Curators
INTERFILM Festival
10 - 15 November 2026
10 - 15 November 2026
Curators
Next to the pre-selection Competitions, sections and thematic programs are curated by teams of film-enthusiastic experts. Here is an overview of the curators in 2025:
studied film, theater, ethnology and journalism in Berlin. After his studies he learned film animation at Kaskeline Filmproduktion and realized his own animated films as well as stage designs and projections for the Schaubühne Berlin, Schauspielhaus Hamburg and for the world exhibition spectacle "Flambee" in Hannover 2000. He joined interfilm in 1998 and took over the role of producer.
Selection Committee: International Competition
Selection Committee: VR meets Fulldome
The passionate cineaste initially studied film history and switched from theory to practice when she went to the Film Academy to study screenwriting and directing. She was already a member of the international jury at INTERFILM in 2001. Since then, she has been a regular jury member for the Script Pitch and on the festival's pre-selection committee. This year, she will also be part of the curation team for the International Competition. She has been judging short films for the Almagro International Film Festival (AIFF) in Spain since 2023. She now also works there as a program coordinator and is part of the curation team for the Spanish and international competition. She lives in Berlin and works as a freelance screenwriter and dramaturge.
Selection Committee: International Competition
is a queer writer and director born in Mexico. His short films were screened at Oscar qualifying festivals like Out Fest Los Angeles and Morelia Film Festival. His Spanish feature film screenplay “Acapulco Magic” was a finalist at the Guanajuato Film Festival screenplay competition, it also won the film fund for features in development provided by the Mexican Film Institute IMCINE. The project was invited to La Fabrique Cinéma de l’Institut Français program to attend Cannes Film Festival and Gotham Film Week in New York. He started at Interfilm curating Queer Fever and now is part of the selecting committee of Script Pitch where he also acts as a writing Mentor for the selected screenplays. He co-curates the German Short Film competition at Film Festival Max Ophüls Preis.
Selection Committee: International Competition
Sungyeon Chun is a Berlin-based curator, cultural manager, and documentary filmmaker from South Korea. She has worked across international film festivals in Europe and Asia, focusing on programme coordination and event management. She values cinema as a collective experience, where people gather, open themselves to the screen, and share a space shaped by different emotions and questions. As a filmmaker, she explores how identity shapes the way people experience the city.
Selection Committee: International Competition
Originally coming from the music side of things, Moritz has been playing in punk and reggae bands, has toured extensively as one half of an anti-folk duo and has played records to people for the better part of his life. Studying art, music and media he came in contact with short film which in it’s diversity and diy ethos reminded him immediately of what he loved about the music scenes he came from. Growing interested in questions of narrative perspectives, the contradictions of documentary approaches and essayist forms.
Selection Committee: Dokumentarfilmwettbewerb
Selection Committee: Reality Bites
started as a location manager at interfilm in 2011 and has since worked in various positions for the festival. Since 2018, she has been head of acquisitions for short film distribution at interfilm Berlin. She is also a member of the festival curatorial board, the artistic direction collective and responsible for financing at interfilm. Sarah has a Master's degree in Media Studies from the Film University Babelsberg. She is a member of the selection committee for the German competition.
Selection Committee: German Competition
is a emergent film producer, curator and political educator from Berlin. She is currently studying film production at filmArche and social work with a focus on critical diversity and community studies at Alice Salomon University. She co-initiated and directs the Tibet Film Festival Berlin, curated films at Sinema Transtopia and produced the podcast „die mische ballert“, which sheds light on mixed race BiPoc Perspectives in Germany. In her projects, she combines creative work with political education, particularly on the topics of diversity and community.
Selection Committee: German Competition
Vic Atanasov studied Gender Studies in Berlin and Tokyo, with a research focus on fe/male and queer gazes in Japanese cinema. As an editor and event organizer, Vic is active in Berlin’s queer arts and culture scene. Vic curates the German Competition and co-heads the editorial team together with Lena. Since 2023, Vic has also been working for the Japanese film festival Nippon Connection, where she leads the cultural program and curates the short film section.
Selection Committee: German Competition
has been connected to interfilm and KUKI since childhood and learned to love the short film medium in its artistic and political dimensions here. After a detour into sociolinguistics and a bachelor's degree in production design at the Film University Babelsberg, she is now studying there for a master's degree in film and television production. Felipa works freelance as a director and graphic designer and runs a small production company focusing on educational contents.
Selection Committee: Green Film Competition
has been an interfilmer for over 25 years. He studied sociology and journalism, enjoys writing book reviews, published the book "Das Digital" in 1998 and in 2022 published "When Shiva rages, the world shakes - Hinduism as an adventure in everyday life in India". He has been curating at interfilm since the beginning, he looks after the website, organizes the monthly, nationwide short film programme series Shorts Attack and loves gardening.
Selection Committee: Green Film Competition
Selection Committee: Sound & Vision
I was born in Berlin and work as an editor, film technician, cameraman and currently as a documentary filmmaker. I also realize the technical realization of film festivals, among others for Interfilm and Kuki since 2020. This is my first curation at Interfilm. I am looking forward to great films!
Selection Committee: Green Film Competition
was born in Australia to Chinese-Russian and German immigrants and settled in Berlin in her early twenties in 1993. She has always been involved in music, film, performance and art and has worked at interfilm Berlin since 1998. Monica became Artistic Director of KUKI Young Short Film Festival in 2011, leads KUKI’s film-curation workshops for teenagers, gives talks and curates short film programs for festivals and institutes around the world. In 2021, she joined the short film selection committee at Berlinale-Generation and developed the digital film education platform, Kurzfilm im Klassenraum that was launched in 2022. Her focus lies on the inventive and empathetic potential of the cinematic short form and how film can help young people feel at home in the world and in themselves. For the adult side of interfilm, she researches films and co-curates the genre programs and Teenage Riot.
Selection Committee: KUKI .19 Junges Kurzfilmfestival Berlin
is an ultra-long-term student of German Philology and Social and Cultural Anthropology at the Free University of Berlin. They started working at interfilm in 2017. Their film focus lies on progressive programming for young audiences at KUKI and because she likes all weird things, she is also one of the co-curators and creators of EJECT – The Long Night of Weird Shorts. In 2023, Fredi joined interfilm's festival curatorium, the 8-people collective that forms the artistic direction of the festival.
Selection Committee: KUKI .19 Junges Kurzfilmfestival Berlin
Selection Committee: Eject - The long night of weird shorts
is a director, first assistant director, and actress working across Germany, Russia, and Georgia. Given her background in theatre, her work focuses on close collaboration with actors. She also curates summer filmmaking workshops with a hands-on approach for adults and schoolchildren. Since 2022, she has been working with Interfilm as a volunteer and is now also part of the curation team for Eject – The Long Night of Weird Shorts.
Selection Committee: Eject - Die lange Nacht des abwegigen Films
successfully dropped out of an unhealthy degree course to rock a technical apprenticeship instead and is now industriously sitting in the office for money or travelling around. As a cultural work balance he has been drifting through various media landscapes for years and ended up as a volunteer at Interfilm in 2017. His penchant for tinkering and his open heart for absurd curiosities quickly became apparent and so it was practically inevitable that he has been co-curating and co-producing the show ‘eject’ ever since.
Selection Committee: Eject - The long night of weird shorts
Amélia Umuhire, born 1991 in Kigali, Rwanda is a filmmaker and artist living in Berlin and Kigali. In 2015 she wrote and directed the award-winning web-series “Polyglot,” in which she follows the lives of young, deracinated London- and Berlin-based Rwandese artists. Her short film “Mugabo” is an experimental short film set in Kigali. It was screened at MOCA Los Angeles, the Berlin Biennale and many more. In 2018 Amelia Umuhire produced the Prix Europa nominated radio feature Vaterland for the German radio station Deutschlandfunk Kultur. She was a Villa Romana and Civitella Ranieri Fellow and is currently working on her first feature film.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
Born and raised in Tehran, Davood Madadpoor is a Berlin-based curator and photographer. With a background in visual arts and curatorial studies from Florence, his practice aligns with Sumac Space, mapping how artistic practices operate and can act as forms of world-building and speculative forces. In particular, future fictioning as a way of reimagining contemporary realities shaped by transition, constraint, and shifting socio-political landscapes. Through Sumac Space, which centers on contemporary art from West Asia and its diaspora, he develops exhibition programs and publications that emphasize critical thinking in art practices. He has previously worked with Villa Romana and the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
is an independent producer, curator, story editor, and arts consultant based in Toronto, Canada. Through his mother, he is Anishinaabe and a member of Lake St. Martin First Nation (Manitoba). From July 2010 to June 2020, Jason was the Executive Director of imagineNATIVE, an Indigenous-run organisation mandated to support Indigenous filmmakers and media artists. In this capacity, Jason oversaw all operational and artistic activities of the annual imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival, the world’s largest showcase of Indigenous screen content. He also oversaw the organisation’s year-round initiatives, international partnerships, and special projects, including On-Screen Protocols & Pathways, an influential framework for film and television production, and the 360 VR series 2167. Under his leadership, imagineNATIVE became the global hub for Indigenous film and an integral part of the Canadian industry.
Since his departure from imagineNATIVE, Jason has focussed on his practise as a screen-content producer and film programmer. In March 2022, Jason joined the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) as an International Programmer. He currently programmes narrative features from the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and Global Indigenous Cinema (non-Canadian). Beginning in 2013 until 2020, Jason was an Advisor for Indigenous films at the Berlinale. He also oversaw the Indigenous Cinema stand at the European Film Market from 2015-2020, which promoted features and shorts made by Indigenous filmmakers to international sales agents, distributors, and festivals. In February 2021, Jason received the Clyde Gilmour Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association. The award is bestowed to Canadians whose work has in some way enriched the understanding and appreciation of film in their native country.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
works in film literacy, as well as in curation and cultural management, and curates for festivals such as Berlinale Generation. She is the co-initiator and project lead of CineConnect. Her work focuses on restructuring processes that critically address discrimination and power dynamics. Strengthening communities is particularly important to her, which is why she co-founded jü_misch. She is also deeply engaged with current societal developments, which is why she is pursuing a career as an AI project manager.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
is a Haitian-Dominican actor, director and producer based in Quebec, his work explores identity, memory, migration and intercultural dialogue. Trained in film directing at EICTV and acting in Santo Domingo, he co-founded Soup Joumou Films, AZUEI, ACÚ and the Organic Theater Group. His films have screened at major festivals including Berlin, Cannes, Sundance, and Toronto and he has produced documentaries such as God Willing, Yuli, 1964: Simityè Kamoken and Printemps Now. He has also worked as a trainer, speaker at leading universities and served as both a festival juror and curator.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
Prior to living and studying film in Santo Domingo, she balanced her studies in Cultural Studies and Philosophy in Berlin with diverse work and internships across a range of cultural spaces, galleries, independent venues and film festivals. During her time at Interfilm (2022–2024), she worked happily in venue management, film distribution and was also part of the viewing team.
Selection Committee: Focus: Shared Shores
is a Shiraz-born, Mannheim-raised film curator, programmer, and creative producer currently based in Berlin. She is a curator of Sinema Transtopia, advisor to the Berlinale Forum, Producer at Road River Films and artistic director of Interfilm Script Pitch Lab. In the past she has made film programmes for the Berliner Festspiele and the Akademie der Künste. She is currently engaged in research projects pertaining to the history of Iranian cinema from the 20th century.
Selection Committee: Script Pitch
Regina Anastasia Kewo is a Berlin-based Indonesian filmmaker with a background in neuroscience and a passion for storytelling. After cutting her teeth at KUKI, she joined the Script Pitch Selection Committee in 2025 and curated Rewire Your Mind, a program focused on films that disrupt cognitive patterns, confront biases, and question what we think we know.
Selection Committee: Rewire your Mind
is a Berlin-based multidisciplinary actor & artist, active member of the BIPoC-Alliance, which developed a space for the BIPoC Community at the Berlinale is a co-curator of The Black Gaze at Interfilm but also over all a creative force in various film and storytelling projects.
Selection Committee: The Black Gaze
@yagitown is a Berlin-based filmmaker and visual artist specializing in film, photography and performance art. She graduated from the Filmarche in 2011 in the Cinematography program. In 2021 she received the INITIAL 1st scholarship from the Academy of Arts for her photographic work and research, Hidden Figures, and as part of her former performance collective Luftpflanzen, took part in the Hamburg Fluctoplasma Festival 2021.
Her artistic practice and works mostly revolve around Afro-diasporic feminist and political perspectives that she owes to her ancestors.
Selection Committee: The Black Gaze
@noneofyourbinary is a performer, actor and dancer. Fae is well on the way to completing their degree in film and theatre studies. At the same time, they focus on working both in front of and behind the camera, as well as on and off stage. They began curating at INTERFILM, where they found one of their many homes, as well as making their directorial and production debut at the 39th INTERFILM opening ceremony.
Selection Committee: Queer Fever
was born in Berlin & studied Film Studies and Communication Studies at the Freie Univeristät of Berlin. Alongside she worked part-time in a cinema and enjoyed watching as many films in the cinema as she could in her spare time. Somehow, Sophie ended up as an intern at interfilm Berlin and discovered her passion for funny, weird and cleverly told short films. She is now a all year long member of the team, always ensuring there are plenty of sweets next to pre-viewing, coordinating and organising for the KUKI Young Short Film Festival Berlin, and is part of interfilm’s short film distribution team.
Selection Committee: Queer Fever
studied theater and film studies as well as acting in Berlin and New York and has appeared on stage, TV and film. She curates for various international film festivals, including interfilm Berlin, Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis, Arab Filmfestival San Francsico (2014-2019) and plays and sings in the all female swing band The Toolbox Orchestra. She also works as an on-set coach and acting coach (Young Talents), gives acting and pitch trainings, e.g. for the DFFB Berlin and the KUKI Film Festival and moderates film screenings, panels and events at international (film) festivals.
Selection Committee: Sound & Vision
Selection Committee: Food on Film
is a documentary filmmaker from Scotland, now based in Berlin. Driven by a deep love for cinema, Benjamin is passionate about telling stories. Benjamin has directed two feature-length documentaries and a diverse range of short films. His experience includes working with the Cambodian International Film Festival. With a degree in film production, Benjamin continues to explore the power of documentary as a tool for connection, change, and empathy.
Selection Committee: Sound & Vision
is a Birmingham, Alabama native and Berlin based filmmaker/producer and collage artist. He has produced projects in both Europe and the US. In addition to Interfilm, he is also a part of the selection committee for the Sante Fe International Film Festival, Sidewalk Film Festival and others. Following his 2025 internship with Interfilm, he co-curated Eject - The Long Night of Weird Shorts. In the 42nd edition of the festival, he will be co-curating Reality Bites.
Selection Committee: Reality Bites
holds a bachelor’s in Theatre and Film and a master’s in Creative Film Production. She joined the interfilm team as a volunteer in 2024 and hasn’t left since! This is her second year as a previewer. She is also a trailer editor, a programmer, and short film producer.
Selection Committee: Craving for Narratives - Essay Films
born and raised in Ecuador, studies Film Studies, Latin American Studies and French at the FU Berlin. He arrived in Berlin in his early 20s and fell in love with the Berliner cinema culture and its colorful landscape. Since 2024 part of the interfilm team, where the short film's potential unveiled before his eyes: condensing both conceptual and observational views of our crazy fascinating world in a short time; the dichotomy between DIY and cinematic aesthetics in the free exploration of certain topics pertaining our times; under the umbrella of curatorship, how all this unique pieces "communicate/talk" between each other: interfilm-ic language (no pun intended).
Selection Committee: Food on Film
is an expert in immersive and interactive technologies and directs the Courant3D film festival in Angoulême. He is a specialist in sound and cinema, directs short films and documentaries, and animates conferences. This expertise allows him to serve as a jury member or curator for numerous festivals. For INTERFILM, he has developed several immersive short film programs together with Alexander Stein, which will be screened at the Zeiss-Großplanetarium in Berlin.
Selection Committee: Virtual Reality meets Full Dome
