Director (D)
Florian Hoffmann grew up in a family of documentary filmmakers (parents: Heidi Specogna and Rainer Hoffmann). After graduating from high school, he worked in development co-operation in West Africa. He then studied ethnology and social sciences at the University of Basel (Switzerland). Since studying directing at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb), he has realised his own feature-length fiction and documentary films, which have won numerous awards. From 2019-2022 he was part of Carolin Emcke's team for the conception and creation of the video installation "Archiv der Flucht" (HKW Berlin). Since 2021 he has been involved in international theatre productions at the Volksbühne Berlin. He has worked with René Pollesch, Julien Gosselin and Kornel Mundruczo, among others. He was a member of the Berlinale "Peace Prize" jury (2018), a jury member at the Munich Documentary Film Festival (2016) and part of the international jury at the Golden Apricot International Film Festival (2022). In 2022 Florian was selected as "Berlinale Talent".
Sound Designer (I)
Sound Designer, Production Engineer and Sound Editor, he has worked on many films and documentaries. Always passionate about sound, audiovisuals and technology during his university studies, he enrolled in Ipotesi Cinema, a training school founded by Ermanno Olmi. In those years, he met director Giorgio Diritti, with whom he began to collaborate professionally, kick-starting a career that was to bring him two David di Donatello awards for sound and other recognitions.
Editor (BE/IL)
Based in Brussels, Joelle Alexis has been working on full length documentaries and fiction films for over 20 years. She is tutoring in several documentary workshops on pitching teasers and editing.
Among her documentary films are:
Kamay (I. Yourish), not premiered yet; Black Notebooks (S.Elkabetz), Premiered at Cannes 2021, Best film Ofir Awards 2022; Muhi- Generally Temporary (R. Castelnuovo and T. Elterman) Best Debut Film DocAviv 2017, Selected at San Fransisco IFF, Hotdocs 2017, Human Rights Watch; Twilight of a Life (S. Biegeleisen) opening of Visions du Reel 2015; The Green Prince (N. Schirman) Audience Award at Sundance Film Festival 2013; A Film Unfinished (Y. Hersonski) won best Editing at Sundance Film Festival 2011. ; The Champagne Spy (N.Schirman) Special Jury Prize of Best Editing at River Run International Film Festival USA 2008.
Her latest editing on fiction include:
Life Without Credit (T. Shoval), not yet premiered; Debby Was Here (D. Goldberg), premiering at Haifa IFF 2023; Blush (M. Vinik) selected at San Sebastian Film Festival 2015: Gett - The Trial of Vivian Amsalem (R. & S. Elkabetz) selected at Cannes IFF 2014 and nominated Golden Globe for Best Foreign Film 2014 ; Youth (T. Shoval) selected at Berlinale 2013, Best Film Jerusalem IFF and Taipei FF ; Les Sept Jours (R.& S. Elkabetz) Premiered at Cannes IFF in La Semaine de la Critique 2008; Close to Home (V. Bilu & D. Hager) Prize of the Jury of the Confederation of Art House Cinemas Berlinale 2006; Prendre Femme (R. & S. Elkabetz) Critic's Award at the Venice IFF 2005.
She also worked as an editing consultant on:
Becoming who I was (C. Moon and J. Jeon) Grand Prix Generation KPlus Berlinale 2017,Grand Jury Prize Seatle IFF, Audience award Trento FF 2017; Babylon Dreamers (R. Shumunov) Awarded best Feature Doc Moscow IFF and Kiev IFF 2017; Presenting Princess Shaw (I. Haar) selected at Toronto Film Festival and IDFA 2015; Town on a Wire (U. Rosenwaks) selected at Copenhagen Film Festival 2015 ; Pole, Dancer, Movie (I. Halpern) Awarded Best Israeli film DocAviv
Script writer/Director/Producer, YLE Helsinki (FI)
Raimo Lang is a writer, developer and dramaturge/producer living in Helsinki. Currently he works as Head of LumeLab, a content development unit catalyzing projects in the genres of documentary, drama and feature journalism at the Finnish Broadcasting Company (YLE). Prior to that he held a professorship on interactive media & communication at Media Lab, a new media department at University of Arts and Design Helsinki.
During 1989-1998, prior to ‘new media’ emergence 1996 Raimo wrote and directed twelve fiction and documentary films for audiences in Finland and abroad. Then he wanted to refocus from author to a developer role, concentrating on creative process and methods of observation, concept development, scriptwriting and dramaturgy.
Working as a dramaturge, concept developer and producer, Raimo has done research and training on linear and non-linear projects since 1996. He has worked with more than 800 projects, including documentary and fiction films, video/audio series, fact and fiction for immersive & cross-media, real-time web interaction, social projects and programmed narrative database.
Currently Lang is a visiting workshop leader in European Social Documentary training by Zelig Film School and Ludwigsburg Film- and Media Academy, Germany. Previously he has held workshops in DFFB Berlin, Baltic International Film- and Mediaschool in Estonia, Sagas Writing interactive Fiction Munich, Aljazeera Arabic, Hilversum Media Academy Amsterdam and European Media School in Spain.
Raimo's background includes scriptwriting & directing & producing linear films, immersive projects/installations, doing feature journalism, radio work and photojournalism. He has MA in film writing&directing from University of Arts and Design, Helsinki.
Producer - Flaneur Films
Zsuzsanna Kiràly studied Communication Science in Vienna and Berlin. From 2009 to 2020 she has worked with Komplizen Film as Head of Development. Her production work for the company includes Lisa Bierwirth’s Le Prince, Anna Sofie Hartmann Giraffe, Emin Alper’s A Tale of three Sisters, Valeska Grisebach’s Western, Maren Ade’s Toni Erdmann, Miguel Gomes’s Arabian Nights, Tabu, and Redemption, and many others.
She is member of the editorial team of Revolver, Zeitschrift für Film. She is jury member of the funding bodies of IDM-Südtiroler Filmförderung and World Cinema Fund, as well as part of the selection committee for TorinoFilmLab. She is teaching at various film schools and universities such as DFFB and Universität der Künste.
Since 2015, Zsuzsanna has been producing artistic fiction and documentary films with her own production company Flaneur Films. These titles include, amongst others, Phantasiesätze, Afterwater and Projekt by Dane Komljen, Outside Noise by Ted Fendt, Two Minutes to Midnight by Yael Bartana and A Flower in the Mouth by Éric Baudelaire.
Director of Photography
Born 1961 in France. After camera internship and assistance, camerawoman on over 70 documentaries and feature films since 1984. Collaboration with, among others: Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Klier, Jan Schütte, Rudolph Thome, Hans Erich Viet, Philip Gröning, Marcel Gisler, Helga Reidemeister, Georg Maas, Aysun Bademsoy, Doris Metz, Judith Kennel, Lilo Mangelsdorff, Mirjam Kubescha, Erica von Möller, Maria Teresa Camoglio, Jo Schmeisser, Annika Larsson, Michael Radford, Mareike Wegener, Ingo Haeb, Matthias Luthardt, Johanna Sunder-Plassmann, Tama Tobias-Macht, Imogen Kimmel, Greta-Marie Becker.
Since 1990 teaching at various film schools.
From 2006 to 2011 co-head of the camera department at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb).
From 2011 to 2021 professor at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM Cologne).
Since 2021 professor at the Film University Konrad Wolf, Potsdam.
Director
Sheila Curran Bernard is an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning filmmaker, author, and educator based in upstate New York. She is credited on nearly 50 hours of prime time broadcast and theatrical programming, including the feature documentary Slavery by Another Name, and is the author of Documentary Storytelling, now going into its fifth edition and available in Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Polish, and Japanese with an Arabic edition due out soon. With Kenn Rabin, she is also the author of Archival Storytelling, now in its second edition. Bernard has led master classes and served on festival juries in Poland, Norway, Belgium, and the United States. She earned her MFA in Creative Writing from Goddard College and is an associate professor at the University at Albany, State University of New York.
Think-Film Impact Production
Danielle leads the global impact strategy and has run successful film advocacy campaigns for numerous award-winning documentary and feature films. She is currently credited in the following as; associate producer for “The Cave” by Oscar nominated and Emmy awarded Director Feras Fayyad (the “Last Men in Aleppo”) led by Danish Documentary and National Geographic, Executive Producer for 8 times Oscar winning director Bruce Beresford’ upcoming feature film on “Erich Wolfgang Korngold”, Oscar shortlisted and Emmy nominated “My Enemy, My Brother” directed by Ann Shin, co-producer for “iHUMAN” directed by Tonje Hessen Schei, impact advisory board member for Director Dan Reed’s (Leaving Neverland) next feature doc in development, associate producer for multiple award-winning docu-fiction “La Soledad” directed by Jorge Thielen Armand, feature role on impact in Nobel Peace Prize winner Nadia Murad’s story “On Her Shoulders” among many others.
Her vision and work have led to world changing action and provided insight for greater social impact amongst the highest-level decision makers from the socio-political and corporate arenas. Some of the most notable impact actions include: the removal of a deadly toxic-solvent from global supply chains, the launch of reports and training for improved access to medicines in Venezuela, the demand for a binding treaty on business and human rights at the United Nations as well as the successful recognition of the plight faced by Yazidi women by ensuring recognition for Nobel Peace Prize Winner Nadia Murad across the EU and globally.
She has notable experience in the policy, social and non-governmental arenas; having served in the Cabinet of President Martin Schulz at the European Parliament. Her mission with Think-Film Impact Production has since been to develop a campaigning strategy to distribute and create social and political awareness which creates a lasting impact that goes beyond screening rooms and cinemas. Danielle views their films as visual policy briefs that not only make rational, fact-based claims but also propel emotional, lasting narratives.
Director of Photography
Daniela Knapp, born in Austria, living in Berlin, graduated in 2001 in the field of Camera at the Filmakademie Baden Württemberg.
She has been working with director Sven Taddicken since her student days. among others on EMMAS GLÜCK and GLEISSENDES GLÜCK.
For Julia v. Heinz she made the photography for "Was am Ende zählt" and "Hannas Reise".
For her work on Chris Kraus's historical film "Poll", Daniela Knapp was awarded the German Filmpreis 2011 for Best Camera, and her first television film "Katharina Luther" was directed by Julia v. Heinz and received the Bavarian Television Award for Best Camera in 2017.
She is a member of the BVK.
Editor
Anne Fabini has been editing notable feature films and documentaries since 1999. Two of the documentaries she edited, Writing With Fire (2022) by Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Gosh and Of Fathers and Sons (2019) by Syrian director Talal Derki won an Academy Award® nomination. In 2022, the Colombian documentary Alis by Clare Weiskopf and Nicolás van Hemelryck won the Crystal Bear at Berlin International Film Festival. At the 2023 Berlinale edition, a narrative feature she edited, Someday We’ll Tell Each Other Everything by Emily Atef, premiered in the competition.
Anne Fabini is winner of the German Film Award for Best Editing (2019 – Of Fathers and Sons) and the German Film Critics Award for Best Editing (2017 – Houston). International awards include FAMAS 2020 Best Editing for the Philippine documentary Aswang and the 2019 Durban Film Festival Best Editing Award for The Tale by Jennifer Fox.
Passionate about passing on her knowledge, she often works as story consultant and mentor at international documentary workshops. She is a member of Rough Cut Service, the European and the American Film Academy.
Think-Film Impact Production
Think-Film Impact Production is a unique impact media company which uses visual storytelling as a powerful tool to raise awareness of social and political issues, drive forward policy change and cultivate real, sustainable progress at grassroots, national and international levels. The company is led by Founder and Executive Director Danielle Turkov and Global Impact Director Amy Shepherd.
Amy draws from an extensive professional background in international law, politics and social justice advocacy to curate and implement imaginative and meaningful film impact campaigns that achieve measurable real-world outcomes. She thrives on adding layers of meaning and legacy to creative endeavours, challenging film industry expectations of what impact can deliver.
Editor
Born in Rome in 1980. Following completion of high school in Rome (Liceo Classico Torquato Tasso), he obtained a diploma in film editing from Rome’s Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in 2004. He curated the editing and colour correction of many of Italy’s and foreign film directors, amongst whom: Abdellatif Kechiche, Pietro Marcello, Gabriele Mainetti, Claudio Noce, Pippo Mezzapesa, Daniele Segre, Lamberto Sanfelice e Carlo Sironi. In 2005 he taught post production at Turin’s Experimental Cinematography Centre, animation department, then at L’Aquila’s Centre in 2011. From 2013 to 2019 he taught digital post production at Rome’s Experimental Cinematography Centre. In 2016 he won the David di Donatello award for best film editing with the film “Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot” directed by Gabriele Marinetti, which won 7 awards. Amongst others, he curated the colour correction and post production of Mektoub My Love by Abdellatif Kechiche, selected by the 2017 Venice Film Festival, of Tir by Alberto Fasulo winner of the Marc’Aurelio d’Oro Roma award 2013 and of Sacro Gra by Gianfranco Rosi winner of the Leone d’Oro award in Venice in 2013.
Producer
Born in August 1953, Turin - Italy, where he graduated in Medicine in 1979. In 1984, together Elena Filippini and Stefano Tealdi, he founded Stefilm. He runs writing, production and pitching lab for Documentary in Europe, Docu Regio, Zelig School-Bolzano, Raccontare l'Avventura-Trento Film Festival, Bottega Finzioni-Bologna, IDS Academy, Opening Doors-Scuola Holden Torino, Film Garage-Scuola Holden Torino, Sguardi Factory Lab-Arezzo, Maja. Member of the Doc/it board and Documentary in Europe. As a producer he trained and followed most of Stefilm's productions“first director" for TV and Cinema. His last production is "My home, in Libya" by Martina Melilli was selected in the official selection at the Locarno festival 2018 and won the Corso Salani award, Trieste 2019.
Author and producer
Born in 1952, studied literature in Marburg and Hamburg. University lecturer at the University of Hamburg and at the University of Rome "La Sapienza" 1985-1991. Author of biographies. Television journalist since 1983 for ARD, ZDF, 3sat, arte. Founded in 1999 the film production "Magic Mountain Film Berlin" with focus on the cultural documentary. Author of numerous documentary films. „Wohin denn ich. Der arme Hölderlin, NDR 1985, „Kriminalgeschichte einer Verfälschung. Der Fall Friedrich Nietzsche“, ZDF 1999, „Der Kreuzzug der Kinder“(zus. mit Martin Papirowski) ZDF, arte 2006; „Einmal einen Mönch vergiften. Umberto Eco“ BR, arte 2007, „Klassentreffen in der Toskana. Der junge deutsche Film“ (zus. mit Natalie Schulz) WDR, 3Sat 2008; „Richard Strauss. Das umstrittene Musikgenie, mdr, arte 2014; „Branford Marsalis. The Soundillusionist“ hr, arte 2016, „Alexander Kluge. Der Universalkünstler aus Halberstadt“ mdr 2018.
Producer
Georg Tschurtschenthaler is a Berlin-based creative producer, writer, and showrunner of high-quality documentaries, series and interactive projects with more than 15 years of experience. In his career Georg has earned some 25 credits for his work on non-fiction projects, mostly for the international market. In addition he is co-founder of the Bolzano-based production house ECHO FILM. In 2013, he was awarded with the Grimme Award, the most important German TV award, as creative producer / showrunner in the 6x52 min series FAREWELL COMRADES; in 2014, he was nominated for the Emmys for THE WAGNER FILES, and in 2019 he was awarded with the Grimme Award as creative producer for the Sundance-premiering documentary THE CLEANERS.
Coach, media trainer, Berlin (DE)
Katrin Nandelstädt provides presentation and media coaching for people from culture, science, business and politics. She also does group trainings for clients like Humboldt Universität, Max-Planck-Institut, Siemens, Arup, Sparkx Leadership Program for Women in Media Companies. For filmmakers she offers special pitch trainings, among others she works with Documentary Campus, Erich Pommer Institut, Sheffield Dok/Fest, Polish Audiovisual Producers Chamber of Commerce. Katrin is a journalist by profession. She studied journalism and economics in Dortmund, Berlin and Brussels, did a traineeship at Deutsche Welle and worked as an author and presenter for WDR, ZDF and Deutschlandfunk Kultur. For the past 15 years, she has been a systemic consultant, business coach and communications trainer and has continued her education in voice formation, mental training, hypnosis, breath therapy and EMDR.
Editor, Berlin (DE)
Studies in Philosophy and cinema, at Munich (Germany), with a degree thesis about Federico Fellini: the clown as a shape at the border between life and death. She lived many years in New York and in Africa, and is an editor since 2000. She has worked with Emily Atef, Volker Koepp, Micah Magee, Wael Shawky, Michael Klette, Cordula Kablitz, Wim Wenders, Markus Imhoof, and many others, who helped her to develop her sensibility. She is member of the German Film Academy and of the BFS (German Editors Association).
Writer, director, editor & lecturer, Berlin (DE)
Born 1962 in London. 1981-84 English Language & Literature, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, then picture editor, BBC TV News, London. 1989-92 National Film & TV School, UK. Based in Berlin, Germany 1992-2006, then worked at the European Film College, Denmark 2006-8. Senior Lecturer at the University of South Wales 2010-15, currently Programme Leader, MA Documentary & Factual at Met Film School, Berlin. Active member of CILECT, co-organiser with Heidi Gronauer of "Teaching Documentary" conference (Cardiff 2014, Bolzano 2018). In Berlin from 2015, teaching filmmaking and working as a mentor in various European countries. 2005-18 Co-Host of The D-Word documentary community. Films as writer/director include MEMORY OF BERLIN (1998), BEHIND WORDS (2005), FRIENDLY ENEMY ALIEN (2006), POWER & PLACE (2010).
Script writer/Director/Producer, Kiev, Ukraine
Sergei Loznitsa was born on September, 5th 1964. In 1997 he graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, where he studied feature filmmaking. Sergei Loznitsa has been making documentary films since 1996, and he has directed award-winning 18 documentaries. Loznitsa’s feature debut “MY JOY” (2010) premiered in the main competition at the Festival de Cannes, and was followed by the feature film “IN THE FOG” (2012), which was awarded FIPRESCI prize at the 65th Festival de Cannes. In 2013 Sergei Loznitsa launched a film production and distribution company ATOMS & VOID. Loznitsa’s feature-length documenatry “MAIDAN” (2014), the chronicles of the Ukrainian revolution, had its world premiere at a Séance Special of Festival de Cannes. Sergei continues to work both in documentary and feature genres.
DOP, Bolzano (IT)
After training as a DOP in Milan, the cameraman and photographer Kurt Moser began to work for the Italian studio of Austrian broadcaster ORF. Moving to Rome, he worked on reports for the German broadcasters ZDF and Pro 7 as well as for Swiss TV. From 1996 onwards he worked on documentary films for numerous notable broadcasters, such as ARD, ARTE, BBC and CNN, and produced for TERRA X and UNIVERSUM among others. He then spent some years as a war correspondent and got a „ Grimme Price „ nomination for this. One of his best-known works is his 2009 cinema documentary “Das Auge 3D: Leben und Arbeiten am Cerro Paranal”, for which he received the “Award for Best Picture” at the Dimension3 international film festival in Paris. Kurt has since 2010 been working on ultra large format photography and has sifted through dozens of historical books and documents, updating the approaches of the past to the possibilities of the modern era. Today he is one of the few experts in this area and his work has met with considerableonal approval.
DOP, Hamburg/Munich (DE)
1990 University of Television and Film / Munich. Since 1993 cameraman of many long documentary films; since 1996 camera for advertising, feature film and series. Producer, director, cameraman and author. Founding of the New Horizons Film and Media Production in Hanover and Munich. Development of feature film and documentary film projects. Lecturer at the Film School ZeLIG in Bolzano (Italy), HFF / Munich, Film Academy Ludwigsburg, ARD-ZDF Media Academy, nordmedia 'Hands on HD Workshop'. Special experience in international productions (Italy, China). Shooting in Italy, France, Spain, Japan, Canada, Poland, Turkey, China, Russia and India.
Coach and Trainer, Zurich / Switzerland
Christine Loriol is a journalist, texter and communications consultant as well as a coach and trainer for people who have to speak in public in any situations as presentation, pitching, interviews etc. She has been giving workshops, seminaries and personal trainings for many years – especially also for people working in the film industry, for example with www.focal.ch and the Swiss Film Prize, as well as also for ESoDoc 2015 in Palermo. For ESoDoc she gave a open Pitching-Workshop and one-to-one-Coachings for every project. She is born 1960 and lives in Zurich / Switzerland. She speaks german, english, french and italian.
CEO of Together Films, London (UK)
Sarah Mosses is CEO of Together Films, a new consultancy working with social issue film content to reach new audiences. She helps filmmakers craft Impact Distribution Campaigns to increase both their social impact, audience reach and revenue potential. As an award winning Producer, Sarah’s debut feature documentary They Will Have To Kill Us First had its World Premiere at SXSW 2015 and European Premiere at London Film Festival 2015. Sarah is a mentor for Documentary Campus, ESoDoc, Sheffield DocFest, On Screen Manitoba, working with emerging producers to enhance their film narrative and distribution/marketing potential.
Director, Crossover Labs; Curator, Alternate Realities, Sheffield Doc/Fest, (GB)
As director of Crossover Labs, Mark works with film and TV producers and directors, games developers and web designers, preparing them to become the producers of tomorrow, through labs and workshops. He curates the Alternate Realities strand at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, comprising the Interactive Summit, a public exhibition of the world’s most exciting interactive and Virtual Reality documentary work, and the AR market for interactive projects seeking funding. He is an award-winning independent producer, having been commissioned by BBC, Channel 4 and international networks over the past six years.
CEO of RCS ( Rough Cut Service), Helsinki (FI)
Iikka Vehkalahti, Executive Producer in IV Films Ltd, Rough Cut Service and Dare To Dream. Consultant for Steps and AfriDocs. Commissioning Editor for the Finnish Broadcasting Company Finland 1998-2015. Executive Producer for 'Steps For The Future' and one of the Series Producers for 'Why Democracy'. He has been involved or supported numerous international well known documentaries like 'Three Rooms of Melancholy', 'Act of Killing', 'Armadillo', 'Happiness', 'Don't Breath', 'Lakshmi and Me', 'Placebo', 'Vivas las Antipodas' etc. 'Steps by Steps' is one of his books.
Director/Producer and Head of Development - Stefilm International, Turin (IT)
Born in Johannesburg (South Africa) in 1955, he studies Architecture in Torino – Italy and founds the film production company Stefilm in 1991. He directed 'A World of Pasta', 'Doctor Ice' (Science Film Festival 2009) and the series 'Food Markets - In the Belly of the City' (10x52). He produced 'Mostar United' (IDFA 2009), 'Vinylmania' (IFF Rotterdam 2012), 'Char, no man’s island' (Berlinale Forum 2013), 'The Queen of Silence' (IDFA 2014, 'Silver Horn', best feature length doc Krakow FF 2015, Golden Nanook - Flahertiana IDF Perm 2015). He tutors for: Biennale Cinema College Venice, Cinema do Brasil, Cannes Film Market, Documentary Campus, EDN, Films de 3 Continents – Produire au Sud, Media Business School, Med Film Factory, Scuola Holden, TFL-Torino Film Lab, Film Garage, ZagrebDox Pro, ESoDoc / ZeLIG School for Documentary, Bolzano.
Free lance film consultant and film critic, Copenhagen (DK)
Born 1947. Danish. He worked with short and documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Institute. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TVFestival, Filmkontakt Nord and Documentary of the EU. He has given documentary courses and seminars in more than 30 countries. From 1996 until 2005 he was director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 he has been a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, ZeLIG School for Documentary, Caucadoc as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. www.filmkommentaren.dk
Editor and Director, Berlin (Germany)
Following studies in Film Direction and Psychology, he received a Ph.D. in Philosophy. He has worked as a film editor and screenwriter since 1973, for documentaries and experimental films. He has conducted important research and written extensively on the esthetics and theory of editing and more, including the book 'Der Film verliert sein Handwerk', and co-authored with Hans J. Wulff, 'Film und Psychologie'. He’s taught at many film schools, including HfbK, Hamburg; UdK, Berlin; FHSS, Berlin; FU, Berlin; HU, Berlin; Vienna Film Academy; HFF, Potsdam; ZeLIG, Bolzano; Filmarche, Berlin. Visit his website dedicated to film editing: www.montagetheorie.de
Writer • Speaker • Documentary Doctor, New York (USA)
Internationally renowned writer and speaker Fernanda Rossi has collaborated for 15 years in more than 500 fiction scripts and documentaries, including two documentaries nominated for the Academy Award®. The grant proposals and fundraising samples she contributed to received funding from ITVS in the United States and the National Film Board of Canada. She has given her lectures in more than 12 countries and at film festivals and markets, such as Hot Docs and Sheffield Doc/Fest. In addition, she’s is a trainer for special programs and a grant evaluator for foundations. Her book Trailer Mechanics: 'How to Make Your Documentary Fundraising Demo,' 2nd Edition, is according to industry professionals the bible on demo production. www.documentarydoctor.com
Director, Rome (Italy)
Born in Padova in 1963. Studied cinema and anthropology in Bologna and Paris. Screenwriter, director, director of photography, and cameraman, Rossetto is considered one of the leading documentary makers of his generation. He is also a producer and teaches cinema. His films – distributed internationally and selected at a host of prestigious film festivals – include: 'Il Fuoco di Napoli', 'Bibione Bye Bye One', 'Chiusura' and 'Piccola Patria', which was selected for the Horizons section at the 2013 Venice Film Festival.
Cinematographer, Lisboa (PT)
A cinematographer working in documentary, and in feature length fiction film. Since 1993, he has made the photography of more than forty films, including several co-productions between Portugal, France, Belgium, Germany, Guinea, Sweden, USA, Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, among others. His name is linked to a new generation of directors who developed Portuguese documentary film in the beginning of the 90s. He co-directed and was the cinematographer of his first documentary 'In Between Walls', selected for several festivals (Cinéma du Réel, Festival Dei Popoli, among others). In 2003, he received the Best Cinematography Award at Doc Lisboa for the film 'Restless', by Catarina Mourão. In 2007, he was attributed two more awards of Best Cinematography (VIII European Cinema festival, Lecce/Italy and Cineport Festival – João Pessoa/Brazil). 'A Corte do Norte' by João Botelho, was selected for the New York Film Festival, and won a Special Jury Award at Rome Film Festival. His last feature, 'Letters from War' (by Ivo Ferreira), was in the main competition program of the Berlinale 2016.
Editor, Director, Rome (Italy)
She attended the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, the italian national film school, where she studied audiovisual creation and editing. She works as film editor and director in Europe. Has worked with Vittorio de Seta, Citto Maselli, Paolo Virzì, Helga Reidemeister, among others, on films selected for film festivals in Venice, Berlin, Locarno and many more. She has directed documentaries about Italy, immigration, and music videos for Italian and international artists (Paolo Fresu, Omar Sosa, The Sessions Voices). She has taught dramaturgy and editing since 2000, and has been at ZeLIG since 2003. She has worked as script supervisor and editor on over 100 feature-length and short films. In 2008 she co-founded 'Sorandaye', a multiethnic theater and dance company, which performs in Rome and Senegal. Beginning in 2016, she, along with 5 collaborators from different European countries, heads a film workshop supported by the Ayudh Foundation and the European Union, which works with young people 15 to 30 years of age from all over the world.
Freelance Film Editor and Script Consultant, Cologne (Germany)
She studied theatre, cinema and television, German Literature and Philosophy in Munich and Cologne, where she earned her Master of Arts degree. A freelance film editor and script consultant since 1991. Visiting professor at the Filmuniversität in Babelsberg, where she teaches editing, 2014-present. She also teaches at ZeLIG, the Baltic Film and Media School, and the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. She is a member of the European and German Film Academies; VeDRA, the Screenwriters’ Association for Cinema and Television; and BFS, the German Association of Film Editors. She is a founding member of LaDOC, a network of documentary filmmakers. She lives and works in Cologne and Berlin.
Documentary director, AMREF Rome (IT)
As a PhD fish biologist he worked as researcher at the University of Rome. In 1996 he co-produced Emanuele Crialese’s first feature film, an experience that made him drop a promising university career to jump into the uncertainty of filmaking. Since then, he’s been working in directing social documentaries (among others, the feature length 'Black Pinocchio' and 'An Italian School'). Starting from 2000 he collaborates with AMREF (the African Medical and Research Foundation) where he promoted, along with Giulio Cederna and John Muiruri, a participatory video (PV) training within the AMREF street children rehabilitation project in Nairobi, Kenya. Here he directed several awarded participatory films for national and international TVs (such as TV Slum, African Spelling Book, Millennium News, The Turkish Glance). Besides Nairobi, he has been running PV workshops in Italy, France, Switzerland and Morocco.
Director + Broadcast Development, Northern Light Productions, Bosten (USA)
Susan Gray is an American documentary filmmaker whose films have aired on PBS, National Geographic, Discovery, Arte, Channel 5, NHK, Canal Plus, Sundance, Showtime, and television channels worldwide, as well as theaters and festivals. She has a masters degree from the Columbia School of Journalism and from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Her films have won the best of Input, the Prix Europa, and (controllare) and nominated for the Adolph Grimme Award. She is a dual American/Italian citizen and teaches documentary writing in Italy and the United States.
Engineer and Photographer, Cologne (Germany)
Achim DUnker works as a cameraman, director and film editor, and is the owner of the Zwo-Filmproduktion production company. He has written extensively on lighting and camera technique. His books include 'Die chinesische Sonne scheint immer von unten' (Lighting in Cinema, 6th editione) and 'eins zu hundert' (a photography manual, 2nd edition). Teaches seminars and workshop on cinema and lighting.
Filmmaker, Festival consultant, Leipzig (DE)
Claas Danielsen, born in April 1966 in Hamburg, is a filmmaker, producer, lecturer and festival director living in Leipzig/Germany. He made seven documentaries of which several did an extensive festival tour, won international awards and were sold to European broadcasters. In 1997 he became assistant to the professor in the documentary department of the Munich Film Academy where he built up a new chair for TV-journalism. In 1999 Danielsen became Head of Studies of Discovery Campus (nowadays Documentary Campus). From 2004 till the end of 2014 he was Artistic and Managing Director of DOK Leipzig, the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Films, which he developed into one of the leading international doc festivals. Claas Danielsen was board member of the German documentary filmmakers’ association AG DOK and the European Documentary Network EDN for several years. He is a member of and an advisor to the European Film Academy, board member of the Balkan Documentary Center and has served on many international festival juries and the selection committees of different German film and media funds.
Indipendent filmmaker, Toronto (CAN)
Katerina Cizek is a two-time Emmy-award winning, internationally recognized director and writer in the digital space. Her media work has documented the Digital Revolution, and has itself become part of the movement. She has built collaborations with a diverse range of community, academic and media partners to co-create media. She works across many media platforms: digital media, broadcasting (radio and television), print and live presentations/installations. She is the director of an award-winning digital documentary media project at the National Film Board of Canada, called HIGHRISE. She realized the acclaimed NFB Filmmaker-in-Residence program, winner of a Webby Award, among others. Her media projects have instigated criminal investigations, changed UN policies, and have screened as evidence at an International Criminal Tribunal. Cizek's Films include the Hampton-Prize winner 'Seeing is Believing': Handicams, Human Rights and the News (co-directed with Peter Wintonick), and 'The Dead are Alive: Eyewitness in Rwanda', the First global television documentary (1995) made about the genocide. Her work has been seen by millions around the world, through TV broadcasts and publishing on the web. She has travelled the world with her projects, teaching and mentoring with her innovative approaches to the documentary genre, community-based collaborative practices and digital media. She is currently a Visiting Artist at MIT, completing her Final iteration of the NFB HIGHRISE documentary.
Commissioning Editor ZDF/ARTE; Head of Studies ESoDoc, Mainz (DE)
Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is commissioning editor at German public broadcaster ZDF for various documentary slots on ARTE, the European Culture Channel. At ZDF/ARTE, where she is deputy head of the department 'Thema', they are coproducing one offs, Theme Evenings, documentary series and cross-media projects. The topics Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is handling, range from culture, science and history to current affaires, human interest and sociopolitical issues. Her list of projects include award winning films like 'The Act of Killing' and 'The Look of Silence', 'Drone', 'netwars', 'Claude Lanzmann – Spectres of the Shoah', 'Ingrid Bergman in her own words'… Sabine Bubeck-Paaz started her career as a print journalist. As a tutor for documentary projects, she has been participating since many years in international pitching and training workshops. Since 2015, Sabine Bubeck-Paaz is, next to her job at ZDF/ARTE, also Head of Studies of ESoDoc - European Social Documentary, the training initiative for cross-thinkers and media professionals, who want to increase impact and outreach of their documentary projects.
Director of Photography (A. I. C.), Rome (Italy)
Born in 1961 in Tunisia. Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, University of Tunis. Studied photography at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rome, 1988-1990. Works as Director of Photography, and teaches at several film schools.
Films:
'Esercito più piccolo del Mondo' (2015) and 'Sul Vulcano' (2014), directed by Gianfranco Pannone; 'Kaspar Hauser' (2012) and 'Beket' (2008), directed by Davide Manuli; 'Palestine Stereo' (2013) and 'Laila's Birthday' directed by Rashid Masharawi, selected for the San Sebastian Film Festival (2008); 'Riparo' (2008), directed by Marco Simon Piccioni; 'Ce n'è per tutti' (2009) and 'Gas' (2005), directed by Luciano Melchionna; 'Pouppées d'Argile' (2002), directed by Nouri Bouzid; 'Latina - Littoria' (2001), directed by Gianfranco Pannone, winner: Best Documentary at the Torino Film Festival; 'Crudo' (2000), directed by Irma Immacolata Palazzo, nominated for a European Golden Globe Award; 'L'America a Roma' (1998), directed by Gianfranco Pannone, selected for the Locarno International Film Festival; 'Giro di luna tra terra e mare' (1997), directed by Giuseppe Gaudino, selected for the Venice Film Festival.
Director of Photography, Berlin (Germany)
Born in Erfurt in 1953. Following military service, studied camera at East Germany’s Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen, and with Deutsche Film AG. Left East Germany with his wife and daughter in 1982 for India, and the following year began work as a freelance cameraman in West Berlin. Further training led to work in documentary and docufiction. Teaches at film schools in Germany, Italy and Myanmar, where his focus is on fine-tuned observation of reality.
Pitching Expert, Erbach (DE)
Born 1958, since 1995 she works as communication skill trainer for production companies, producers and writers. For renowned national and international universities, and for film schools and academies, she teaches 'The Art Of Pitching'. In her intensive workshop sessions she enables producers, writers, directors to hone, fine- and time-tune their projects prior to pitching as well as gain insight into their own professional practice. Her book 'Pitch It' has been published in 2015 for the third edition. Her motto is: say, what you think - do, what you say, - be, what you do. Her focus is on project presentation, proposal development, dramaturgical doctoring, consultancy and personal coaching. Additionally she helps in project development through dramaturgical advice. Projects include all feature fiction, documentary, animation and children formats. Furthermore she offers communication skills and negotiation training as well as personal coaching, also for creative people in the fields of “Arts & Culture”.
Professor, editor, Certified Instructor Avid (ACI), Munich (DE)
After completing his degrees on Magister Artium (M.A.) in Sciences of Communication, Journalism, History of Art and Dramatics at the University of Munich, Bodo Klemz became manager of film and video production and postproduction for a famous advertising agency of political communications and a well-known bavarian media company for nearly 20 years. In 1994 he established his own Munich-domiciled certified training center for digital nonlinear film&video editing, named interBasics. Bodo Klemz was among the first ones of german editors who received the Avid Certified Instructor (ACI) by Avid Technology, Inc. Since 1994, he was assistant lecturer for digital film&video editing, montage, composition and supervisor at Munich University for Television and Film (HFF), Bavarian Academy for Television (BAF) and ZeLIG. Bodo Klemz is member of the Bavarian Association of Journalists (BJV) since 1980. www.bbklemz.de
Professor of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture, Berlin (Germany)
Graduated from the University of Utrecht, and published her dissertation 'Aller Anfang' on screenwriting and cognitive dramaturgy. Professor of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture at the University of Bonn. Was an assistant for the research project entitled 'The History of Documentary Films in Germany, 1945-2005'. Visiting professor of Film and Media Theory at the University of Vienna, 2011-2012. Co-edited (along with Christine N. Brinckmann and Ludger Kaczmarek) 'Motive des Films. Ein kasuistischer Fischzug' (2012). A member of the editorial staff of the magazine 'Montage AV'. She lives in Berlin.
