Florian Hoffmann

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".

Carlo Missidenti

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.

Joelle Alexis

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

Raimo Lang

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.

Zsuzsanna Kiràly

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.

Sophie Maintigneux

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.

Sheila Curran Bernard

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.

Danielle Turkow Wilson

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.

Daniela Knapp

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.

Anne Fabini

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.

Amy Shepherd

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.

Andrea Maguolo

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.

Edoardo Fracchia

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.

Reinhold Jaretzky

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.