Critical Distance DIRECTORY Andrea Luka Zimmerman

Andrea Luka Zimmerman grew up on a large council estate in Munich and left school at 16. After moving to London in 1991, she studied at Central St. Martins (where she now teaches) for her PhD. She won the Artangel Open Award for her collaborative feature drama Cycle (2017) with Adrian Jackson. Her feature documentary Estate, a Reverie (2015), tracks the passing of the Haggerston Estate in East London and the utopian promise of social housing it once offered.

Her artists’ film Taskafa, Stories of the Street (2013) is about resistance and co­existence told through the lives of the street dogs of Istanbul and is voiced by John Berger. She has made several commissioned short films, including More Utopias Now for Channel 4’s Random Acts (2016). Artist, cultural activist and filmmaker, Andrea is the first director to be shortlisted for both the Grierson and Jarman Awards.