Awards

Since 2007 she has worked as an author for the political satirical program quer, the cultural program Capriccio (Bayerischer Rundfunk) and ttt. Between 2011 and 2013 lecturer at the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, Aesthetic Theory. Her film “Hunter from Elsewhere - a Journey with Helen Britton” was released last March by W-Film. She works as a freelance filmmaker and producer across genres between fiction, essayistic and documentary. Lives in Munich and Málaga.

Leonhard Hofmann is a director and film author. His short film DREI BÄUME SIND KEIN WALD was shown at numerous renowned festivals and was shortlisted for the German Short Film Award. His first feature-length documentary FRANK MEYER celebrated its world premiere in Thessaloniki, won the Granit Documentary Film Award in Hof and the Audience Award at the Lichter Filmfest. He is currently completing his master's degree in feature film directing at the Babelsberg Film University.

Curator, author and moderator. Since 2022 editor of the Leuchtkraft Journal and scientific advisor at the DEFA Foundation. From 2010 to 2022, she was responsible for the "Perspektive Deutsches Kino" section of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Susanne Gietl is a freelance cultural journalist. She works as a cross-media reporter, develops audio formats and media concepts and also works as a speaker. She works as a freelancer for various print media. Her blog kulturschoxx.de deals with immersive performances, exceptional films and projects. She lives in Berlin.

Christian Pogatetz studied English and American Studies at the University of Graz and Theater, Film and Media Studies at the University of Vienna. He worked and helped design the program at Leslie Open, an open-air cinema in Graz. He works as a freelance writer for the Kleine Zeitung and has been a film critic for UNCUT-Movies - Das Online Kinomagazin since 2015. He lives in Graz.

Sarah Stutte is a freelance film journalist. She publishes texts in the NZZ am Sonntag and Weltwoche Magazin, as well as regularly in numerous print and online magazines in Switzerland and Germany, such as Deadline Filmmagazin, kino-zeit.de, Filmbulletin, Cinema Jahrbuch and cineman.ch. She also writes booklet texts for German labels such as Cinestrange, Capelight and Pierrot Le Fou. She studied journalism, literary writing and screenwriting in Zurich. She has been a permanent member of the Kino Nische team in Winterthur since 2014. She lives near Zurich.

Verena Gräfe-Höft is a Hamburg-based producer and founder and CEO of JUNAFILM. Before studying film at the Hamburg Media School (HMS), she worked as a freelance journalist for various radio and TV stations. After graduating from film school, she founded her own production company JUNAFILM in Hamburg in 2009. Verena Gräfe-Höft is a member of the EAVE Producer Network and ACE Producers, alumna of the European TV Drama Labs. In 2017, she was selected by German Films to represent Germany in Cannes as “Producer on the Move”. For PELIKANBLUT she won the Producer Award in the category “German Cinema Production” at Filmfest Hamburg in 2019 and was selected to participate in the renowned international leadership program “Inside Pictures” in the same year. She is an alumni speaker and on the advisory board of the Hamburg Media School's film studies program and teaches seminars at the HMS and HfBK. She has been a guest at numerous panel discussions and supports young filmmakers as part of various mentorship programs. Verena Gräfe-Höft is also co-founder and representative of WIFT Hamburg (Women in Film & Television).

Constanze Guttmann studied production and media management at the HFF Munich from 2006 to 2010, during and after her studies she worked as Bernd Eichinger's personal assistant. From 2011 to 2015, she was in charge of project development for international and German in-house and co-productions and German distribution titles at Constantin Film. From 2015, she realized feature films and series for Constantin Film and Constantin Television, first as a producer and then as a producer. Her projects as a producer include TIMM THALTER ODER DAS VERKAUFTE LACHEN and TIGERMILCH (both 2017). As a producer, she was responsible for TIDE (2021), HOME SWEET HOME - WO DAS BÖDE WOHNT, HAUS AUS GLAS (both 2022), among others. She co-produced AXOLOTL OVERKILL (2017) and TIGER GIRL (both 2017) as well as SEPTEMBER 5, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival 2024 and is a hot Oscar® contender. She has been working as a freelance producer since October 2024.

Joseph M'Barek, born in Munich in 1986, studied film production at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg until 2011. He then worked as a producer for various Munich production companies such as Odeon Entertainment, Die Film GmbH and Sam Film GmbH. In his subsequent work as a producer for ARRI Productions, he co-produced films such as DIE KÄNGURU CHRONIKEN, TRAUMFABRIK and the German Film Award-winning CURVEBALL. Joseph M'Barek has been working for STUDIOCANAL Germany since 2020, developing and producing material for the German and international cinema and series market. His current projects include the co-production STILLER by Stefan Haupt with Albrecht Schuch and Paula Beer in the leading roles.