Sylke Enders

Biography

Sylke Enders, born April 5, 1965 in Brandenburg, first worked with dance, theater and amateur film groups and studied sociology from 1983 to 1987. In 1996 she began studying directing at the Berlin Film and Television Academy (dffb).

After directing four short films, she made her feature film debut with "Kroko" (2003), an intelligent and heartwarming portrait of an extremely aggressive young Berliner, which won the German Film Award in Silver. She also worked with lead actress Franziska Jünger, a medical assistant and amateur actress whom Enders discovered for her film, on her second feature film "Hab' mich lieb" ("Love Me!", 2004), which explores a complicated friendship, and on "Schlitten auf schwarzem Schnee" (2005). At the end of 2007, Sylke Enders completed the drama "Mondkalb", starring Juliane Köhler and Axel Prahl.

After contributing to the omnibus film "Deutschland 09 - 13 kurze Filme zur Lage der Nation" ("Germany 09: 13 Short Films About the State of the Nation", 2009), Enders directed two television dramas: "Geliebtes Kind" (2012) portrayed Anica Dobra as a perfectionist mother struggling with the (slight) physical disability of her 16-year-old daughter (Mathilde Bundschuh). In "Du bist dran" ("It's Your Turn", 2013), Enders examined modern relationship models and told the story of a stay-at-home father (Lars Eidinger) who realizes that he has neglected his own personal and professional needs.

Both films were praised by critics for their intelligent scripts and sensitive direction. In 2014, Sylke Enders presented her next feature film "Schönefeld Boulevard", which follows a teenager from a Berlin suburb who is frustrated with life and finally gains a new perspective through her acquaintance with a Finnish airport engineer.

At the Lünen Film Festival, Enders was awarded the "Perle", a prize for women in the film industry, for this film.

She then directed the highly acclaimed tragicomedy "Zwei verlorene Schafe" (2016) for television, about an unsuccessful actress who reluctantly becomes a coach for a pastor who suffers from stage fright before preaching. In the same year, she directed five episodes of the cult series "Lindenstraße". In 2018 and 2019, Enders taught at the Institute for Acting, Film and Television Professions, where she led several short seminar projects with students.

In the fall/winter of 2019, Enders shot the film "Pia Piano," which she wrote about the special and close friendship between a 23-year-old woman, allegedly a victim of drugging and rape, and the 12-year-old girl who was found unconscious in the woods. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the premiere was delayed and "Pia Piano" premiered at the Hofer Filmtage film festival in October 2022.

The following year, Enders' next film premiered at the Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern: "Schlamassel," a tragicomedy about a newspaper intern who tracks down a former concentration camp guard and sets off an unforeseen chain of events. The film was released in September 2023.