Mariana ?engel Sol?anská

Mariana ?engel Sol?anská born 14 February 1978 is a Slovak film director screenwriter and writer Sol?anská was born in Nitra Slovakia She studied political science and cultural studies at the Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra as well as film directing at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava under the supervision of Stanislav Párnický and Martin Šulík In 2014 she obtained a doctorate in media studies from the PanEuropean University Following a string of short student movies Sol?anská fulllength debut was the historical adventure movie The Legend of Flying Cyprian released in 2010 followed by TV film Autopsy In addition to directing she authored the script of both movies In 2013 she directed the social drama Love Me or Leave Me based on the script by Alena Bodingerová In 2014 she directed and wrote the fairy tale Láska na Vlásku which became a hit in Slovak cinemas in spite of lukewarm reviews In the second half of the 2010s Sol?anská directed several movies critical of political developments in Slovakia She saw the turn towards more overt political messaging as her civic duty due to the political developments in the county In 2017 she directed and wrote the movie Kidnapping depicting the crimes committed by the Slovak secret service under the authoritative government of Vladimír Me?iar in the 1990 In 2020 she followed up by the thriller Scumbag based on the novel by journalist Arpád Soltész Both Kidnapping and Scumbag were among the most successful movies in Slovak cinemas since the independence of the country