Goethe-Institut San Francisco - Berlin & Beyond Film Festival 2009

OPENING NIGHT | CLOSING NIGHT | FILM CLASSIC |LECTURE | MEET THE STARS

Meet the Stars

Sinan Akkus Director EVET, I DO!
was born in Erzincan, Turkey, in 1971. He has lived in Germany since 1973, studied philosophy, German language and literature at the University of Kassel from 1992 to 1994, and Visual Communication with special focus on Film and Television at the School of Art and Design Kassel from 1994 to 2000. He was awarded several prizes for his short films LASSIE (2002) and SEVDA HEISST LIEBE (2000). EVET, ICH WILL! (2008) is his first feature fiction film.

Brigitte Bertele Director A HERO’S WELCOME
born 1974, studied Acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Ulm, followed by Master Classes in New York, Moscow and Berlin. After engagements at theatres across Germany, she studied Directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in Ludwigsburg, during that time she participated in exchange programs in Albania and Argentina. Her films include the shorts: UMBRÜCHE (1996), CARLSFELDER ATEM (2002), PLATZVERWEIS (2002), ANNÄHERUNGEN AN ALICE (2002) and DAS VERHÖR (2002). A HERO’S WELCOME is her feature debut.

Eike Besuden Producer FINNISH TANGO
Born in Wildeshausen/Oldenburg. Worked as writer, radio host, and editor for Radio Bremen sound broadcasting since 1976, and for Radio Bremen television broadcasting since 1987, responsible for documentaries and features. He founded Geisberg Studios, a film production company for documentaries and fiction films for TV as well as cinema. In 2004 he founded Pinguin Film. His most recent film is OLBERS PARADOX, a docufiction for Radio Bremen TV.

Matthias Clemens HUNDEFUTTER

Andreas Dresen Director CLOUD 9
was born in 1963 in Gera, Germany, and studied filmmaking at the Film & Television Academy “Konrad Wolf” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. His feature films include NIGHT SHAPES (1999, B&B 2000), GRILL POINT (2002, B&B 2003), WILLENBROCK (2005), SUMMER IN BERLIN (2005, Opening Night B&B 2007), and CLOUD 9 (2008).

Stefan Drössler Director Filmmuseum München
was born in 1961. Since 1977 he has been the director of several student film clubs, film festivals and film seminars. From 1986 to 1998 he founded and directed the Bonner Kinemathek and since 1999 he has been the director of the Filmmuseum Munich. He has published several books and articles about film history, and film techniques. The museum focuses on German silent films, the “New German Cinema,” and Munich film productions (including films of the 1910s and 1920s by production companies as Münchner Lichtspielkunst AG and Emelka, Bayerische Filmkunst productions of 1930s, and films made by Bavaria Film AG in the post-war years). The archive also holds a collection of Russian films and the estate of Orson Welles.

Hannelore Elsner Actress CHERRY BLOSSOMS
Born in 1942 in Burghausen and grown up in Munich, Hannelore Elsner started her career in theater (Munich and Berlin) and has been a successful TV actress ever since the 60s. Today she is one of Germany’s greatest Acting Icons. In the recent past she became a highly acclaimed character actress in films like Oskar Roehler’s DIE UNBERÜHRBARE (German Film Awards, German Critics’ Award, Bavarian Film Award, all 2000) or Oliver Hirschbiegel’s MEIN LETZTER FILM (German Film Award 2003). A selection of the prizes awarded to Elsner are the Bundesverdienstorden der Bundesrepublik in 1997 (highest medal of the Federal Republic of Germany), the Adolf-Grimme-Prize for ENDE DER SAISON as well as the Bambi Award in 2002, and the Bavarian Film Award for Lifetime Achievement in Acting (2006).

Gerd Gemünden
Professor of German Studies and Film at Dartmouth College, has taught and published extensively on German cinema. His titles include The Cinema of Wim Wenders (1997), A Foreign Affair: Billy Wilder’s American Film (2007), special issues of New German Critique on Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Film and Exile.

Ron Jones former teacher at Cubberley High School, Palo Alto
started “The Third Wave”, the original experiment that inspired THE WAVE. He lives in Haight Ashbury, San Francisco and is retired after working 30 years as a teacher at the San Francisco Recreation Center for the Handicapped (now the Janet Pomeroy Center). Today, Ron Jones volunteers teaching poetry for the mentally disabled in San Francisco at Creativity Explored and coaching his granddaughters 5th grade girls basketball team. He performs regularly on local stages as a poet and spoken word artist.

Till Kleinert Director HUNDEFUTTER

Micha Lewinsky Director THE FRIEND
was born in 1972 in Kassel, Germany but grew up in Switzerland. Since 2000 he has been a writer for such films as WEIHNACHTEN (2002), LITTLE GIRL BLUE (2003) directed by Anna Luif, and STERNENBERG (2004) directed by Christoph Schaub. He has been directing since 2005. DER FREUND (2008) is his feature film debut.

Marc Liesendahl Cinematographer 12 WINTERS

Ayat Najafi Director FOOTBALL UNDER COVER
was born in Teheran in 1976 and lives in Iran and Berlin. He studied stage and set design in Teheran, where he participated in theatrical productions as director, author, actor and set designer. After completing his studies in 2001 he made several short films and took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2005. FOOTBALL UNDER COVER is his first full-length film.

Anna de Paoli & Linus de Paoli Producers HUNDEFUTTER

Jan Henrik Stahlberg Actor MÄRZMELODIE)
born Dec 30 in Neuwied, Germany. After attending acting lessons in Munich, he studied at the Institut des Arts de Diffusion in Brussels. He lives currently in Berlin.

Ulrich Stiem Producer/Director FELIX

Thomas Stiller Director 12 WINTERS
was born in Germany in 1961. He studied acting in New York. He has appeared in various plays and TV films and has also worked as a screenwriter for film and TV. His films include ÜBER DIE LIEBE (short, 1991), STILLE NACHT-HEILIGE NACHT (1999), THE WOUND (2001, B&B 2002), THE BOY WITHOUT QUALITIES (2005, B&B 2007).

BARBARA SUKOWA – actress THE INVENTION OF CURRIED SAUSAGE
was born in Bremen, Germany, in 1950, and studied Acting at the Max-Reinhardt-School in Munich. She had already been a successful theatre actress when Rainer Werner Fassbinder cast her for BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ in 1980, LOLA followed in 1981 (with Armin Mueller-Stahl). A selection of the prizes awarded to Barbara Sukowa include the German Filmband in Gold for LOLA and DIE BLEIERNE ZEIT (1981, dir: Margarethe von Trotta). For ROSA LUXEMBURG (1986, dir: Margarethe von Trotta) she was awarded the German Filmband in Gold as well as Best Actress at Festival de Cannes. At the World Film Festival in Montréal in 2008 she received the award for Best Actress for THE INVENTION OF CURRIED SAUSAGE.

Rolf Wappenschmitt Cinematographer FINNISH TANGO

Wim Wenders Director KINGS OF THE ROAD and PALERMO SHOOTING
Wenders, who was born in Düsseldorf in 1945, studied medicine and philosophy in Freiburg and Düsseldorf. During this time, Wenders became fascinated with cinema, and saw up to 5 movies a day at the local movie theater. Set on making his obsession also his life’s work, Wenders started to work in the Düsseldorf office of United Artists. He entered the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München. Wenders completed several short films before graduating from Film School in Munich with a feature-length 16mm black and white film, SUMMER IN THE CITY. He has directed many highly acclaimed films. For details see TRIBUTE.