Alexa Karolinski
{{short description|German filmmaker (born 1984)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2020}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alexa Karolinski
| image = Grimmepreis 2014 011.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Karolinski at 2014 Grimme-Preis
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1984}}
| birth_place = West Berlin, West Germany
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality = German
| other_names =
| occupation = Filmmaker
| known_for =
}}
Alexa Karolinski (born 1984) is a German writer, director and producer whose work includes music videos, commercials, film and television. She is the creator of the television drama Unorthodox (2020).{{cite web|last1=Wiseman|first1=Andres|title=Netflix begins original Series'Unorthodox'|date=21 May 2019 |url=https://deadline.com/2019/05/netflix-unorthodox-german-original-deutschland83-1202619674/ |access-date=22 February 2020}}
Filmmaking career
Alexa received an MFA in Social Documentary Film from The School of Visual Arts, NYC where Karolinski’s break-out film, was her thesis work 'Oma & Bella', which is a documentary about her grandmother (“Oma”) and her grandmother’s best friend (“Bella”), two women with very different personalities united by their shared trauma of Nazi persecution. The film follows the two survivors as they go about their daily routines of cooking, arguing, and discussing their experiences. The film premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, and won Karolinski the prestigious Grimme Prize.{{cite web|last1=GRIMME|title=Preisträger - Grimme Preis|url=http://www.grimme-preis.de/archiv/2014/preistraeger/p/d/alexa-karolinski/}}
Karolinski’s second feature documentary, Lebenszeichen (Signs of Life), was an essay film about the different ways Jews and gentiles in Germany ritualize their historical burden. It was released in 2018 to great critical acclaim. Der Spiegel, called it “the German-Jewish work of its generation.”{{cite news|last1=Wolff|first1=Fabian|title=Das grosse Warum|newspaper=Der Spiegel |date=17 August 2018 |url=https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/lebenszeichen-juedischsein-in-berlin-das-grosse-warum-filmkritik-a-00000000-0002-0001-0000-000158955216}}
Starting in 2013, Karolinski started her long-running collaboration with the fashion brand Eckhaus Latta. The videos she produced and directed for the LA-based brand have been shown at the Museum of Art and Design,{{cite web|last1=Duncan|first1=Fiona|title=Get to know the alien-shaped future of Eckhaus Latta|date=2 July 2014 |url=http://www.dazeddigital.com/fashion/article/20609/1/get-to-know-the-alien-shaped-future-of-eckhaus-latta}} MOCA Los Angeles,{{cite web|last1=Manning|first1=Emily|title=eckhaus latta to premiere 'pigeon' at moca|url=https://i-d.co/article/eckhaus-latta-to-premiere-pigeon-at-moca/}} MoMA PS1, as well as Galerie Isabella Bortlozzi,{{cite web|last1=Thadeus-Johns|first1=Josie|title=Eckhaus Latta: There Is No Target Group|url=http://www.sleek-mag.com/2015/07/30/eckhaus-latta-there-is-no-target-group/}} in Berlin.
In 2016, Karolinski started her ongoing art-video collaboration with writer/artist Ingo Niermann for their film [https://www.artforum.com/film/eliel-jones-on-alexa-karolinski-and-ingo-niermann-s-army-of-love-81428 Army of Love]. It premiered at the Berlin Biennale and has since been included in exhibitions at the Centre Pompidou, MACBA, Castello di Rivoli, as well as CCCB and the Wiesbaden Biennale.
Their second installment of the series, [https://mubi.com/de/films/ocean-of-love OCEANO DE AMOR], was part of a three month exhibition Auto Italia gallery in London,{{Cite web|url=https://www.artforum.com/film/eliel-jones-on-alexa-karolinski-and-ingo-niermann-s-army-of-love-81428|title=Eliel Jones on Alexa Karolinski and Ingo Niermann's Army of Love|website=www.artforum.com|access-date=21 April 2020}} and had its world premiere at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in March 2020 and played on [https://mubi.com/de/films/ocean-of-love MUBI] in 2021.
In 2017, Karolinski directed the film Fashion at War: Crafting the Nazi Brand{{cite web|last1=M2M|first1=Condé Naste|title=Fashion at War: Crafting the Nazi Brand|url= https://m2m.tv/watch/fashion-at-war-crafting-the-nazi-brand/films|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180308062515/https://m2m.tv/watch/fashion-at-war-crafting-the-nazi-brand/films|url-status= usurped|archive-date= 8 March 2018}} for Condé Nast's M2M about Hugo Boss his involvement in making Nazi uniforms.
Karolinski and Anna Winger served as co-creators and co-writers of the miniseries Unorthodox, which debuted on March 26, 2020 and is Netflix's first ever [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/25/arts/television/unorthodox-review-netflix.html Yiddish show].
Cookbook
As an accompaniment to her film Oma & Bella, Karolinski wrote a cookbook with the same name that has sold out of its 3rd edition.{{Cite web|url=https://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/in-cookbook-and-a-film-food-as-a-touchstone/|title=In Cookbook and a Film, Food as a Touchstone|first=Elaine|last=Sciolino|date=1 November 2012|access-date=21 April 2020}}{{cite web|last1=Cottrell|first1=Claire|title=Alexa Karolinski|url=http://www.freundevonfreunden.com/interviews/alexa-karolinski/|website=Freunde von Freunden|date=July 2014 |access-date=13 October 2014}} The cookbook was released along with the film.{{cite web|last1=Small|first1=Tim|title=Everything They Cook Takes Five Hours: An Interview with Director Alexa Karolinski|url=http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/03/28/everything-they-cook-takes-five-hours-an-interview-with-director-alexa-karolinski/|website=the Paris Review|date=28 March 2013 |access-date=13 October 2014}}
Early life
Karolinski was born to a Canadian mother and German father in West Berlin. She grew up in the city’s small, recovering Jewish community. She now lives between Berlin and Los Angeles.
References
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Category:German women film directors
Category:Mass media people from Berlin
Category:School of Visual Arts alumni
Category:German documentary filmmakers
Category:20th-century German Jews
Category:Film people from Los Angeles