Anne Zohra Berrached

German film director and screenwriter

Anne Zohra Berrached’s first feature-length film Zwei Mütter (Two Mothers) is about an homosexual couple who audition men to collect their sperm for having a child. With Two Mothers, Anne Zohra Berrached received the main award of the section Perspective German Cinema at the 63rd Berlinale.

In February 2016 she presented her second film, 24 Wochen (24 Weeks), at competition of the 66th Berlinale. The movie is about a pregnant comedian (Julia Jentsch) and her husbands (Bjarne Mädel) decision over a legal abortion for their unborn child diagnosed with down syndrome. This was the first breach of the topic of legal late term abortion in cinema and was considered taboo for over 90% of women in Germany facing a similar situation.

24 Weeks was her final degree project before she graduated from film school. As being the only German film in competition, 24 Weeks received the award of Guild German Filmartist (Gilde Deutscher Filmkunsttheater) for best picture. 24 Weeks was also honoured with the Silver Lola of Best German Film 2017 at the German Film Awards.

Her third feature film, “Die Welt wird eine andere sein” (international title: Copilot), was funded in part by the coveted Arte Grand Accord grant. Berrached was shooting in the U.S. and Lebanon for the first time. In 2021, she received an invitation to the Panorama section of the Berlinale. The relationship drama is based on the biography of Lebanese terrorist Ziad Jarrah. With an estimated budget of six million euros, the film was the largest feature Berrached has directed to date, winning the first prize in the Feature Film Competition and the Popular Jury of the prestigious Italian Lucca Film Festival and Europa Cinema.