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Sylvie Michel was born in 1962 in southern France and grew up in Paris. In 1982, she lived alternately in Berlin, New York and Los Angeles. She studied English linguistics at the Technical University of Berlin and spent a semester abroad at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Michel made her directorial debut in 1994 with the short film "Gewalt der Angst". The ten-minute film garnered media attention during its production when the Berlin Transport Authority revoked the team's filming permit for a scene in which skinheads terrorize passengers in a Berlin subway, citing concerns about the city's image. The scene was eventually filmed in Prague. Michel's second short film, "Stand Back" (1994), premiered in the Panorama section of the Berlinale in 1995 and was screened at international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival.
Michel gained further experience as an assistant director, working with Régis Wargnier on "A French Woman" (FR/UK/DE 1995) and Chantal Akerman on "Eine Couch in New York" ("A Couch in New York", FR/DE/BE 1996). She also served as a script supervisor on films by directors such as Mika Kaurismäki ("L.A. Without a Map", FR/UK/FL 1998) and Wim Wenders ("The Million Dollar Hotel", DE/US 2000; "Palermo Shooting", DE/IT/FR 2008).
In addition to her work on other directors' films, Michel directed two of her own short films. The 18-minute "A Day in the Country" (2007), which tells the story of a 12-year-old girl fleeing from her quarreling parents with her younger siblings, premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. Her second short, "Lost Dog" (2009), focuses on teenagers in Berlin’s Gropiusstadt who get confronted with a black dog during a heated argument. This film also screened at Locarno and other international festivals.
Michel made her feature film debut in 2012 with "Die feinen Unterschiede", ("Our Little Differences") a marital drama that premiered at the Munich Film Festival. The film went on to be shown at other festivals, including those in Toronto and Thessaloniki, and had its theatrical release in March 2013. That same year, Michel led a film workshop in Marseille, initiated by the Goethe-Institut, bringing together young people from Germany, France, and Turkey. In subsequent years, she continued to conduct workshops for young filmmakers, focusing on directing and script continuity. She also worked as a script doctor on Rafi Pitts' youth drama "Soy Nero" (DE/FR/MX 2016), set on the U.S.-Mexican border.
In 2023, Michel presented her second feature film, the tragicomic road movie "More than Strangers" (DE/GR), at the Munich Film Festival. The film, which explores the conflicts within a carpool traveling from Berlin to Paris, earned her the Förderpreis Neues Deutsches Kino for Best Director. In 2024, she was awarded the SI STAR Film Award - Förderpreis for outstanding achievements by female filmmakers. "More than Strangers" was released in German cinemas in August 2024.