Documentaries for young audiences

Astrid Beyer

studied German, English and American literature in Tübingen and the USA. She has worked as a freelance journalist and exhibition designer since 1993 and developed television programmes for ntv, Deutsche Welle and SWR as well as corporate image films for IBM and Deutsche Telekom. She was involved in setting up the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Bonn and designed the media concept for the Donauschwäbisches Zentralmuseum in Ulm.
In 2007 Astrid Beyer curated a touring exhibition on the history of film production in the state of Baden-Württemberg entitled “100 Jahre Filmland Baden-Württemberg”. She has worked for the Haus des Dokumentarfilms since 2008. She has also curated, among others, DOKVILLE, the industry get-together for documentary film. 

Bettina Braun

studied in London (Central St. Martins College of Art & Design) and Cologne (Academy of Media Arts). She has been a director and lecturer since 1997.
Her films have been awarded various prizes, most recently the Grimme-Preis Spezial in 2013 for the documentary trilogy and long-term observational study: “Was lebst du?”, “Was du willst” “Wo stehst du?” about young people in Cologne from immigrant families.
In 2003 she was a founding member of LaDOC, documentary film-women’s-network, Cologne.

Melanie de Langen

has a Master of Arts in Film- and Television studies and a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre-, Film- and Television studies. Since 2011 she is coordinator/editor at VPRO Youth Department, Hilversum: Creation and coordination of an interactive cultural platform for youth documentaries. From 2009 to 2012 she was editor/researcher at VPRO Documentary & History Department, Hilversum: Research and editorial work for television programs and online communities.
2013 – 2014: Workshopleader at Festival Classique, The Hague.
2013: Moderator at IDFA, Amsterdam.

Andrea Ernst

has been the vice head of the programme department “Ethics and Education” since 2008 and head of the editorial office for “Ethics” with a great passion for investigative documentation, including films for “Das Erste” (ARD), reports for WDR television, and focal programmes and platforms for “Planet Wissen” and “Planet Schule.”
Andrea Ernst began to work as a journalist in various media and as a freelance writer for the Austrian ORF while still studying social sciences at the University of Vienna. She has published a multitude of books and has concentrated on cultural and societal topics in WDR television since 1997.
Between 2004 and 2008 she was responsible for international co-productions in the ARTE editorial office of WDR television, where she focused editorial support on documentary film. Numerous TV and cinema productions were made and have received multiple awards, including the Bavarian Film Award, Grimme-Preis, Medienpreis der Deutschen Umwelthilfe, the Prix Italia and many more.       
Andrea Ernst also works as a lecturer and her particular interest is the convergence of content in media as well as innovative narrative forms in television. She publishes and has been intensively engaged in young people’s documentary film since 2009.

Phillis Fermer

has worked as a television journalist since 1995, then as a filmmaker in the area of documentation. She has written and directed over forty documentations, reports and portraits. Her films, in which she often tackles social and societal issues, have been shown at numerous festivals around the world and have repeatedly won awards. Her documentary “Pamela – Mein Leben ohne Vater” - a collaboration with cameraman and cutter Florian Lippke - was, among others, nominated for the Grimme Preis. She has also worked for many years as a media trainer, involved in the setting up of children’s television in east Africa. This came about after she made films for Welthungerhilfe to be used in school lessons about development projects in Africa.
After producing numerous children’s documentaries for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU/Eurovision), Phillis Fermer is now responsible for the international Children’s Documentary Exchange as its executive producer.
A small selection of her films:
“Pamela – Mein Leben ohne Vater” (ZDF/EBU)
“Jessica – Ausflüge gibt’s nicht” (ZDF)
“Lotte – ein Herz für Obdachlose” (ZDF/EBU)
“Lernen bis zum Umfallen - Großer Druck auf kleine Menschen” (WDR)
“Buenos Dias, Zwillinge! – Kai fand auf Kuba die Liebe” (WDR)
“Ich geh’ doch nicht putzen – Hauptschüler suchen einen Job” (WDR) 

Stefanie Fischer

studied Film, Television, English and Communication Psychology at the University of Bochum. After that she worked as a freelancer for WDR and for the audiovisual production at the University of Hagen for several years. Since 2002 she is part of the editorial team of the Educational Department WDR (Westdeutscher Rundfunk) and commissions TV and online projects for "Planet School – the interactive gateway for students and teachers" (Planet Schule). Since 2009 she is in charge of the foreign language programmes. But she also commissions programmes from the field of Media, Society or Nature

Dr. Frauke Gerlach

has been the managing director of the Grimme Institute in Marl since 2014.
She studied law in Kiel and Göttingen, graduating on the topic “[Media Governance] Modern Statehood in Era of the Internet - From inter-state broadcasting treaty to media policy negotiation system” (November 2010).
From 1998 until April 2014 she was legal counsel of the state parliament faction Bündnis 90/Die Grünen in North Rhine-Westphalia.
From 2001 until March 2014 she was a member, and since 2005 chair, of the broadcasting commission/media commission of the regional Landesanstalt für Rundfunk/Medien (LfM), North Rhine-Westphalia.
In addition she was chair of the association (2005 to 2008) and chair of the board of trustees (2008 to March 2014) of the Médaille Charlemagne pour les Médias Européens and chair of the supervisory board of the Grimme Institute Marl (2011 to March 2014),
Member (January 2007 to 2014) and chair (2010 to March 2014) of the supervisory board of the Filmstiftung NRW GmbH and member of the supervisory board of LfM-Nova GmbH (January 2006 to July 2013).

Anne Sofie Hansen-Skovmoes

is producer at Copenhagen Bombay, a production company that focuses on creating inspiring and intelligent content with a strong storytelling. In 2012 she enrolled the online diary documentary project “doxwise“ in the 5 Nordic countries, and most recently produced the documentary “Songs for Alexis” (2014).
She holds a Master in Communication and International Development and she has lived, studied and travelled in Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America and North America.
Her professional portfolio also includes the projects “Doctors Without Borders” and “Save the Children Youth”, where she worked as communication consultant. While Anne Sofie was project manager at the research centre on communication for development called “Ørecomm – Centre for Communication and Glocal Change” she wrote and edited the book “Speaking Up and Talking Back? Media Empowerment and Civic Engagement among East and Southern African Youth” (2013) on the subject communication, media, civic engagement and social change.
Moreover she has been teaching at Roskilde University, Denmark. Currently she is working on several film projects and cultural projects with a social perspective, amongst this “doxwise global”.

Isabel Hecker

studied Theatre- and Media studies, Sociology and Psychology at the University of Cologne. Since her graduation in 2004 and a traineeship at the music publishing department of WDR mediagroup she has been working as an author and reporter for various editorial departments in the WDR (‘KIRAKA’ WDR-Kinderradio, Quarks & Co, WDR 5 "Lebensart"). From 2006 on, Isabel is a moderator of the ARD science show ‘Kopfball’. Furthermore, she presents the youth concerts ‘PlanM@Philharmonie’ of the WDR orchestras at the Cologne Philharmonic Hall.

Birgit Keller-Reddemann

is head of editorial office for education, WDR television.
She studied political science, journalism and history at the University of Münster and completed a traineeship at the Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung (WAZ) in Essen. She has been an editor at WDR since 1992, first with “Lokalzeit Dortmund” and later in the education team. She is editorially responsible for the television programmes “Planet Wissen” and “Planet Schule.”

Albert Klein Haneveld

studied Philosophy at the University of Amsterdam (1989 -1994) and is founder of the Dutch production company Hollandse Helden (Dutch Heroes). Hollandse Helden is specialized in documentaries, children's television and internet TV. “We portray people who struggle to get most out of life. We hope our films and programs will inspire people around the world to look for new ways to achieve their goals and realize a better future.”
Recent programs and documentary titles:
“Stefpacking” (2012); Travel program for children, VPRO Youth; 10 episodes; Director: Stef Biemans
“Sounds for Mazin” (2012); Short Documentary Kids & Docs; Director: Ingrid Kamerling;
Award: Media Fund Price Kids & Docs 2012
“Through the Ears of Ellen”(2011); Short documentary for NCRV Document junior; Director: Saskia Gubbels;
Awards: Ozu International Short Film Festival, Italy, Overall prize: Best Film, November 2012; Barcelona International Audiovisual Festival, Special mention to the Humanitarian Prize, November 2012; Chicago International Children's Film Fest, 1st Prize Adult Jury, Best Documentary Short Film and 2nd Children's Jury Prize, Best Documentary Film, November 2012; Uppsala International Short Film Festival, Honorary mention, October 2012: Buster Copenhagen International Film Festival, Best Documentary Short, September 2012

Katya Mader

studied English literature, classical archaeology, cultural anthropology and European ethnology in Frankfurt am Main and London (MA). She then worked freelance on film productions and in public television.
Katya Mader has worked as an editor in the ZDF/3sat film team since 2001, where she supervises, in particular, feature-length documentary film (co-)productions as well as the documentary film series “Ab 18!”

Meike Martens

her company “Blinker Filmproduktion GmbH” makes films - documentary, hybrid, fictional - in international co-productions and in various production constellations, also within Germany. “Blinkerfilm” was founded in Cologne in 2007 by Meike Martens with Heino Deckert (ma.ja.de Filmproduktion, Leipzig) as partner.
She is involved in the pilot project for creative documentary films for children and young people “dokyou” as a producer and project manager.
Meike Martens works as a mentor for, among others, Berlinale Talents, as well as in selection commissions and juries, for example for the Deutscher Kurzfilmpreis.

Marina May

has a degree in film sciences, journalism and business administration from the University of Mainz and the Université Paris XII and is currently completing her PhD on contemporary costume drama.
From 2008 to 2011 she worked in the programming division of the Goethe Institute in Hanoi and was responsible for its film programme. Alongside the documentary film studio “DocLab” and the International Documentary Film Week, she also started the German Film Festival in 2010, which reserves a section for children’s and young people’s film.
Marina May has been project manager on culture and development at the Goethe Institute headquarters since the beginning of 2012.

João Miller Guerra / Filipa Jardim Reis

João studied Industrial Design and completed his studies in Fine Arts.
Filipa graduated in Business Management and Administration and completed her studies with a post-graduate in Cinema and Television. She is currently in the final year of a Master’s Degree in Cinema.
In 2008, Filipa founded Vende-se Filmes production company where, in collaboration with João Miller Guerra, developed cinema projects and television programs.
In 2010, they co-directed the documentary “Li Ké Terra” alongside Nuno Baptista. The film was distinguished with the Award for Best Portuguese Film and the Schools Award at DocLisboa 2010, having also received an honorable mention at MiradasDoc, in Spain.
In 2011, they directed the documentary “Generation Orchestra” and the short film “Nada Fazi”. “Generation Orchestra” was selected for several festivals throughout Europe and was included in the National Film Plan for Schools in 2012. “Nada Fazi” won the Portuguese Film Award at Fantasporto 2012 and the Audience Award at Festival Córtex 2012.
In 2012, Filipa and João directed “Cat’s Cradle” and “Bela Vista”. “Cat's Cradle” won the Award for Best Portuguese Short Film at IndieLisboa Film Festival 2012 and the Promising Award at the Festival Luso-Brasileiro de Santa Maria da Feira 2012. The film also attended IDFA, Festival dei Popoli in Italy; João Forumdoc.BH in Brazil; Black Movie Film Festival in Switzerland; Bordocs, in Mexico; Festival Internacional de Curitiba, Brazil; doxs!, in Germany; Festroia, in Portugal, and Festival Traces de Vies, in France. The documentary “Bela Vista” won the Best International Short Film Prize at FIDOCS and a Special Mention at MiradasDoc 2013, in Spain.
In 2013, Filipa and João directed the short film “Fragments of a Participant Observation”, which was selected for IndieLisboa Film Festival 2013 in National Competition and New Cinema sections. This film was also present at the Short Film Corner in Cannes Festival 2013 and at the Festival de Cinema Luso-Brasileiro de Santa Maria da Feira, Portugal.
In the beginning of 2014 their new documentary “The Indispensable Practice of Vagueness” was finished together with Tomás Baltazar.

Calle Overweg

began various career paths after school; in agriculture, law, banking, and finally 3 years as a puppeteer. He studied at the DFFB, Berlin from 1989 to 1995, including a stay at the “Film Directors and Scriptwriters Higher Courses” in Moscow in 1993. He now lives in Berlin.
Filmography (selection):

“Fünf Moskauer Musikanten”, D 1993/94, doc, 43 min., DFFB, 16mm colour. Simple people live through perestroika.

“Grünschnäbel”, D 1996/97, doc, 102 min., DFFB/ZDF, 16 mm colour. Seven children who already know what they want to be. Awarded best German film school graduation film.

“Tumber Narr – Heiliger Tor”, D 1999, doc/feature, 67 min., ZDF/3sat. Theatre with mentally and physically handicapped actors. Nominated for the Grimme-Preis 2000.

“Das Problem ist meine Frau”, D 2003, 52 min., MMM-Filmproduktion/NDR. Staged conversations with perpetrators of domestic violence. Best German documentary film 2003 (3sat).

“Die Villa”, D 2004, documentary series, 3 x 28:30 min., WDR. For viewers between 10 and 100, about a children’s home in East Berlin.

“Grünschnäbel. Träume leben weiter”, D 2007, doc, 88 min., ZDF. Long-term observation of the protagonists from “Grünschnäbel”.
“Da kann noch viel passieren”, D 2008, doc, 88 min., BKM/WDR. One year in a Berlin secondary school class, for viewers between 10 and 100.

“Beziehungsweisen”, D 2011, acted documentary film, 85 min., ZDF/3sat. 3 couples fight for their love.

“Mein Traum”, D 2012, series 4 x 6 min. for “Die Sendung mit der Maus,” mixture of documentary film and animation about 5 fifth graders and their dreams.

In addition, numerous portraits of children for “Die Sendung mit der Maus,” including a series on world religions.
 

Anna Pedroli

has been working for the Dutch Cultural Media Fund for over 10 years. As a staff member she has been involved in the various activities in the area of quality improvement and talent development, like workshops for documentary filmmakers - e.g. the Kids & Docs workshop (childrens' documentaries). Also she has organized conferences, debates and expert meetings for the fund about television drama, experimental documentaries and media in general. Before Anna has worked for the International Documentary Film Festival, for an independent documentary production company and for an Amsterdam based radio station.

Rui Pereira

has a degree in Management, a course in Arts Management by the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, and another one in History and Aesthetics of Film.
Since 1998 he has been a film programmer for several institutions, including the “Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation” and several art house cinemas. He was head of acquisitions for Atalanta Filmes 2004 - 2005.
He has been a jury member in several film festivals, like the Seville International Film Festival or Karlovy Vary’s Forum of Independents section. He was also a jury member for the first “Lux Award” by the European Parliament.
Between 2003 and 2012 he was one of the directors, general manager and programmer of Indielisboa – Lisbon International Independent Film Festival.
Since 2013 he has changed his focus to children and youngsters. He is now developing an educational approach to cinema, aiming to raise film’s literacy level of those age groups. He develops educational content related with cinema to help parents and teachers in their work with children, youngsters and teenagers. This is a clear innovation in Portugal as in the country only the Hollywood animated films are commercially released and there are no live action film releases for children.

Christian Popp

is producer and film consultant. He was born in 1971 in Romania. He has studied History and Arts and has since 1991 worked as a journalist and film director. From 1997 to 2005 he was a commissioning editor for ARTE in Strasbourg and Berlin. He became an independent producer in 2005 first for the German-French company interscience film. In 2011 he established in Paris together with Fabrice Estève his own company YUZU Productions. He is also a shareholder of the Berlin based company DOCDAYS Productions. Christian is mentoring and moderating at various documentary events (Thessaloniki Documentary Forum, DocLisboa, Vision du Réel, i_doc, Doc Ouest, IDFA Academy, Diagonale, Sunny Side of the Docs).

Aycha Riffi

studied Theatre, Film and Television studies and German literature at the Ruhr University in Bochum. After an internship at ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehspiel, she gathered editorial and journalistic experience at WDR, SDR and DSF. She joined the Grimme Institute as a freelancer in 2002 and has run the Grimme Academy since 2010.
Aycha Riffi also works for film festivals (incl. Duisburger Filmwoche, International Women’s Film Festival Dortmund I Cologne, Vision Kino), hosting the children’s cinema sections and as a member of the board of trustees for doxs!, the documentary films section for children and young people of the Duisburger Filmwoche. Her publications include educational accompanying material for fictional and documentary films.

Bernd Sahling

worked as the directing assistant on children’s films by H. Dziuba, R. Losansky and H. Unterberg from 1984 to 1986. He studied at the HFF Babelsberg from 1986 to 1991, leaving with a degree in film and television directing.
He has worked as a freelance author/director since 1991 and has held workshops on film work with children in Singapore, USA, Germany, Italy, Norway, Slovakia, France, Russia and Tajikistan. He has been a jury member of the Berlinale, Schlingel Chemnitz, Lucas Frankfurt and of festivals in Munich, Cairo, Moscow, Pyrgos, Bratislava and Zlín as well as working on the selection commission for Berlinale and Goldener Spatz. He has been a lecturer at the University of Duisburg-Essen since 2009.
Films as author/director (selection):
“Lied für Anne” D 1985, 5 min., 35 mm, DEFA.

“Wenn man so leben will wie ich” D 1987, 23 min., 16mm, HFF.

“Alles wird gut” D 1990, 79 min., 16mm, ZDF/Eikon/HFF.

"Im Nest der Katze” D 1991, 45 min., Beta, ZDF.

“Gymnasium oder wir werden sehen” D 1999, 96 min., Beta, ZDF.

“Blindgänger” D 2004, 89 min., 35mm, Kinderfilm GmbH/ZDF, directing and script with co-author Helmut Dziuba.

“It Ain’t Just You” D 2006, 30 min., Mini DV, documentary film with young people from the North Cape in Norway.

“Ednas Tag” D 2009, 20 min., HDV, documentary film, Blinkerfilm/WDR.

“Feuer und Flamme” (20xBrandenburg) D 2010, 20 min., HD, Dokfilm GmbH/rbb, 

“Kopfüber” D 2012, 90 min., 35mm, Neue Mediopolis Filmproduktion GmbH / ARRI Film and TV GmbH / Steelecht GmbH.

“hin&weg” D 2013, 26 min., HD, Blinkerfilm.
Prizes include Deutscher Filmpreis in Gold 2004, special mentions at the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest and Cinekid Amsterdam, 1st prize at Chicago International Children’s Film Festival, nomination for the European Film Academy Young Audience Award 2013, UNICEF prize from the children’s jury in Vienna 2013, ECFA award, Pyrgos 2013, for Best European Film.

Petra L. Schmitz

has run the dfi - documentary film initiative in Filmbüro NW (Cologne) since 1999 and previously worked on the subject of the history of media in the Federal Republic and the GDR, as well as in two projects on the representation of the European unification process in the media, at the Grimme Institute (Marl). In 2001 she designed and edited a CD-ROM on the history of television and media in Germany in collaboration with the Grimme Institute.
At the dfi she has led symposiums and workshops on the situation of documentary films in Germany and on the praxis of documentary work. She also edits the dfi book series “Texte zum Dokumentarfilm,” which thus far comprises 17 volumes. 
In 2001 she organized the first European Symposium on “Documentary films for children” in collaboration with the most important institutions in documentary and children’s film. In 2007 she initiated, together with doxs!, the production and reception initiative “dokyou”.

Reinhold T. Schöffel

helds a diploma in media literacy, lives in Frankfurt/Main (Germany). He has been working since 1980 in various projects that help to bring high quality films to a wider audience: as organizer of film programs and festivals, as a journalist and distributor. Since 1990 Reinhold Schoeffel is managing director of Bundesverband Jugend und Film e.V. (BJF), the German federation of film clubs for children and young people (www.BJF.info). BJF is running a non-theatrical distribution with more than 500 outstanding films for children and young people and publishes art-house-DVDs for the same target group under the label "Durchblick-Filme" (www.durchblick-filme.de). Since the year 2000 he has been editor of ECFA’s website www.ecfaweb.org. During the years 2000 until 2008 he was also editor of ECFA-Journal, the member’s newsletter of the European Children’s Film Association. In February 2010 Reinhold Schoeffel has been elected as a board member of ECFA.

Vera Schöpfer

studied film directing at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and graduated in 2005 with the short film “Schwarze Maria.” Alongside her own creative work, she has since developed, together with Dieter Bongartz, concepts for documentary film workshops for young people as well as founding the creative network “Screenagers” in 2011: “Screenagers” organizes - in collaboration with professional filmmakers, artists, schools, and cultural institutions - film projects with a focus on documentary work, often with an international perspective. Films from these projects have won important young people’s film prizes and are regularly shown at international festivals.
In the summer of 2014 Vera Schöpfer took over the running of the European youth academy for documentary film “Young Dogs.” Stationed at the “U2_kulturelle Bildung im Dortmunder U,” “Young Dogs” sees itself as a centre of international collaboration and creativity for youths and young grown-ups interested in journalism and film and will consolidate the project-related work of “Screenagers.” Vera Schöpfer lives with her family in Cologne.

Marcus Seibert

born in Aachen in 1964. Scriptwriter and translator. Studied philosophy, art history and German literature in Aachen, Cologne and Paris.
Scripts (selection):
diverse scripts for series, incl. 50 episodes of “Lindenstraße”.
“15 Meter” (short film, Erkan Gündüz, 2009).
“Kalte Tage” (with Sebastian Ko, 2011).
Author of various children’s television series in the 1990s incl. “Käpt'n Blaubär,” “Rudi der Rabe,” and “Tiger und Toni.”
Various print publications, incl. translations of Eric Rohmer.
Currently working on various film projects, stories and as co-editor of the film magazine “Revolver.”

Anna Sienkiewicz-Rogowska

Head of the Department of Education and Dissemination of Film Culture, The Polish Film Institute.
She is a graduate of the Kozminski University in Warsaw and of the Management Department at Cracow’s University of Economics, Anna has worked in banking, in the sector of capital operations, and as a marketing expert.
As a cultural events organiser, she has participated in the preparation, promotion and organisation of many cultural events, including the Impressionist Exhibition "From Manet to Gauguin", as well as the “Transalpinum”- exhibition at the National Museum. She has also played an important role in organizing many special events for various commercial entities. Between 2001 and 2005 Anna was the producer of the Film and Art Festival “Film Summer”, and has also co-operated in the production of documentary films. She gives lectures at Warsaw University on management in the culture sector.
Since 2008 she is head of the Department of Education and Dissemination of Film Culture at the Polish Film Institute. She supervises the implementation of educational programmes, such as the “School Filmotheque” addressing secondary schools and the “Polish Film Academy” addressing university students. She is responsible for the system of subsidies for film schools and other institutions conducting film education programs. She is also responsible for projects connected with the development of cinematic activities, including the improvement of infrastructure and digitisation, and for co-operation in the implementation of the national digitisation strategy for the audiovisual archives. She manages a team dealing with the national promotion of Polish cinematography, art house cinemas and film clubs.

Gudrun Sommer

is director of the film festival doxs! (documentary films for children and young people: www.do-xs.de) in Duisburg. She also works as a curator and programme advisor on behalf of the Goethe Institute, Diagonale film festival and the steirischen herbst festival in Graz. Her work focuses on documentary film, children’s film and film mediation/media education.
Within the framework of doxs! she has initiated, among others, the international children’s documentary film project “KidDok”, the projects “dokyou” and “doku.klasse”.
She teaches at the University of Duisburg-Essen, at the Ruhr University Bochum and also works as an assessor for the FSK in Wiesbaden and has been a juror for the Grimme Institute’s Sonderpreis Kultur des Landes NRW since 2012.
Various publications, most recently: “doxs! do it: Dokumentarfilme für Kinder und Jugendliche” in: Braune-Krickau/Ellinger/Sperzel (eds.): Handbuch Kulturpädagogik für benachteiligte Jugendliche (Beltz: Landsberg, 2013), sowie Sommer/Hediger/Fahle (eds.): Orte filmischen Wissens. Filmkultur und Filmvermittlung im Zeitalter digitaler Netzwerke, (Schüren: Marburg, 2011).

Agata Sotomska

since 2008 she has been managing film education projects at the Polish Film Institute. She successfully coordinated the launch of 3 national projects: the biggest film education program in Poland "Filmoteka Szkolna" (2009), the Coalition for Film Education (2011) and the social campaign "Skrytykuj" aimed at gaining critical understanding of film among youth (2013). She leads workshops for teachers and pupils on various topics related to film education. Over the last years she has carried out several culture and education events including five editions of "Filmoteka Szkolna Festival" each of which gathered 200 participants from across Poland and national conferences for teachers. She was a member of national reaserchers' team for EU Film Literacy Study co-ordinated by BFI. Prior to joining the Polish Film Institute, she worked in the arts sector developing various cultural events.
 

Meike Statema

after finishing Film and Television Studies, Meike Statema started working for the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) in 1998.
Since 2002 she is coordinating all the educational projects during the festival and throughout the year. She is the programmer of IDFA’s children’s documentaries section “Kids & Docs”, the program for youngsters: DOC U in the festival and responsible for the school program which reaches over 12.000 young people a year. Other activities are included in the IDFAcademy section: a training program for emerging documentary talent. This includes a three day event during IDFA, the Summer School where international documentary talents are working on their own project and two extended workshops for Dutch film makers.

Holger Twele

has been working freelance as a film publicist and educator after studying literature and theatre, psychology and philosophy (MA, 1980). After practical experience in almost all areas of municipal film work, he then worked freelance for over 20 years as film consultant and editor for the Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung. In his specialised field of children’s and young people’s film he has worked for many years for the Bundesverband Jugend und Film e.V., the Kinder- und Jugendfilmzentrum in Deutschland, the Kinder und Jugendfilm Korrespondenz (incl. editor of the online version) as well as for other institutions and websites.
He has also written numerous articles and educational accompanying material and has extensive experience as a jury member for national and international festivals. He has worked on the jury of the Filmtheater-Programmpreis Rheinland-Pfalz since 2009.

Petra van Dongen

is a freelance translator, film producer, programmer and event organizer based in Amsterdam specialized in fund raising and programming for film projects, workshops and festivals. She is one of the founders of “CinemAsia”, the Asian Film Festival of the Netherlands and project manager of the international film festival “World Cinema Amsterdam”.
Since 2008, Petra works for Kalyana Shira Foundation in Jakarta, in charge of the programming of Indonesia's international children's film festival and the production of children's documentaries. In 2012 Petra started Project “KidDok” to produce short documentary films for children in Indonesia in collaboration with Duisburger Filmwoche/doxs! and the Goethe Institute. The film productions are: “Farewell My School”, “Chocolate Comedy” and “Grady the Healer”.

Felix Vanginderhuysen

helds a University degree in Social Sciences at the University of Louvain, Belgium.
He is Managing director of Jekino (since 1978); Jekino has two departments: Jekino Distribution and Jekino Education.
In 1988 he has been one of the driving forces behind the creation of the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA); from this start until now, he is volunteering as the general secretary of the association.
In 1989 (starting year of the European Film Prize) he founded the European Youth Film Festival of Flanders in Antwerp and is at the moment still president of the only children’s film festival in Europe with exclusively European films on the programme.
Since 2003 he also is president of the school screening circuit “Lessen in het Donker”. In 2007 winner of the “Culture Prize Film” of the Flemish Ministry of Culture.
Jekino Distribution is a company specialized in quality films for children and youngsters. Yearly about 10 films, most of them European productions, are released. Every release goes the classic way: cinema, DVD, VoD, TV.
Jekino Education is specialized in film education. A wide range of study guides, workshops, film making projects … are offered for all age groups.

Janna Velber

founded the production company Boogiefilm with Kristina Löbbert in 2009. Boogiefilm produces national and international feature and documentary films.
Alongside “Romeos” - Sabine Bernardi’s feature debut, which celebrated its premiere in the Panorama section of Berlinale 2011 and has been shown at 70 international festivals to date, incl. Montreal, Paris and Seattle - Boogiefilm has developed, in collaboration with the WDR, the young people’s documentary film series “dokmal” which has produced, with the cooperation of the KHM in Cologne, 3 to 4 documentary films annually since 2010. In 2010 Boogiefilm, together with Meike Martens from Blinkerfilm, took over the running of “dokyou,” a state (NRW) sponsored project for the improvement of documentary films for children and young people.
Janna Velber has been the sole managing director of Boogiefilm since September 2012. Several documentary and feature films are currently planned. The film “Dessau Dancers,” based on an idea by Janna Velber and Jan-Martin Scharf, was completed in June and celebrated its premiere in July 2014 at Filmfest München.

Delia West

20, student from Duisburg, participant in the "doku.klasse". "It all began at Steinbart Gymnasium in Duisburg. My teacher told me about doxs and asked whether I would be interested in working on the youth jury. Since then the Duisburger Filmwoche, the GROSSEN KLAPPE award and doxs in particular have become regular parts of my winter calendar.
All of my involvement has made my interest in the media and in working with it even greater and reinforces my intentions to study in this area.
So hopefully I can look forward to a media-rich future and I eagerly anticipate taking part in doku.klasse and being here in Cologne."

Nadine Zwick

has been an editor at ARTE for 20 years and is now responsible for ARTE Junior.
In 1994 Alex Taylor, with whom she had made the daily programme “Kontinental” at France 3, asked her to accompany him on the adventure of a very young European cultural broadcaster.
From 1994 to 1996 she was responsible for the creation of the French version of “Confetti,” the daily magazine that dealt with the everyday life of the European.
In 1996 she switched to the documentary film department, where she was entrusted with supervising documentary films on society. At the time, this was a weekly appointment with the viewer in the second part of the evening programme, called “La vie en Face / Welt im Blick.”
Since January 2013 she has been the editor responsible for ARTE junior, the 2-hour Sunday slot for the age group 8 to 12 years old. At the beginning, editorial guidelines had to be formulated for documentary films for young viewers, which are much more seldom in the French film and television landscape than in Germany or Scandinavia. “We have been trying for 18 months to develop new narrative forms, together with the producers and directors, which are capable of captivating children for whom the television screen is no longer necessarily the favourite screen.”