Biography
Viviane Andereggen was born in 1985 in Zurich, Switzerland, and grew up in Hungary and Switzerland. From 2007 to 2010 she studied Postindustrial Design at the Basel School of Art and Design (FHNW) and Media Studies and Ethnology at the University of Basel. While still a student, she began working as a freelance photographer and worked for the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel, Credit Suisse and Swisscom. As a video artist she participated in performances at the Maxim-Gorki-Theater in Berlin, the Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, the Schauspiel Frankfurt and the Theater Basel.
From 2010 to 2012 Andereggen studied film at the Hochschule für bildende Künste Hamburg (HFBK), where Wim Wenders was one of her professors. Afterwards she studied directing at the Hamburg Media School (HMS) until 2015. There she realised several, partly award-winning short films. "Habib und der Hund" (2013) was awarded an audience prize at the Student Film Festival in Auckland, New Zealand. Her 22-minute HMS graduation film "Schuld um Schuld" ("Burden's Weight", 2014) also won the Audience Award at Studio Hamburg's Young Talent Award; it also won prizes at festivals in Monterrey (Mexico) and Barcelona (Spain).
Viviane Andereggen made her feature-length debut with the coming-of-age comedy "Simon sagt auf Wiedersehen zu seiner Vorhaut" ("Time to say Goodbye", 2015, TV) about a 12-year-old Jewish boy (Maximilian Ehrenreich) who wants to be circumcised out of love for a rabbi. The film received very good reviews and was awarded the "Nachwuchs-Regiepreis" at the German Director's Award Metropolis. Afterwards Andereggen realised the episode "Hattinger und der Nebel" of the series "Ein Chiemseekrimi" (2016, TV), which received less favourable reviews. The dramedy "Kein Herz für Inder" (2017, TV), about a stressed-out family that is reunited by a shrewd Indian-British exchange student, received much better reviews.
Viviane Andereggen had a great success with "Rufmord" ("Defamed", 2018, TV), about a small-town teacher (Rosalie Thomass) who becomes the victim of a brutal cyberbullying campaign. The haunting drama received excellent reviews and was awarded the main prize of the expert jury and the audience prize at the Deutsches Fernsehkrimifestival 2019; the film was also nominated for the Grimme Prize and the German Television Prize in 2019.
Lighter fare was Viviane Andereggen's first feature film: "Die drei !!!" ("Three !!!", 2019), based on the youth book and radio play series of the same name, about three unequal girlfriends who solve tricky criminal cases.