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Born in Berlin in 1973 to French and Iranian parents. Moved at age seven with her family to Los Angeles and at age 13 to France. She later moved to London and worked as an actress. In 2001 she returned to Berlin and studied directing at the dffb film school. For her first feature film, "Molly's Way", she received numerous awards including the Grand Jury Prize in Mar del Plata. After "Das Fremde in mir" ("The Stranger in Me") she wrote, together with Esther Bernstorff, the screenplay for her next film "Töte mich" ("Kill Me"), which was released in 2012. The film was shown at several international festivals and had its theatrical release in Germany in summer 2012.
In 2014, Atef shot the 15-minutes short film "Soldaten" in Austria, followed by the two German TV productions "Königin der Nacht" (2016) about a farmer in the Black forest, who’s also working as a prostitute to make ends meet, and "Wunschkinder" based on a true story about a couple trying to adopt a child in Russia. Both films were nominated for the prestigious Grimme Preis in 2018. She also directed the TV film "Macht euch keine Sorgen" (2017) about a father who finds out that his 19-year-old son has joined the IS in Syria.
Atef's next feature premiered in the Berlinale Competition in February 2018: "3 Tage in Quiberon" ("3 days in Quiberon") about the actress Romy Schneider (Marie Bäumer) was based on the legendary interview Michael Jürgs of the news magazine STERN conducted with her in 1981. The film had its theatrical release in April 2018.
Then she made the the crime thriller "Falscher Hase" (2019) for the "Tatort" series and, also for television, the highly acclaimed thriller "Jackpot" (2020), about a woman (Rosalie Thomass) who becomes the target of a psychopathic hitman (Thomas Loibl) after finding a bag full of money.
In May 2022, Atef's next feature film premiered in the 'Un certain regard' section of the Cannes Film Festival: "Mehr denn je" ("More than Ever"), the self-discovery story of a young woman (Vicky Krieps) suffering from an incurable lung disease. At the Filmkunstfest Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Atef received the NDR Directing Award and Film Critics' Prize for the film. "Mehr denn je" was released in German cinemas in December 2022.