PAULA WALKER
Award-winning director, Paula Walker has put her unique signature on numerous media ventures including commercials, music videos, still photography and documentary films. Partnering with her husband, award-winner director of photography Rolf Kestermann, Paula founded Strato Films, a commercial and music video production company.
Paula has worked extensively abroad and in the US, giving her a unique global perspective. Her countless television campaigns include Maybelline, BMW, Mazda, Revlon, CoverGirl, Acura, Coca-Cola, Mercedes, Target, Aveeno and Bacardi. She has directed music videos for artists such as Babyface, Tracy Chapman, Dolly Parton, Lou Reed, Marc Anthony, Queen Latifah, Leonard Cohen and Carlos Santana. Paula received an International Monitor Award for Tina Turner’s video “Way of the world”.
Paula began her career as a dancer and performer. To this day, the poetry of movement still holds a heavy influence on her work, and has been drawn upon during collaborations with innovative companies such as Pilobolus, Pina Bausch, the Frankfurt Ballet Company and the Dance Theater of Harlem.
Paula has been honored with several awards including the Silver Lion at Cannes, the International Monitor Award, and the Deutscher Kommunikationsverband-Die-Kappe Germany’s equivalent to the Clios. Her short film SEED, starring Francis Fisher and Diane Venora, stirred up notable buzz and was the recipient of numerous awards at festivals throughout the US.
Paula recently returned from a trip to Haiti, where she is in the process of finishing a documentary for the Clinton Foundation about the Citadel, an important site in that country’s history.
Paula was raised in Los Angeles, and studied theater and dance at the University of Michigan.