Competitions

Jorge Jácome (born 1988) is a filmmaker and artist based in Lisbon. He was born in Viana do Castelo and grew up in Macau. He graduated in Direction and Edition at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema (Lisbon, Portugal) In his works, which blurs the lines between documentary and fiction, he investigates relations between utopias, melancholy, disappearance and desire. His films have been shown in festivals and exhibition contexts and won several awards. Parallel to his work as a filmmaker he works as an editor of projects by other filmmakers and regularly collaborates in performing arts projects.

Peter Ott studied Visual Communications at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste Hamburg. He is a filmmaker, producer – among others for the documentary "Übriggebliebene ausgereiften Haltungen (Lonely Old Slogan)" about the German band Die Goldene Zitronen and the political thriller "The Milan Protocol". He is a member of the political and performance collective Schwabinggrad Ballett. Since 2007, he is a full-time professor in the film and video department at the Merz Akademie Stuttgart, since 2017 as dean.

Vera Sebert studied fine arts at the University of Fine Arts in Braunschweig and the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna as well as language arts at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. Her artistic works move in the border areas of visual media, language, film and computer programmes. In 2021 she received an honourable mention in the International Short Film Competition at the Stuttgart Filmwinter; in 2022 she won the 2 Minutes Shorts Award.

After studying art history and history at the University Heidelberg, Carmen Beckenbach has worked for various cultural institutions in Germany and abroad for more than ten years. Among others, her professional experience includes the communication of media and film art and consulting assignments at the interface of museum management. From 2011 to 2012, she was programme coordinator in the field of media in space for the Filmwinter Stuttgart; currently, she is a team member of the dokKa Festival in Karlsruhe.

lIaria Di Carlo is an Italian filmmaker and a visual artist living and working in Berlin since 2009. She graduated in Scenography from the Fine Arts Academy in Rome and holds a Master’s Degree from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art in London. She has worked extensively as director, actress and scenographer for theatre and performance before she started directing her own films. Her filmography includes short films The Black Book of L, The Divine Way and Sirens. Her films were screened in more than 50 countries, in over 170 international film festivals.

Felix Klee (born 1990) lives and works in Munich where he is currently studying directing for documentary film at the University of Television and Film Munich. In 2022, together with Gisela Carbajal Rodríguez, he received the media art scholarship from the Kirch Foundation and the HFF Munich. From 2020 until 2022 he was a consultant for the Locarno Film Festival. He is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts Munich, where he studied time-based media with Julian Rosefeldt and painting with Pia Fries. He also studied painting with Thomas Hartmann at the Academy of Fine Arts Nuremberg and was a visiting student at the Universidad de las Artes Aguascalientes Mexico.

Ninette Sander was born and raised in East Berlin and has been living in Southern Germany since the late 80s. She works as a graphic designer, curator, event organizer, and club owner. In 2002, opening of the Club Schocken, one of the most vital cultural institutions in Stuttgart and highly known beyond the Federal Land of Baden-Württemberg. In 2017 opening of White Noise, hosting frequent art and cultural events of great variety – far off the realm of popular culture – alongside regular bar and club operations.

Julia Schmitt studied Roman Philology, Art Histor, and Museum Education at the Humboldt University and Freie Universität in Berlin. Her work at the interface of visual arts and opera lead her to, among others, the first Ruhrtriennale with director Gerard Mortier, Bayerische Staatsoper where she worked in the picture dramaturgy department for Nikolaus Bachler's team. As of 2018/2019, she has been working for the Staatsoper Stuttgart as dramatic advisor for public relations and productions at the interface of visual arts and opera.

Anne Turek was born in Dresden where she studied Economic and Social Geography. Since June 2004, she has been a member of AG Kurzfilm and oversees projects for the internet portal shortfilm.de. She played a vital part at the production of the short film study "Kurzfilm in Deutschland – Studie zur Situation des kurzen Films" and she is a coordinator for "Emerging Artists – Contemporary Experimental Films and Video Art from Germany", "FEINKOŠT – Tschechisch-Deutsche Kurzfilmtournee“ as well as film rights, film preview and programming assistance.

Birgit Brenner’s (born 1964 in Ulm, Germany) installations, videos and drawings deal with social and private impacts and the monotony of every day life. Her socially critical works circle around topics like injustice, failure, force, monitoring, promises of happiness, fear and loneliness. These universal themes are condensed in straightforward images, to reflect our world. The artist created her very own imagery without any restrictions to certain media. Birgit Brenner studied in the class of Professor Rebecca Horn at Hochschule der Künste, Berlin and graduated as a master student in 1996. Since 2007 she is appointed to a professorship for Visual Arts, Photography, Drawing and New Media at Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Stuttgart. Birgit Brenner received the award „Wolfsburger Kunstpreis“ 2020, the Scholarship of art at Villa Massimo, Rome and took part in many national and international exhibitions.

Since 2011, Römer has been the Head of the Cultural Policy and New Media Division at the Heinrich-Böll. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in the drama department at the New York University, and worked as an assistant director at the Residenztheater in Bonn. At Hannover EXPO 2000, he was responsible for the cultural programmes of the Federal States as project manager for the German pavilion. In 2001, on the occasion of the 400th anniversary of the city of Mannheim, he curated the programme "Theatre in Public Spaces". From 2007 to 2011, he was the general manager in the directorate of the Neuköllner Oper, Berlin. From 2013-2022, he programmed and organised the conference "Theatre and Net" with nachtkritik.de. In 2021, he completed his master studies at the Hochschule für Schauspielkunst Ernst Busch, Berlin.