silence," 2020), "Schlachthäuser der Moderne" ("Slaughterhouses of Modernity," 2022), and "Seneca" (DE/MA/FR 2023).
In 2024, von Alberti directed her own film again with the gender satire "Die geschützten Männer" ("Protected Men"). It premiered in the Rebels With A Cause Competition at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where it won the Best Film Award. The film was released in German cinemas in December 2024.