---
name: "Maren Ade"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/maren-ade"
fi1m_id: "maren-ade"
imdb_id: "nm0011752"
tmdb_id: 40476
wikidata_id: "Q91508"
roles: ["Producer","Director"]
born: "12 December 1976"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 5
average_fi1m_score: 72
average_as: "producer"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-03T02:37:28.120894+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Maren Ade

## Identity

Maren Ade

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/maren-ade
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** maren-ade
- **IMDb ID:** nm0011752
- **TMDB ID:** 40476
- **Wikidata ID:** Q91508
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maren_Ade, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q91508, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0011752/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40476

Producer and director. Born 12 December 1976 in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany [now Germany].

## Details

- **Work:** Producer, Director
- **Born:** 12 December 1976, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany [now Germany]
- **Active:** 2016–present
- **Titles on Fi1m:** 5: 1 directing, 4 producing
- **Berlin International Film Festival:** 1 Berlin prize (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 72, as producer, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 2010s 86 (1), 2020s 72 (4)
- **Fi1m against the critics:** 72 to 74 across 4 titles
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Genres:** Drama 4, History 2, Comedy 1, Music 1
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $53m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maren_Ade, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q91508, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0011752/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/40476

## Fi1m on Maren Ade

> Maren Ade makes embarrassment funny without dismissing the person who wants it to stop. We rate her highly for taking both sides of an awkward encounter seriously, even when she lets it run too long.

A father tries to get through to his adult daughter by embarrassing her, though she has work to do and would prefer another approach. In *Toni Erdmann* (2016), Ade makes both of them understandable. We laughed, then felt for the daughter, because the father's concern does not make his behaviour any less selfish. Ade lets that discomfort persist without telling us which of them needs correcting. It is a funny, warm film that takes the daughter's objections seriously.

Her feature work begins with *The Forest for the Trees* (2003), followed by the relationship drama *Everyone Else* (2009). Across these films and *Toni Erdmann*, she writes as well as directs, returning to the roles people adopt with those closest to them. The wider international attention that came with *Toni Erdmann* did not require her to abandon those concerns. She also produces, working with Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach through Komplizen Film.

In *Toni Erdmann*, her screenplay avoids the easy assumption that the unconventional parent understands life better than the disciplined child. The daughter's professional pressures have weight; the job is not simply there to explain why she needs rescuing. Sandra Hüller and Peter Simonischek make these awkward encounters hurt without losing the humour, so that affection remains visible even when the behaviour is hard to bear. Ade does not have to stop for a lecture about family because their competing demands are clear.

That willingness to stay with embarrassment is also where we occasionally lose patience with her. A few exchanges in *Toni Erdmann* continue after the discomfort has told us enough, and their extra length adds little. Yet the film's generosity is worth the wait: the father can be worried about his daughter and still owe her better behaviour. Start with *Toni Erdmann* for the actors, and stay with it for the daughter's right to find her father exhausting.

## Biography

Maren Ade is a German film director, screenwriter and producer. She was born on 12 December 1976 in Karlsruhe and studied film direction at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), graduating in 2004. In 2001 she co-founded the production company Komplizen Film with Janine Jackowski.

Ade’s feature films include *The Forest for the Trees* (2003), *Everyone Else* (2009) and *Toni Erdmann* (2016), on which she also served as screenwriter and producer. *Toni Erdmann* premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

She has produced films by other directors, including *Tabu* (2012). Ade is married to director Ulrich Köhler.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (5)

### Directed (1)

- *Toni Erdmann* (2016), Fi1m 86, Screenplay, Producer, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/toni-erdmann.md)

### Produced (4) — the average rests on these

- *Sentimental Value* (2025), Fi1m 79, Co-Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/sentimental-value.md)
- *Maria* (2024), Fi1m 57, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/maria.md)
- *Corsage* (2022), Fi1m 81, Co-Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/corsage.md)
- *Spencer* (2021), Fi1m 73, Producer — [page](https://film.one/film/spencer.md)

## Complete filmography (45)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *The Girl with the Leica* (2026), Producer
- *The Dreamed Adventure* (2026), Producer
- *Ach, diese Lücke, diese entsetzliche Lücke* (2026), Producer
- *Yes* (2025), Co-Producer
- *Sentimental Value* (2025), Co-Producer — Fi1m 79, [page](https://film.one/film/sentimental-value.md)
- *Delicious* (2025), Producer
- *Maria* (2024), Producer — Fi1m 57, [page](https://film.one/film/maria.md)
- *About Dry Grasses* (2023), Co-Producer
- *When Will It Be Again Like It Never Was Before* (2023), Producer
- *You Will Not Have My Hate* (2022), Producer
- *Corsage* (2022), Co-Producer — Fi1m 81, [page](https://film.one/film/corsage.md)
- *A E I O U – A Quick Alphabet of Love* (2022), Producer
- *Spencer* (2021), Producer — Fi1m 73, [page](https://film.one/film/spencer.md)
- *Prince* (2021), Producer
- *The Story of My Wife* (2021), Co-Producer
- *The Fever* (2021), Co-Producer
- *The Girl and the Spider* (2021), Co-Producer
- *Exile* (2020), Producer
- *Giraffe* (2020), Producer
- *The Whistlers* (2019), Co-Producer
- *A Tale of Three Sisters* (2019), Co-Producer
- *O Beautiful Night* (2019), Producer
- *Roads* (2019), Co-Producer
- *Synonyms* (2019), Co-Producer
- *I Do Not Care If We Go Down in History as Barbarians* (2018), Co-Producer
- *In My Room* (2018), Co-Producer
- *Western* (2017), Producer
- *Scarred Hearts* (2016), Co-Producer
- *Toni Erdmann* (2016), Producer, Director, Screenplay — Fi1m 86, [page](https://film.one/film/toni-erdmann.md)
- *Arabian Nights: Volume 3, The Enchanted One* (2015), Producer
- *Arabian Nights: Volume 2, The Desolate One* (2015), Producer
- *Arabian Nights: Volume 1, The Restless One* (2015), Co-Producer
- *Hedi Schneider Is Stuck* (2015), Producer
- *Redemption* (2013), as Angela Merkel (voice) · Co-Producer
- *Tabu* (2012), Co-Producer
- *Sleeping Sickness* (2011), Producer
- *A Summer Without Gitti* (2010), Director
- *Everyone Else* (2009), Director, Writer, Producer
- *Hotel Very Welcome* (2007), Producer
- *The Forest for the Trees* (2004), Director, Writer
- *Karma Cowboy* (2002), Producer
- *Vegas* (2001), Writer, Director
- *Ebene 9* (2000), Director, Writer
- *Alma*, Co-Producer
- *Magic Word*, Director

## Gallery

- ![Winners from 2025 Cannes Film Festival after awards ceremony](https://film.one/media/person/124718/gallery-1a4e1cfddd49.jpg) Winners from 2025 Cannes Film Festival after awards ceremony — Jennifer 8. Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2b/Cannes_2025_Award_Winners_Tighter_Shot.jpg/1280px-Cannes_2025_Award_Winners_Tighter_Shot.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Cannes 2025 Award Winners Wide Shot on Stage](https://film.one/media/person/124718/gallery-c428722bce2b.jpg) Cannes 2025 Award Winners Wide Shot on Stage — Jennifer 8. Lee, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Cannes_2025_Award_Winners_Wide_Shot_on_Stage.jpg/1280px-Cannes_2025_Award_Winners_Wide_Shot_on_Stage.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Maren Ade at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/124718/gallery-b623fbbbc9ee.jpg) Film director Maren Ade at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/22/Maren_Ade-5109.jpg/1280px-Maren_Ade-5109.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Maren Ade](https://film.one/media/person/124718/gallery-0bba982e261a.jpg) Maren Ade — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/Maren_Ade-5132.jpg/1280px-Maren_Ade-5132.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Film director Maren Ade at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival](https://film.one/media/person/124718/gallery-d4e2a869da76.jpg) Film director Maren Ade at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival — Harald Krichel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d1/Maren_Ade-5132_%28cropped%29.jpg/1280px-Maren_Ade-5132_%28cropped%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)

## Awards

### Berlin International Film Festival — 1 won

- 2014: Berliner Kunstpreis (won)

### Other awards — 4 won, 2 nominated

- European Film Award for Best Film 2022: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated), for *Corsage*
- European Film Award for Best Director 2016: European Film Award for Best Director (won), for *Toni Erdmann*
- European Film Award for Best Film 2016: European Film Award for Best Film (won), for *Toni Erdmann*
- European Film Award for Best Screenwriter 2016: European Film Award for Best Screenwriter (won), for *Toni Erdmann*
- European University Film Award 2016: European University Film Award (nominated), for *Toni Erdmann*
- Herbert Strate Award 2016: Herbert Strate Award (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/maren-ade