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bio
Anna Baranowski is a filmmaker and visual artist. She was born in 1983 in Bytom, Poland, and has lived in Germany since 1989. After spending time living in Mongolia, Nepal, and the United States, she now calls a village nestled among meadows and forests in Thuringia her home.
She studied media art at the Academy of Visual Arts in Leipzig and received her Diploma of Fine Arts degree with honors in 2012. After completing her studies, she participated in numerous exhibitions both domestically and internationally, such as the European Biennial “Manifesta 14” in 2022. She has received film grants and scholarships, such as the working scholarship from the Kunstfonds Foundation in 2018, and has been invited to artist residencies, such as that of the Greater Columbus Arts Council in Columbus, USA, to realize new projects.
Anna Baranowski uses documentary images and archival material to create poetic, psychologically charged films that intertwine historical reality and subjective perception in unusual ways. She explores how historical traces continue to influence the present and examines collective psychological patterns of human behavior. In the realm of experimental and documentary film, she draws inspiration from Direct Cinema and consistently works with documentary material.
A hallmark of her films is the combination of her own carefully composed footage with archival material from a wide variety of sources, such as amateur films or military footage. By removing this material from its original context, new layers of meaning emerge.
Her central aim is to use images of the real world to deliberately tell fictional, often unsettling stories. Her works subvert obvious expectations and direct attention to the viewers’ perceptions, feelings, and inner reactions. As a result, the films become less documentaries and more spaces for reflection on memory, projection, and collective imaginations.
In 2022, Anna Baranowski made her feature-length directorial debut with the documentary film Namaste Himalaya. Distributed by mindjazz pictures, the film was released in German theaters, screened at numerous international film festivals, and won several awards.
Anna Baranowski is currently working on her second feature-length documentary, Nomadland. The project, funded by the Thuringia Cultural Foundation and the Thuringian State Chancellery, has been in development and production since 2024. Its release in German theaters is scheduled for late 2027.
professional career
2024 Member of the Film and Awards Selection Committee for the 2025 Portland EcoFilm Festival, USA
Since 2021 Managing Director of the independent documentary film production company micro cosmos film
Since 2019: Cinematographer and editor for film and television (ARTE, ZDF, 3SAT, MDR)
Since 2008: Filmmaker and visual artist with exhibitions in galleries, museums and biennials in Germany and abroad
education
2012 Diploma Fine Arts / exam passed with distinction
2005 - 2012 Studies of Media Art at the Academy of Visual Arts Leipzig in the Class for Mass Media Research and Art in Public Media Space (Prof. Günther Selichar)
scholarships / nominations / awards
2026 Film grant from the Thuringian State Chancellery for the post-production of the documentary film NOMADLAND
2025 Project development grant from the Thuringian State Chancellery for the documentary film
MONGOL GER
2024 Project grant from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Thuringia for the experimental film
THE BEAR & PRZEWALSKI
2024 "Namaste Himalaya" wins as "Best International Documentary Film" at the 6th Nepal Cultural International Film Festival in Kathmandu, Nepal
2023 "Namaste Himalaya" wins 1st prize in the "Expeditions & Routes" category
at the Travelfest Albania Film Festival Tirana, Albania
2022 Honorable mention for "Namaste Himalaya" in the "People & Culture" category
at the International Mountainfilm Festival Graz, Austria
2021 Project grant from the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Thuringia for the experimental film LEGACY
2021 Nominated for NEW POSITIONS, sponsorship programme for solo presentations by young emerging artists at the ART COLOGNE. Supported by the BVDG (Bundesverband Deutscher Galelerien und Kunsthändler), the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the ART COLOGNE fair itself. Anna Baranowski will be part of the showcase of Gallery EIGEN + ART Berlin/Leipzig
2020 Artist in Residence at the Off Season Residency in Vlora, Albania (Goethe-Institut Bukarest, AFCN - Administration of the National Cultural Fund Romania, Goethe-Zentrum Tirana)
2018 Scholarship by the Bonn Art Foundation (Stiftung Kunstfonds)
2018 Artist in Residence at the Greater Columbus Arts Council in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Scholarship by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2018 Nominated for the 3rd PORTRAITS - Hellerau Photography Award
2016 Sponsorship by the Ministry of Justice, Cultural and European Affairs Schleswig-Holstein / production of the project „relics“
2016 Nominated for the 6th International Marianne Brandt Award
2016 Artist in Residence at Otte 1 – the Schleswig-Holstein Artists Residency in Eckernförde, Germany
2015 Sponsorship of the production of the artist´s monograph by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2014 Scholarship by the Arts Council of the Free State of Saxony
2008 Received the first prize of the study award of the Academy`s Association
collections
2018 Collection of the Thuringian State Museum Heidecksburg
2013 Collection of the Kunstfonds (Art Fund) of the Free State of Saxony
exhibitions
2026 Chemnitz / GER / Schauspielhaus / Begehungen Art Festival No. 23 / IN DER VORSTELLUNG
2026 Leipzig / GER / Kontor 80 / AXEL WANTS TO GO WITH SARA
2024 Paris / FR / Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature / RECONTRES INTL zone critique
2023 Pforzheim / GER / A.K.T. / All Quiet on the Eastern Front
2022 Prishtina / KOS / MANIFESTA 14 - European Biennial of Contemporary Art / Off Season
2021 Cologne / DEU / Art Cologne / New Talents EIGEN + ART
2021 Bucarest / ROM / Institut București / Off Season
2021 Tirana / ALB / Bulevard Art and Media Institute / Off Season
2021 Gera / GER / Kulturtage Gera / Lost Shops - video installation in public space
2020 Gera / GER / Neue Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst /
Anders - Ästhetik der Differenz
2020 Leipzig / GER / HALLE 14 - Zentrum für zeitgenössische Kunst / KUNST(RE_PUBLIC)
Eine Ausstellung in Zeiten der suspendierten Öffentlichkeit
2019 Cologne / GER / Gallery BRUCH & DALLAS / Ideally (solo)
2019 Bukarest / ROM / Anca Poterasu Gallery / Not everything means something, honey (vol. 2)
2019 Leipzig / GER / Galerie Eigen + Art / Not everything means something, honey
2019 Leipzig / GER / GFZK Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst / TRAKT IV
2018 München / GER / Størpunkt - Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst / MONUMENTAL
2018 Leipzig / GER / MONUMENTA FSTVL LPZG 2018 - Intelligence Of Many
2018 Graz / AU / KUNSTHAUS GRAZ - KULTUM / Glaube Liebe Hoffnung
2018 Dresden / GER / HELLERAU – Europäisches Zentrum für Zeitgenössiche Kunst / 3. PORTRAITS - Hellerau Photography Award
2018 München / GER / Størpunkt - Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst / LUXURIA
2017 Zagreb / HR / POGON – Zagreb Center for Independent Culture and Youth / Corpus Collective
2017 Dresden / GER / Motorenhalle. Projektzentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst -Riesa Efau / OCCUPATION / Videoarbeiten aus dem Kunstfonds/Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
2017 Bordeaux / FR / METAVILLA, Installation urbaine
2016 / 17 Chemnitz / GER / Industriemuseum Chemnitz / 6. Internationaler Marianne Brandt Wettbewerb - Materialeffekte
2016 Gera / GER / Häselburg / WesensArt
2016 Leipzig / GER / Kurzsüchtig - 13. Mitteldeutsches Kurzfilm Festival
2015 Dresden / GER / Motorenhalle. Projektzentrum für Zeitgenössische Kunst -Riesa Efau / Wohin gehen wir?
2015 Leipzig / GER / KTR Galerie / INAUGURATION
2015 Essen / GER / Welterbe Zollverein / Contemporary Art Ruhr - C.A.R. Talente
2015 Berlin / GER / Galerie EIGEN + ART / offen/open
2015 Berlin / GER / Kreuzberg / SMALL SETS OF OPTIMISM FEED US WELL (solo)
2014 Leipzig / GER / Museum der bildenden Künste / Herz, Reiz & Gefühl
2013/14 Berlin / GER / Vertretung des Freistaates Sachsen beim Bund / Ausstellung des Kunstfonds
2013 Leipzig / GER / Baumwollspinnerei - Halle 14 / THE SUPERSHOW
2013 Gera / GER / Kunstverein Gera / Warten auf Gott
2013 Köln / GER / ANALOG Theater / BEING PHILOTAS
2013 Leipzig / GER / Baumwollspinnerei / WIN/WIN - Ankäufe der Kulturstiftung des Freistaates Sachsen 2013
2013 Bonn / GER / Bundeskunsthalle / 21. Bundeswettbewerb Kunststudentinnen und Kunststudenten stellen aus
2013 Leipzig / GER / Galerie EIGEN + ART / Gruppenausstellung junger internationaler Künstler
2013 Seoul / KOR / Korean Film Archive / Exis Festival - Academy Showcase
2012 Marseille / F / La GAD - Galerie Arnaud Deschin / Luna Park, The Barkeeper´s Daughter
2012 Montreuil / F / Les Rencontres du cinéma documentaire
2012 Kronach / GER / Festung Rosenberg / Festungen innen und aussen
2012 Gera / GER / Kunstverein Gera / Imaginary Landscape - Hommage an John Cage
2012 Leipzig / GER / Kuhturm Galerie / CHAPITRE V - GANGS OF BRUXELLES
2012 Berlin / GER / KW Institut für Zeitgenössischen Kunst / 7. Berlin Biennale für Zeitgenössischen Kunst
2012 Erfurt / GER / Galerie 7b / oki.doki- Dokumentarfilmschau
2012 Dresden / GER / Festspielhaus Hellerau / Junge Kunst Sachsen
2011 Leipzig / GER / Galerie A und V / LINDENOW # 7
2011 Szczecin / POL / Galeria VHS / Basic Instincts
2011 Augsburg / GER / Zeughaus Augsburg , Toskanischen Säulenhalle // TOLERABILIS
2011 Frankfurt am Main / GER / Hotel Poerty No. 4
2011 Tokio / J / Aichi Prefectural Museum of Art / Cityscapes
2011 Vilnius / LIT / Kino Pasaka / Editing Spaces. Reconsidering The Public.
2011 Frankfurt am Main / GER / Galerie am Dom / V Kunst Frankfurt 2011 - la vie en général
2011 Wien / AU / Österreichisches Fernsehen - Okto TV / PAL Positions
2010 Leipzig / GER / Tapetenwerk / Video was my first love (solo)
2010 Halle (Saale) / GER / Galerie Die Schöne Stadt / ATTACK on LINKINGS
2010 Leipzig / GER / Messehof Leipzig + Public Media Space / In public relation
2010 Linz / AU/ Stockwerkegalerie im Power Tower / Kunst im Tower
2009 Dresden / GER / Galerie Doppel.DE / „On (plein) air“
2009 Bonn / GER / Galerie Böttger / Art in Public Space , Videonale Bonn
2008 Leipzig / GER / Galerie der Hochschule für Grafik und Buchkunst / Studienpreis des HGB Freundeskreises
2008 Leipzig / GER / Essential Existence Gallery / OPEN (Fast!)
2008 Copenhagen / DEN / Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts / SUBLIMINAL
2007 Leipzig / GER // Augustusplatz Leipzig // DING_UND_UN_DING / Interventionen im öffentlichen Raum
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