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Caroline Link, born June 2, 1964, in Bad Nauheim, made her first experience in the movie business in 1984 as an intern an Munich's Bavaria Studios after finishing school and a one-year stay abroad in the USA. In 1986, she started to study film directing at Munich's Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film (HFF) and successfully graduated four years later. In 1989, she already worked as an assistant director for the documentary film "Das Glück zum Anfassen" that tells the story of a disappointing encounter of a fan with her idol, the singer Jürgen Drews.
Link's graduation film, the love story "Sommertage", won the Kodak promotional award at the 1990 Hof International Film Festival. After finishing her studies, Link worked as a screenplay writer for the TV series "Der Fahnder" and other projects. In 1996, she made her debut as a movie director with "Jenseits der Stille" ("Beyond Silence"). The highly-praised film about a young woman whose parents are deaf-mute surprisingly developed into a box office hit, won two Bavarian film awards (for Best young director and Best music) and two German film awards (Best leading actress and music), and also won a nomination for the Academy award as "Best Foreign Language Film"). Link's next film, the adaptation of Erich Kästner's children's book "Pünktchen und Anton" ("Annaluise and Anton", 1999) was not received as well by critics but still attracted an audience of more than one million movie viewers.
Caroline Link landed her biggest success yet with her adaptation of Stefanie Zweig's novel "Nirgendwo in Afrika" ("Nowhere In Africa", 2001). The drama about a Jewish family that flees Nazi Germany and emigrates to Kenya won five German film awards (Best film, best director, best cinematography, best music, best supporting actor) and won the Academy award as "Best Foreign Language Film" – as the first German film since Schlöndorff's "Die Blechtrommel" ("The Tin Drum").
In 2008, Link finally returned to the big screen with her eagerly awaited and star-studded adaptation of the bestseller "Im Winter ein Jahr" ("A Year Ago In Winter"). This film also turned out to be critical success and went on to win the German Film Awards for Best Festure Film and Best Motion Picture Score. Link and lead actress Karoline Herfurth both also received a Bavarian Film Award.
Link's next film "Exit Marrakech" (2013), for which she also provided the screenplay, again tells a conflicted family story, this time focussing on the difficult reconciliation between an actor and his estranged 17-year-old son. At the Stockholm Film Festival Junior, the film was awarded the Bronze Horse in the category "Best Film 11-19 Years".
In 2016, Link received the Film Prize of the City of Munich. In 2018, she was awarded with the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class. In December 2018, Caroline Link presented her first film in five years: "Der Junge muss an die frische Luft", a biopic based on the autobiography of the popular German entertainer Hape Kerkeling. At the same time, she also finished shooting her next film, an adaptation of the youth book classic "Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl". The film was released at Christmas 2019.
Caroline Link is a member of the board of trustees of the association "Children for a better World" and received the Bavarian Order of Merit in 2004. She is living with her partner, director Dominik Graf, in Munich.