Mascha Schilinski (born 1984) is a German director and screenwriter. Schilinski was born in Berlin to a German filmmaker mother and a French construction worker father. She was a child actor in her youth. After dropping out of high school, she worked for a traveling circus before pursuing film. She graduated from the screenwriting program at the Filmschule Hamburg Berlin in 2008, and later studied directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg. Schilinski began her career as a casting director and freelance write