Maren Ade (German: [ˈmaːʁən ˈʔaːdə]; born 12 December 1976) is a German film director, screenwriter and producer. Ade lives in Berlin, teaching screenwriting at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg. Together with Janine Jackowski and Jonas Dornbach, she runs the production company Komplizen Film. She is best known for her film Toni Erdmann, which was nominated for an Academy Award.

Ade was born in Karlsruhe, West Germany. As a teenager, she directed her first short films.^[1]

In 1998, she began studying film production and media management, and later film direction at the University of Television and Film (HFF) in Munich,^[2] which she successfully completed in 2004.^[1]

In 2001, Ade co-founded the film production company Komplizen Film together with Janine Jackowski, a fellow graduate from HFF.^[2] It was with Komplizen Film that she produced her final student film The Forest for the Trees at HFF in 2003. Among other honors, the film received the Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005. The Forest for the Trees was screened at a large number of international festivals.

In 2009, her second film Everyone Else celebrated its world premiere in the Official Competition section of the Berlin International Film Festival, where it received the Silver Bear for Best Film (Jury Grand Prix) and the Best Actress Silver Bear for Birgit Minichmayr. Everyone Else was released in theatres in over 18 countries.

In 2012, Ade announced she would be writing and directing a film called Toni Erdmann about a man who begins to play pranks on his adult daughter after he finds she has become too serious.^[3] The film debuted In Competition at the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, the first German film to debut there in 10 years.^[4] The film won the top prize at the European Film Awards (Best European Film), thus making Ade the first woman to direct a movie that won the top prize at those awards.^[5]

Ade lives with director Ulrich Köhler [de] and their two children in Berlin.^[2][6]

In December 2023, alongside 50 other filmmakers, Ade signed an open letter published in Libération demanding a ceasefire and an end to the killing of civilians amid the 2023 Israeli invasion of the Gaza Strip, and for a humanitarian corridor into Gaza to be established for humanitarian aid, and the release of hostages.^[7][8][9]

• 2005: Special Jury Award, Sundance Film Festival for The Forest for the Trees
• 2005: Best Feature Film - Grand Prize, IndieLisboa - International Independent Film Festival for The Forest for the Trees
• 2005: Best Film, nomination for the German Film Award for The Forest for the Trees
• 2005: Best Feature Film, Cine Jove Valencia Film Festival for The Forest for the Trees
• 2005: Best Actress: Eva Löbau, Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival for The Forest for the Trees
• 2009: Silver Bear – Jury Grand Prix, Berlinale, for Everyone Else
• 2009: Silver Bear– Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr, Berlinale, for Everyone Else
• 2010: Nominated for Best Film, Best Direction and Best Female Lead for Birgit Minichmayr, German Film Award for Everyone Else
• 2010: Best Direction and FIPRESCI Critics' Award, Buenos Aires Festival of Independent Cinema for Everyone Else
• 2010: Main Prize, International Women's Film Festival Dortmund for Everyone Else
• 2010: Best Actor for Lars Eidinger, Love Is Folly International Film Festival for Everyone Else
• 2010: Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr, Ourense Film Festival for Everyone Else
• 2014: Berlin Art Prize in the category Film and Media Art
• 2015: DEFA Foundation Award for Outstanding Performance in German Film for Komplizen Film
• 2016: Academy Award nomination, Best Foreign Film, for "Toni Erdmann"

As director and screenwriter

• 2000 Level 9, short film (script and direction)
• 2001 Vegas, short film (script and direction)
• 2003 The Forest for the Trees, feature film (script and direction)
• 2009 Everyone Else, feature film (script and direction)
• 2016 Toni Erdmann, feature film (script and direction)

As producer

• 2002 Karma Cowboy, feature film by Sonja Heiss and Vanessa van Houten, producer
• 2006 Hotel Very Welcome [de], feature film by Sonja Heiss, producer
• 2011 Sleeping Sickness, feature film by Ulrich Köhler [de], producer
• 2012 Tabu, feature film by Miguel Gomes, co-producer
• 2012 The Dead and the Living, feature film by Barbara Albert, co-producer
• 2013 Tanta Agua, feature film by Ana Guevara and Leticia Jorge, co-producer
• 2013 Redemption, short film by Miguel Gomes, co-producer
• 2014 Superegos, feature film by Benjamin Heisenberg, producer
• 2014 Love Island, feature film by Jasmila Žbanić, co-producer
• 2015 Hedi Schneider Is Stuck, feature film by Sonja Heiss, producer
• 2015 Arabian Nights, feature film by Miguel Gomes, co-producer
• 2017 Western, feature film by Valeska Grisebach, producer
• 2020 The Story of My Wife, feature film by Ildikó Enyedi, producer
• 2021 Spencer, feature film by Pablo Larraín, producer