Bandits

Background:

A German film director who is now based in Los Angeles Katja Von Garnier was shot to prominence with the 55 minute film “Making Up” (1993), from which she won the Ernst-Lubitsch Award, the Bavarian Film Award and a Student Academy Award. The film was a huge commercial success in Germany and subsequently established Von Garnier as a shooting star in the German film industry.

It was “Bandits” (1997), another German hit, however, that brought the director worldwide attention. The film picked up awards at major festivals and basked in a successful theatrical release in 15 countries, including the U.S. She was then listed as one of Variety magazine's “Ten Leading New Independent Directors To Watch” (1998).

After “Bandits,” Von Garnier made her American debut with the HBO television movie “Iron Jawed Angels” (2004), which was about the life of U.S. feminist Alice Paul and the U.S. women's rights movement. Under her direction, Hillary Swank and Anjelica Huston earned a Best Actress Golden Globe nomination and a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe Award, respectively. Her first American made feature film, “Blood and Chocolate,” was released on January 26, 2007, and starred Agnes Bruckner and Hugh Dancy.

Von Garnier and her filmmaker husband, Markus Goller, have one son together (Merlin, born in 2002). Her husband served as a 2nd Unit Director for “Iron Jawed Angels.” Von Garnier became a member of the jury at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival and is good friends with actresses Jasmin Tabatabai and Katja Riemann.

German Immigrant

Childhood and Family:

Katja Von Garnier was born on December 15, 1966, in Wiesbaden, Germany. Her father is Friedrich Ernst Von Garnier, a renowned color designer from whom Katja got a camera as her 15th birthday present. She studied history of art, German philology, and the theory of drama and film at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt from 1985 to 1989. She next attended the Academy for Television and Film (HFF) in Munich, in which she stayed from 1989 to 1994. Katja described her upbringing in Taunusstein, a town near her birth place with about 30,000 inhabitants, “a bit like Pippi Longstocking” with a number of horses and dogs.

Katja is married to director Markus Goller. They have one son named Merlin, who was born in February 2002. His godmother is Katja's good friend, actress Katja Riemann. The family currently resides in Los Angeles.

Making Up

Career:

In 1988, Katja Von Garnier had her first taste of directing with a production of William Shakespeare's “A Midsummer Night's Dream,” while she was still a student at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt. She made her first short film the following year called “Day Trauma/Tagtrauma” and shortly after, the Wiesbaden native went to Munich to study directing. Along with Ewa Karlström, she founded VELA-X-Film Production in 1990 and started making films. Still in 1990, Von Garnier also directed “Noiseless/Lautlos,” a 9 minute short that stirred Hollywood's interest in the nineties.

The next year, Von Garnier directed the light comedy “Making Up” (“Abgeschminkt”), which was made as a student film. The 55 minute long movie was a big hit in Germany and stayed at the top of the German film charts for five months. Subsequently, “Making Up” was sold to 27 countries and became a No. 1 hit in Italy. In addition to being shown at the Berlin 43rd International Film Festival, in which “Making Up” created a sensation, the film was also shown in many other film festivals. For her effort, Von Garnier was handed a 1994 Ernst-Lubitsch for Best Individual Performance in a German Language Film Comedy, a Bavarian Film for Best Young Direction and a Student Academy for Honorary Foreign Film. She quickly emerged as a rising star of the German cinematic industry.

After the success of “Making Up,” Von Garnier was flooded with film offers from the U.S. In 1994, she signed a deal to direct the American production “Moonlight and Valentino,” which starred Whoopi Goldberg and Gwyneth Paltrow. However, when Von Garnier wanted to modify the unfinished script and demanded changes in the casting, the studio became agitated. As a result, she decided to quit the production, despite the fact she had already worked on the film for six months. A short time later, Von Garnier developed plans for what would become her next success.

“The film 'Hair' by Milos Forman has been my absolute number one movie since I was twelve and is still my favorite. Music films are something that have always fascinated me, well, and music anyway. It helps one in getting over bad moods and makes sadness sometimes turn into an event. My next film, namely, the one after 'Making up' was somehow due and I wanted it to be a music film. But it's not only about visually extravagant music. The music is important as an outlet for pent up emotions, for the dramatic creative key note of the movie in whose center the developing friendship of the four women stands. When I wrote the script, I occupied myself a lot with mythology in order to find out what really makes a hero’s story. The characters in our movie had to be greater than life, exactly cinema characters.” Katja Von Garnier

The German musical “Bandits,” which was about four female cons that establish a rock band and break out of prison together, premiered on June 28, 1997, at the Munich Film Festival and was released in German theaters on July 3. The movie received mixed reviews from critics, but became a box office hit in German cinemas, where it peaked at No. 3 on the film charts and nabbed a number of awards, including a Bavarian for Best Music Film. Aside from Germany, “Bandits” also enjoyed a booming theatrical release in 15 other countries, including America, in which it surfaced the next year. Also a festival favorite, in 1999 “Bandits” won Von Garnier an Audience Award for Best Feature at the Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival and a Grand Jury Prize-Feature at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. The same year “Bandits” was launched in Germany, Von Garnier also made a documentary film called “Kix” (1997).

Following a few unrealized projects, in 2004 Von Garnier finally returned to the director's chair with her “Iron Jawed Angels.” Financed by the U.S. cable TV channel HBO and starring Oscar winner Hillary Swank as the American feminist Alice Paul, the film brought the star a Golden Globe nomination and supporting actress Anjelica Huston a Golden Globe honor. “Iron Jawed Angels” also starred Frances O'Connor, Julia Ormond, Brooke Smith, Molly Parker and Patrick Dempsey.

In early 2007, Von Garnier made her U.S big screen directing debut with the release of “Blood and Chocolate” on January 26. The drama starred Agnes Bruckner as a young teenage werewolf who is torn between honoring her family's secret and her love for a man named Aiden (played by Hugh Dancy).

Awards:

• Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival: Grand Jury Prize-Feature, “Bandits,” 1999

• Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival: Audience Award, Best Feature, “Bandits,” 1999

• Bavarian Film: Best Music in a Film, “Bandits,” 1997

• Student Academy: Honorary Foreign Film, “Abgeschminkt,” 1994

• Bavarian Film: Best Young Direction (Regienachwuchspreis), “Abgeschminkt,” 1994

• Ernst Lubitsch: Best Individual Performance in a German Language Film Comedy, “Abgeschminkt,” 1994