35th International Short Film Festival Berlin 2019
Jury members

International Competition

Jossie Malis

Jossie Malis (CHL/PER/ESP) is a designer, animator, filmmaker and publisher of Peruvian-Chilean origin and director of the studio ZUMBAKAMERA FILMS, sending signals to the outer space from the island of Mallorca (Spain). With special passion for an imaginary which incorporates machines and the cosmos, he spends most of the time between art direction, publishing flipbooks, directing and producing shortfilms, music videos or series such as the award-winning "Bendito Machine". His short films have been selected in festivals around the world such as Annecy, Sitges, Cinanima, BAF, Pictoplasma, SICAF or Fantastic Fest, among others, receiving a long list of accolades. His work is an acute commentary on humans and their weaknesses, their machines, their fears and the mysteries of the universe.

Sophie Linnenbaum

Sophie Linnenbaum (GER) was born in Nuremberg and has a Diploma in Psychology. She studies directing at Film University Babelsberg. Her short films are shown successfully at numerous national and international festivals, like the awarded [OUT OF FRA]ME or MEINUNGSAUSTAUSCH which had it's Premiere at the Berlinale and went to Cannes 2017. Her Shortfilm PIX was awarded with the German Short Film Award 2017. She is currently working on her first feature film.

Peter Murdmaa

Peter Murdmaa (EST), a broad-profile filmmaker, short film distributor, programmer and visionary. He has participated in making documentaries as a cinematographer as well as director and he also produced fiction short films. Peter has organized several movie events, being an active participant in the development of the Estonian film landscape. In 2013, he was the organizer and director of PÖFF Shorts, which heightened his commitment in further developing the field of short films. In 2014 he founded Estonian Short Film Center that has the goal to introduce audiovisual short forms into Estonia and Estonian films to the rest of the world. He has actively been part of the international short film network by being in festival juries of many festivals, leading short film pitching trainings and lecturing all around the world. Currently he is leading the short film distribution event Baltic Preview at Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. He is a member of the European Film Academy and the international short film network Short Film Conference.

Roger Gonin

Roger Gonin (FRA) has been working for the CLERMONT - FERRAND SHORT FILM FESTIVAL from 1980 to 2015. He was at the origin of the Short Film Market and its technical development such as the first Market video server in 2003 and the online registration platform: shortfilmdepot.com. He is still strongly engaged in promoting the Festival and Market abroad and in preselecting films for the International competition. Roger, whose dream is to one day establish a museum dedicated to magic lanterns and stereoscopic viewers, has directed two shorts and worked on several others. He is currently making historical researches and lectures about itinerants showing the magic lantern during the XVIIIth and XIXth centuries.

 

Confrontations Human Rights Films Competition

Lia Furxhi

Lia Furxhi (IT) graduated in History and Film Criticism at the University of Turin with a thesis on John Cassavetes. After that, she worked as production manager for some of the most important Italian independent films, including those by Davide Ferrario, Guido Chiesa, Daniele Gaglianone, Gianluca Tavarelli, Daniele Segre, Nicola Rondolino. She has played different roles in numerous initiatives of cultural interventions, for example the organization of festivals such as Festival Internazionale del Cinema Sportivo and FilmBreve and was responsible for the creation of the CNC - National Short Film Center. In addition to that, she organised the activities of AIACE (Associazione Italiana Amici del Cinema d’Essai). She was the festival director of Sottodiciotto Film Festival from 2012 to 2014 and is responsible for the programming of CinemAmbiente since 2016. In the editorial field, she has edited various publications, including Corti & Autori (2006), Le forme del corto (2007), the first survey "in the field" dedicated to the Italian short film, and the collection of essays In Breve (2009). Since 2013 she is president of the Associazione Italiana Amici Cinema d’Essai - AIACE Nazionale.

Martin Rentsch

Martin Rentsch (GER) is working as a spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Germany. After his studies of political sciences and communications in Dresden, he started his career in 2009 with an internship at the U.S. Embassy Berlin where he helped organizing events such as Berlinale 2010 or the visit of Secretary of State Hillary R. Clinton. In 2010, his award-winning study “The public-service cracker-barrel? A content analysis of political talk shows using the examples of Anne Will and Maybrit Illner” was published (Frank &Timme) and he started working as a Project Assistant for UNHCR and afterwards with Oxfam Germany as a Campaigner & New Media Specialist (2010). Two years later he joined the U.S. Diplomatic Mission in Germany as a Digital Communications Coordinator (2012 -2014) with posts in Berlin and Munich. Since 2014 he is Assistant External Relations Officer for the UNHCR in Berlin. He has been working in the field of external relations for international NGOs, organizations and political institutions for more than seven years now. His focus is on press relations, policy and strategic outreach.

Ebele Okoye

Ebele Okoye [otherwise known as Omenka Ulonka] (GER/NIG) is a Berlin based multidisciplinary artist, designer and Film maker of Nigerian descent. She studied Design before migrating to Germany in the year 2000 for a post graduate course in African Studies at the University of Cologne. After a Design-study stint at the University of Applied Sciences Duesseldorf, and a traineeship at the West German Broadcasting Corporation, WDR, she furthered in Animation at the International Film School Cologne. Upon graduation in 2004, she worked as a studio animator before going independent with own films as well heading international Co-productions one of which is “Anna Blume” winner of the 2007 Robert Bosch Foundation Promotional Prize for Animation. Also a two time winner of the African Movie Academy Awards (AMAA) in the category Animation, Ebele does a lot of mentoring for young Animators and animation enthusiasts from the sub Saharan African region. Through the initiatives “The Animation Club Africa”, and the audio visual training Shrinkfish Media Lab (smedLAB) which she founded in 2010 and 2013 respectively, Ebele mentors and coaches young artistic talents in the West African region. In January 2019, she started animating in virtual reality. Also an apparel designer, she runs the androqueer and eccentric labels “Kalodei Berlin ® and Olomenka®”. Some of her works can be seen at https://www.ebeleokoye.com/.

 

Documentary Competition

Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła

Barbara Orlicz-Szczypuła (POL) graduated from the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow. She started her career in the film industry in 2006 working for the Apollo Film Ltd., film distribution company. In 2003 she moved to the Krakow Film Foundation, where she was in charge for organising film events, and promoting Polish films internationally. In 2005 she established the Film Promotion Agency, now working under the new name KFF Sales & Promotion. Its main goal is the international promotion of Polish documentary, animated and short films. In addition to that she is the Head of Programme Department of the Krakow Film Festival, the oldest and most important Polish documentary and short film festival.

Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss

Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss (GER) is a Berlin based filmmaker and visual artist. Her current documentary film LOVEMOBIL is her feature debut which premiered (int´l) at 72.Locarno FF / Semaine de la Critique 2019. In 2012, she graduated with distinction from the KHM Academy of Media Arts Cologne as fellow of the German National Academic Foundation. In 2003, she received her diploma in Video Arts from the HSLU Lucerne University of Art and Design. Her films and artworks have been exhibited on festivals, in museums and galleries worldwide and been multi-awarded.

John Petrizzelli

John Petrizzelli (VEN/ESP) is a journalist, screenwriter and film director with more than 30 years of experience in the film industry. Petrizzelli has written and directed fiction and documentary films. Among his most important productions are: El Embrujo (1983), Falsas Historias (1992), Carrao (1998), El Rey del Galerón (2006) and the feature films: María Lionza, Aliento de Orquídeas, Er Relajo der Loro, El Santo Salvaje, Ti@s and Bárbara produced between 2007 and 2017. His films have been awarded different international prizes. He created and directs the film festival Ciclo de Cine de la Diversidad that takes place in Venezuela since 2006 and in Madrid, Spain since 2018. He has also written the narrative books Negro Lógico (1978) and Historias para las Posibilidades del Músculo (2017).

German Competition

Sarika Hemi Lakhani

Sarika Hemi Lakhani (GER/KEN) was born to a German mother and a Kenyan/Indian father. She was raised in the South of Germany and began her professional career as a production assistant and coordinator for Studio Babelsberg, followed by several national and international productions. Sarika studied Film Production from 2002-2006 at the German Film- & TV Academy (dffb) in Berlin, and completed a post-graduate program entitled “L`Atelier Masterclass”, a collaboration of the Film Academy in Ludwigburg and La Femis in Paris. During the Production of “Germany 09”, Sarika was approached by Marie Steinmann and Tom Tykwer to support their pilot project SOUL BOY. Today she is working as a producer for ONE FINE DAY FILMS, and is in charge of all operations. - Foto: (c) Jana Fitzner

Uwe Preuss

Uwe Preuss (GER) grew up in the GDR and São Paulo. He apprenticed as an industrial clerk and was employed at an Inner Mission vacation lodge, a steel foundry and a steam sawmill, held positions as a cafeteria manager and an accountant and worked at a municipal cemetery. In 1985, he emigrated to West Berlin, where he studied acting at the University of the Arts. A first engagement at Staatstheater Dresden followed in 1992. In 1995, dramatist and director Heiner Müller recruited him to be a member of the Berliner Ensemble. Since 2005, Preuss has worked freelance, with guest performances at the Schaubühne, Maxim-Gorki-Theater and Volksbühne Berlin. In 2015, he realized his first documentary film “Arturo Ui in Tel Aviv”, and he made his debut as an author in 2020, with “Katzensprung”, published by S.Fischer Verlag. http://www.uwepreuss.com/ - Foto: (c)Niklas Vogt

Fabian Driehorst

Fabian Driehorst (GER) is a producer of documentary and animated films. He founded the studio Fabian&Fred with Frédéric Schuld in 2011 and won production grants such as AFAC, Doha Film Institute, Jihlava Film Fund, Wim Wenders Scholarship, Gerd Ruge Scholarship and the Film Prize of the Robert Bosch Stiftung for his productions. His films have won many awards and were nominated e.g. for the German Short Film Award (Lola). Fabian is a board member of AG Animationsfilm and an active member of the European Animation Awards. 2019 he was awarded the VFF Documentary Production Award at DOK.fest Munich.

Carlos Morelli

Carlos Morelli (GER/URY) received a Bachelor’s in film directing from ORT University (Uruguay) and a Master’s in screenwriting from ESCAC (Spain). In 2009, he was awarded a residency in Berlin for the DAAD artists’ program. Morelli has directed 10 short films, which have been screened at numerous international film festivals, including Rotterdam, interfilm, Tampere and Oberhausen. His short film “Warisover” won the Arte Short Film Award at Filmfest Hamburg. He teaches screenwriting in Latin America, Europe and China. In 2017, his feature film debut “Mi Mundial” celebrated its premiere in the competition section of Busan International Film Festival and went on to win awards at numerous other festivals (Marché du Film Cannes 2017, Mar del Plata, CineKid, Stockholm International Film Festival, Zlin International Film Festival, Miami Film Festival, Schlingel Film Festival). Following its theatrical release, “Mi Mundial” (“Home Team”) also became the second largest grossing film in Uruguayan cinema history. Morelli’s second feature-length film “Der Geburtstag”, produced by Weydemann Bros and ZDF (Das KleineFernsehspiel), celebrated its German premiere in 2019 at the 40th edition of the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival (2019/Official Competition) and its international premiere in the Official Competition of the 22nd Shanghai International Film Festival (2019).

International Script Pitch Competition

Sofie Palage

Sofie Palage (SWE) is a producer at Warner Bros. in Stockholm, where she develops and produces series; currently two seasons of the romantic drama Love Me by writer/director Josephine Bornebusch. She started as a freelancer in production management for film and television in 2008 and has since worked with productions ranging from crime series to art house features. She started her own company, Primodrom, in 2011, which she ran until she joined Warner in 2018. Sofie is participating in the 2019 EAVE Producers Workshop.

Ira Tondowski

Ira Tondowski (GER) studied Modern German Literature in Berlin and after that scriptwriting  at the Film Academy Baden Württemberg Ludwigsburg. In 2011 she founded the successful production company Tondowski Films together with Alex Tondowski, where she works as a creative producer. As a director and scriptwriter, she works on fiction and documentary material.

 

 

Ben Gibson

Ben Gibson (UK/GER) is Director of the DFFB. Before he was Director of the London Film School. From the late 1980ies to 2001 he worked as an independent producer on numerous feature and short films and as Head of Production at the British Film Institute (BFI). He also opened London’s Metro Cinema and has been a theatre director, a film programmer and a film critic and journalist.