7 Minutes Pitch

Do you have a project you believe in? A story that moves you? Do you want to push your project further, but lack the crucial connections? We offer five talents the chance to present their project to selected mentors from the film industry and to visit the 58th International Hof Film Festival.

The 7 Minutes Pitch will take place on Thursday, October 24, 2024 at 11 a.m. as part of the 58th Hof International Film Festival.

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Industry representatives

Joerg Schneider

ZDF Das kleine Fernsehspiel

Jörg Schneider

Jörg Schneider has been an editor in the ZDF editorial department of Das kleine Fernsehspiel since 1998. He provides dramaturgical and editorial support for feature films and documentaries, including international co-productions. Recent films he has supervised include “Toubab”, “The Ordinaries”, “Alaska” and the ZDFneo series “Deadlines”. For ZDF, he participated in the First Movie program and was a member of the jury of the Vienna Film Fund. He is a member of the award committee of the MV-Filmförderung and the board of trustees of the Film University Babelsberg. He currently works for the editorial team at the Hauptstadtstudio Berlin.

Lena Bacchet

Rushlake - Kino on Demand

Lena Bacchet

Lena Bacchet has been Head of Editorial and Acquisitions at Rushlake Media since 2013. Rushlake Media is a global sales and digital distribution company with offices in Cologne and Nairobi. Previously, she worked for the Cologne-based production company Broadview TV and for several years as a marketing and delivery assistant for the global distributor The Match Factory. After graduating, she worked in press and public relations for the Cologne film festival Film+ (now Edimotion Festival). Lena Bacchet studied German and Comparative Literature in Bonn and graduated with an M.A. in 2007.

Christos Acrivulus

Missing Films

Christos Acrivulus

Christos Acrivulis has curated the programs for many film festivals, including the Max Ophüls Prize and the Queer Film Festival Turin. In 2007, he founded the film distribution company missingFILMs. His main focus is on up-and-coming films such as DICKE MÄDCHEN and ALASKA, queer films such as THE CAKEMAKER and the complete filmography of Rosa von Praunheim. Since 2020, missingFILMs has been bringing digitized and restored Italian classics, including films by Fellini and Pasolini, back to the cinema. Acrivulis has been running the KLICK cinema in Berlin for 5 years.

Christine Haupt

FFF Bayern

Christine Haupt

Christine Haupt has been responsible for talent promotion, documentary cinema and low-budget feature films as well as the Special Children's Film Initiative at FFF Bayern since 2023. Studied film production at the Film Academy in Babelsberg “Konrad Wolf” / various positions at broadcasters, including ZDF, MDR / production manager, producer and producer / her portfolio includes feature films, children's films, various documentary formats and short animated films / from 2016 to 2022 she was a jury member of the BKM short film funding / Christine Haupt is a member of the European Film Academy.

Wasiliki Bleser

Starhaus

Wasiliki Bleser

Wasiliki Bleser began her film career in 1995 at ProSieben Media AG in the Series & International Co-Production department. In 1999, she moved to Kinowelt Filmproduktion, where she was in charge of international co-productions. From 2003 to 2005, she worked at Telepool in the legal department and in world sales. In 2005, she returned to Kinowelt as a producer and has been managing director of Starhaus Filmproduktion since 2010.
In recent years, she has produced films such as MAMA AFRICA (2011), DIE WAND (2012), THE GIRL KING (2016), ALLES IST GUT (2018), RABIA (2024) and ZWEITLAND (2024). Wasiliki Bleser is a member of the German, Austrian and European Film Academy.

Participants

Cengiz Akaygün

Cengiz Akaygün is an award-winning director and writer based in Stuttgart. He has made five internationally award-winning short films since 2014. His film Aysha celebrated its German premiere at the Hof Film Festival in October 2021 and won the Short Film Award. Aysha has won awards at numerous renowned short film festivals worldwide and was shortlisted for the German Short Film Award and the 95th Academy Awards. The film was also nominated for the German Human Rights Award 2022. In 2024, Akaygün plans to make another short film entitled Leyla's Test. At the same time, he is working on his first feature-length film, which is scheduled for release in 2025.

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Miri Klischat

Miri Klischat, born in Wuppertal in 1995, gained her first film experience at Medienprojekt Wuppertal, where she still works as a freelancer today. After studying Film & Sound at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts, she moved to Cologne and is currently studying Media Arts at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, specializing in screenwriting and directing. In her cinematic work Miri likes to deal with the body and social taboo topics. Her last short film, “swinging”, won the NRW Award at the 70th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

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Stefanie Landau

Stefanie Landau has more than 11 years of international experience as a producer in five countries: Germany, the UK, the USA, Japan and Indonesia. During this time she has worked for media companies such as 20th Century Fox, VIACOM/Paramount, VICE and independent film productions. She has also worked for advertising agencies such as Serviceplan, VIRTUE and UltraSuperNew, with clients including Daimler, BMW, Samsung and Lenovo. After completing her training as a fiction producer at the Bavarian Academy for Television (BAF) in early 2024, she is currently working freelance on independent film projects and on her feature film debut as a director.

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Sven Fuhrken and Chris Hirschhäuser

Sven Fuhrken was born in Nordenham in 1974. After graduating from high school and the German army, he worked as a camera assistant, director and screenwriter. To date, he has worked on feature-length films such as the multi-award-winning “Toprak” and the multinational production “The Spiritulaziation of Jeff Boyd”. His first own short film “Artist uncredited” (written and co-directed) premieres at the 58th Hof International Film Festival. With “Big Bad Boys”, he shot his second short film this year (written and co-directed) with Tim Seyfi and Francois Goeske.

Chris Hirschhäuser was born in Offenbach am Main in 1975. After training as a photographer, he switched to image design and now works as a cameraman, director and producer. Together with his wife Sevgi Hirschhäuser, he was awarded the Friedrich Baur Gold Prize at the Hof International Film Festival in 2020 for the feature film “Toprak”. His first own short film “Artist uncredited” (camera and co-director) will premiere at the 58th Hof International Film Festival. With “Big Bad Boys”, he shot his second short film this year (camera and co-director) with Tim Seyfi and Francois Goeske.

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Lena Oelschlegel

Born in 1993 in tranquil Upper Franconia, Lena Oelschlegel stayed away from the big film metropolises for the time being, but found her love for the moving image right there, in her homeland: her visits to the annual Hof Film Festival solidified her desire to make film her profession. Her A-levels in 2012 and a year spent traveling were followed by a bachelor's degree in media studies and media practice at the University of Bayreuth, where she took her first steps towards production with her first short film projects.
After successfully completing her degree, she took a small detour: on backpacking trips, the moving image gave way to the pen due to lack of space. After returning to Hamburg, Lena took a liking to the new medium and joined a publishing house, where she wrote editorial texts for two years. But she doesn't stay away from film for long. In 2022, she began a master's degree in film production at the Hamburg Media School, which she successfully completed in September 2024.

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Maximilian Villwock

Maximilian Villwock, who grew up in Hamburg, completed a master's degree in directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, with a focus on feature films and series. His short film FIRE DRILL, which was shot while a container ship was in operation and involves both professional actors and the ship's crew as amateurs, demonstrates his immersive approach. For the development of the film, he spent several months on container ships to experience the day-to-day operations and conduct interviews. FIRE DRILL was nominated for the First Steps Award and will celebrate its premiere at the Hofer Filmtage 2024.
His medium-length feature film PENTHESILEA was funded by 3sat and nominated for the Studio Hamburg Newcomer Award, A PASSAGE received a nomination for a BAFTA Student Award and screened at international festivals such as Guanajuato and Thessaloniki.

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