Janna Maria Nandzik | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1980 (age 43–44) Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, West Germany |
| Occupation(s) | Director, screenwriter, producer |
Janna Maria Nandzik (born 1980 in Oldenburg) is a German screenwriter, director and producer. At the age of 28, she founded two film production companies[1] together with entertainer and actor Christian Ulmen[2] and created and produced her first TV series. The walk-and-talk sitcom The Snobs[3] (ZDFneo, 18 episodes) followed three bon vivants in despair during their 18-hole course of golf.
Nandzik’s directing debut came in 2012 with the German-French transmedia series About:Kate[4] (Arte, 14 episodes), which explored the identity crises of a 30-year-old woman losing herself in the depths of digitalism. The interactive show won awards in Germany and Switzerland.[5][6] After a stint as Creative Director[7] for Tele5, a Munich-based television network, Nandzik returned to creating and writing in Berlin.
She has written for multiple series, including the dark comedy Jerks[8] (ProSieben) and teen drama Druck[9] (ZDFneo/funk), as well as the historical drama The Empress[10] which won the International Emmy for Best Drama Series in 2023.[11]
She directed the TV movie Die Innenministerkonferenz[12] (ZDF), a satirical murder mystery written by journalist and television host Jan Böhmermann and writer Carla Kaspari.
By October 2023, Nandzik started working on a six-part Berlin-set series[13] with Stefan Titze (How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast)) based on the novel Oval[14] by Elvia Wilk. The drama revolves around the unexpected side effects of an empathy pill on the city.
In 2017, Janna Maria Nandzik founded the salon and club "The School of Death",[15] a non-profit organization in Berlin that offers various workshops and lectures[16][17] on the subject of death and dying. The project aims to integrate discussions about the end of life into everyday life.