Ranisch is a director, actor, producer and media educator. Born as the obese child of two professional athletes, he initially maintained a critical distance to the medium of film. This attitude did not change until 2002, when he – rather inadvertently – made his first short film. Axel has been making movies at record speed ever since, directing approximately 80 short films during the following seven years as well as working as an actor, writer, composer and editor on several more.

Ranisch successfully completed an apprenticeship as media and drama educator. From 2004 to 2011, he studied directing with Rosa von Praunheim, Andreas Kleinert and Helke Misselwitz. at the Film and Television University (HFF) "Konrad Wolf" Potsdam Babelsberg. Axel Ranisch remains true to himself, creating heart-warming films full of music and lots of humor, preferably without a script and based on improvisation.

Since 2002, Axel’s films have been shown at more than a hundred festivals, big or small, and continues to accumulate prizes and awards. In 2011, Axel -together with fellow HFF alumni Dennis Pauls and Anne Banker and actor Heiko Pinkowski- founded the production company "Sehr gute Filme" (Very good films).

His credits as director include "Rhythmus im Kopf", "Dicke Mädchen" and "Ich fühl mich Disko", for which he was awarded the MFG Star, the MFG Film Foundation’s prestigious prize for young directors.  As an actor, Axel has appeared in „Ruhm“ (Isabel Kleefeld, director), "Wie man leben soll" (David Schalko, director) and "Sechs tote Studenten" (Rosa von Praunheim, director), among others.