Anja Schiffel
She was born in 1977 in Güstrow in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. From 1996 to 2000 she studied acting at the University of Music and Theatre in Rostock. This was followed by engagements at Schauspiel Essen, the Volkstheater in Vienna and the Theater Osnabrück. In 2002 she was awarded the Aalto Stage Prize for Young Artists. She has also appeared in many film and television productions, including “König der Raben” by Piotr Lewandowski, “Bist du glücklich” by Max Zähle and “Dreileben – Komm mir nicht nach” by Dominik Graf.
In the 2021 feature film “A Handful of Water” by Jakob Zapf, Anja Schiffel played the role of Ingrid Hausnick, the lesbian daughter of Konrad, who lives in seclusion, played by Jürgen Prochnow. Schiffel enjoyed-
working with the Hollywood star and she describes him as collegial and very appreciative of her.
She fills her demanding role skillfully and manages to give it depth and to convey all her thoughts and emotions accurately. This was probably due in no small part to the good collaboration with director Jakob Zapf, “who is very clear in his ideas and yet gave me a lot of space as an actress – sounds paradoxical, but it was like that,” says Schiffel.
Seeing the finished film on the screen and experiencing the audience’s reactions was, as always, exciting, according to Schiffel. For herself, it was the long camera shots that were able to unfold their effect, even without people talking the whole time, that she particularly liked. And she also had only positive things to say about the film in other respects.
