Uschi Reich

Prolific German producer Uschi Reich has worked in television and film in several capacities, including as a writer and director. After training at the Academy for Television and Film in Munich, Reich broke into television by writing and directing the made-for-TV movie "Anna" in 1975. A fearless risk-taker, each decade she took on new challenges. In the 1980s, she tackled directing duties on over 200 episodes of the daily soap opera "Marienhof." In the next decade, she became an executive at the Bavarian Film Distribution and Production, Ltd., producing broad comedies like "Mrs. Rettich, Czerni and I" and "Babes' Petrol." And in the 2000s, Reich focused on family-friendly features like the mischievous comedy "No More School," which garnered the Best New Director honor at the Hof International Film Festival. More prestigious awards followed in 2003, when Reich won two Bavarian Film Awards for Best Production: one for the comedic fantasy "Bibi Blocksberg," the other for the zany family comedy "The Flying Classroom." Three years later, she produced an adaptation of Cornelia Funke's popular children's series "The Wild Chicks." Her most popular feature, it centers on a tight-knit group of adolescent girls and has already earned two sequels: "Wild Chicks in Love" and "The Wild Chicks and Life." As the decade drew to a close, Reich switched gears again, this time backing the poignant dance-centered drama "A Year Ago in Winter," which won her the esteemed honor of a German Film Award for Outstanding Feature Film.