BRIEF BIO
GLOBAL FEMALE FILMMAKER
Stephanie is an award-winning Swiss/Swedish writer & director based in New York City.
She began her creative career as a classically trained painter. Her latest screenplay Esther In Wonderland, which she is currently developing into a drama series for television, won First Prize at the 2019 Atlanta Film Festival and the 2018 Shore Scripts Screenplay Competition.
Her short films have screened and won a number of Jury and Best Short awards at festivals worldwide. She previously worked in film in Switzerland, the UK and Israel, where she assistant-directed the Oscar nominated Israeli drama Beaufort.
Stephanie is an MFA thesis candidate at NYU Tisch School of the Arts Graduate Film. She speaks six languages.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
THE FEMALE GAZE
As a Jewish, female artist growing up in Switzerland, I experienced adolescence as a struggle between fitting the mold and carving my own path. As a result, my work explores the space IN-BETWEEN yearning and fear.
My films portray bold and complex women in transition. I work with actors, dancers, athletes and models of different colors, ethnicity, gender-identity, shape and size. And I generally cast against type.
The norm does not interest me. The raw, the real, the flawed, the sexual - yields emotional and visual texture.
"My ultimate goal is to create films of evanescent beauty, the kind of beauty that moves the soul. I am interested in the essence of beauty, not the superficial quality of it."
AWARDS
2019 Shorts Winner
Atlanta Film Festival Screenplay Competition
Esther In Wonderland
2018 Best Short Screenplay
Shore Scripts Screenplay Contest
Esther In Wonderland
2017 Best Spec Commercial
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards
A Tale of Endurance: Celebration of the Imperfect
2017 Best Cinematography
Seattle International Fashion Film Festival
A Tale of Endurance: Celebration of the Imperfect
2017 Award of Merit
Accolade Global Film Competition
A Tale of Endurance: Celebration of the Imperfect
OFFICIAL SELECTION / NOMINATIONS
A Tale of Endurance: Celebration of the Imperfect
Brooklyn Film Festival. 2018 Official Selection
New Media Film Festival. 2018 Official Selection
La Jolla International Fashion Film Festival. 2018 Official Selection
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards. 2018 Finalist
Fashion Film Fest Istanbul. 2017 Official Selection
Fashionclash Fashion Film Festival. 2017 Official Selection
Porto Fashion Film Festival. 2017 Official Selection
Best Shorts Competition. 2017 Official Selection
International Fashion Film Festival Brussels. 2017 Official Selection
California International Shorts Festival. 2017 Official Selection
Seattle International Fashion Film Festival. 2017 Best Picture, Best Director, Best Artistic Design, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Design
Miami Fashion Film Festival. 2017 Semi-Finalist
The Painted Lady
Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
Milwaukee Short Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
The Williamsburg Independent Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
Big Apple Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
Aruma
Chelsea Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
New York Big Mini DV Festival. 2016 Official Selection
NewFilmmakers NY. 2016 Official Selection
Southampton International Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
San Jose International Short Film Festival. 2016 Official Selection
Shadow Boxer
Athens International Film + Video festival. 2016 Official Selection
POWFest Monthly Extended Festival. 2016 Official Selection
NewFilmmakers, NY. 2016 Official Selection
ARTICLES & REVIEWS
2017 Q&A with Creative Talent Stephanie Bollag
2016 Rhode Island International Film Festival – The Painted Lady
2018 Stephanie Bollag Wins Shore Scripts Competition
"We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls." - Anaïs Nin
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