Jury 2020
GUILLAUME ALBECK
CEO at PARIGO
For more than 10 years PARIGO (French music production & publishing company) offers a catalogue containing 200,000 recordings. In 2012 PARIGO registered hundreds of hours of music for different programs, including 250 corporate films.
CHRISTIAN BAUMEISTER
Light & Shadow GmbH – CEO, Producer and Founder
For almost 20 years, Christian Baumeister and his company Light & Shadow, have received international acclaim for original wildlife films. Christian is known for his award-winning, breath-taking cinematography, detailed animal portraits and exquisite composition.
He has produced and directed more than 20 feature programs, including three major series, with leading broadcasters such as NDR, WDR, ZDF, BBC, ARTE, ORF, Smithsonian Channel, Discovery Channel, Servus TV and National Geographic Wild.
Passionate about wildlife photography from a very young age, Christian studied biology in his native Germany and wildlife filmmaking in the UK. Before founding Light & Shadow, his work as a wildlife cameraman took him to South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Latin America sparked a particularly deep and abiding love, and since Light & Shadow was established in 2001, Christian has built up a unique knowledge and expertise in filming spectacular animals and special places all across the South American continent. His 3-part series “The Wild Andes” has been nominated for 2 EMMY Awards in 2019.
PETER BECK
President of Swiss Film Association, Founder and Creative Director of Beck & Friends GmbH
For nearly 30 years Peter Beck is working in the department of film, storytelling and digital content creating.
DMITRY BOGDANOV
CEO at Rivelty group
Dmitry Bogdanov is the CEO of Rivelty group – one of the leading companies among corporate video production in the Russian market, as well as the first production company in the country awarded with a Golden Dolphin at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in 2012.
He is the author of "Corporate Video. Instructions for use", an educational book for company employees whose work is related to corporate media.
PETER BOSTOEN
Director corporate films, commercials & television
Filming around the world, Peter Bostoen has worked with people from a wide variety of social, cultural and religious backgrounds. This versatility – combined with extensive technical skills, deep creative insight and a sympathetic approach – allows him to excel at expressing human emotion with strong visual power.
Peter has specialized in corporate and institutional communications, but he incorporates his previous practice in shooting commercials, documentaries and TV drama. He has won international awards for several of his commercials and corporate films.
EMILY CLEMENTS
Head of Film at Radley Yeldar
Emily heads up the film and animation team at Radley Yeldar. She has been making award-winning films for both public and private sector organisations for more than 17 years. She brings both creativity and strategic thinking to film projects and has wide ranging knowledge and experience of differing industry sectors and production genres (from drama and documentary to commercials and animation) and interactive projects, recently delivering a wholly animated 360 VR experience for one of our clients. Emily has worked with a wide-range of clients at RY including GSK, Beiersdorf, The Science Museum, TEDx London, Visit Britain, and JTI.
BARBARA DEJONGHE
Co-founder and creative director at Clementine
Barbara produces, directs and edits corporate films packed with humor and emotion. After her film studies in Brussels, she worked for a short period for national television. Since 2011 she is co-founder and manager at Clementine, a creative agency that caters for all audiovisual needs.
Her colorful works, defined by their authentic happy mood and largely influenced by her passion for dance and upbeat music, have been awarded internationally and formed the center-piece of notable online campaigns.
Clementine produces online commercials, branded content, corporate films, employer branding movies and internal communication videos.
H.G.J. (JOHN) DRIEDONKS
Professor-of-practice at the Utrecht University of Applied Sciences (UUAS)
John Driedonks has created a multi-platform documentary storytelling course "CampusDoc" in cooperation with the City University of New York (CUNY). During this twenty-week crash course 20 students pitch, research, produce, crowdfund, film, edit and distribute their own documentary concepts. Distribution starts after the premiere of the short docs during the CampusDoc (International) Film Festival.
As senior lecturer at the School of Journalism UUAS John Driedonks coordinated between 2006-2017 a real-life converged newsroom with a focus on broadcasting TV talkshows, and web. The student-run talkshows are still aired on the local TV station: RTV Utrecht
In addition to his regular activities for the School of Journalism, John Driedonks was guest lecturer at several universities in Europe, Qatar, China and South Africa. Between 1982-2006 he was a journalist, finally as editor-in-chief of RTV Utrecht (radio-television + web).
MAGDALENA DULAC
Head of audiovisual production at Colas Group
Magdalena Dulac is a philologist and the head of audiovisual production for the Colas Group (world leader in the construction and maintenance of transport infrastructure). In this capacity, she supervises the Group’s audiovisual projects, which have won more than twenty professional communication awards over the past ten years.
JO MARIE FARWICK
Founder of Überground GmbH
Jo Marie has been hiphopping around in the German communication business for 15 years. After a decade of learning from the best, she decided to make it even better and opened up Überground, "A HOLISTIC IDEA COLLECTIVE MAKING HIGH CLASS COMMUNICATION PROJECTS REAL" in 2015.
From the scratch and without clients to kickoff she and her team managed to come up with some of the most renown campaigns in Europe, e. g. the well-known international campaign for famous fitness brand Freeletics. Christmas 2016 the team rocked the market with the 1000degree #SANTACLARA Campaign for Europe’s biggest discounter Lidl which replaced Santa Claus, entered all main European charts and was celebrated best and most shared XMAS Viral 2016. One year later Jo Marie’s foundation Überground was honored with the Dare Greatly Award from Cadillac Europe and the title Rookie Agency of the year. Lately the team invented a new worldwide lottery-product called Thankyou Million für Tipp24, wowed the audience with "Own the experience. Not the car." for AUDI and – launched the campaign "Break the rules of fashion" for REBELLE.
In Germany they say "Wirbelwind" and that’s how she leads her team of übercreatives and manages the whole enterprise: FOR the idea and FOR the people. Being herself, a mother of a 2 years old boy called Parker, she is always up for solutions to not only make perfect work but also to live a life. Maybe because of this, her übercrew consists of the perfect 50/50 of women and men, and eventually a nanny that looks after the kids happening to be present from time to time.
The last 24 months were determined by a fat campaign production for LIDL international called #kidsgone – a mini movie starring 40 kids from around the world and the message for grown-ups to stop messing things up, what they normally do at Christmas time, a massive campaign concerning sustainability issues, the launch of a new car selling platform involving a Ninja defeating walrus, a lot of Snapchat filters and a very funny 2020 Start-Campaign for LIDL.
Jo is a member of the German Art Director’s Club and was a teacher at Miami Ad School for 5 years. She is a trusted “Kapitän” and responsible for the curriculum at Texterschmiede, the most awarded German copywriter’s school.
ISABELLE FOURNET
Editor and Filmmaker
www.isabellefournet.com/editor.html
Isabelle Fournet is an awarded editor and a filmmaker, with a background in computer animation, currently working on humanitarian projects in partnership with UNESCO, as well as Spanish and French feature and documentary productions.
SALLY FRYER
Senior Editor
Sally Fryer (ASE) is Senior Editor at Shark Island Institute. She has over 30 years’ experience as a film editor in London and Sydney. In 2019 she won the AACTA Award for ‘Best Editing in a Documentary for THE FINAL QUARTER, for which she was also awarded an ‘Ellie’ for ‘Best Editing in a Documentary feature’. In 2008 Sally won the AFI Award for ‘Best Editing in a Documentary’ for THE OASIS and in 2012 was awarded an ‘Ellie’ for ‘Best Editing in a Documentary Feature’ for PAUL KELLY — STORIES OF ME. Sally is very happy to be in the realm of social impact documentary filmmaking and is still as passionate as ever about her craft. Swimming and long walks keep her sane.
STEVE GARVEY
Founder of Moving Image
Steve Garvey has 30+ years' experience in film and video as an agency head, producer and in-house comms director. He runs Moving Image, the UK’s independent hub for insights into brand video and corporate film.
Former CEO of two of the UK's top 10 corporate production companies, he founded and ran Reuters Corporate Television, and produced documentaries for Channel 4 and the BBC. He was comms director at Yes Television and ran industry association EVCOM.
INGRID GOGL
Head of ÖBB Newsroom (digital & internal communication)
Photo: Christian Lendl
Ingrid Gogl, originally a politics graduate holding a master’s degree in IT-law, started her career as a project manager at the Institute for Youth Research and other companies. She later became the Head of Social Media & Online PR at the Viennese innovation agency datenwerk. Ingrid Gogl currently leads the newsroom department for digital and internal communication at ÖBB-Holding AG. The social media expert has been passing on her expertise down to students at various educational institutions since 2015. At ÖBB, her field of functions includes the digital and internal communication strategy and corporate positioning of the ÖBB group. Among other things, she and her team develop various formats for ÖBB’s owned channels. The successful video series “Gleisgeschichten” was awarded a golden Dolphin trophy at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2019.
VYACHESLAV GOLDFELD
CEO and Managing Partner
Vyacheslav went on an unexpected career path from physicist to filmmaker and scriptwriter, and “on the way” he has become co-owner and CEO of a production company.
For over twenty years Vyacheslav has been engaged in video production, and is one of the leading experts in the field of corporate films in Russia. The projects under his supervision have received awards at Moscow, New York, Los Angeles (including two Best of Festival Prizes in a row), Cannes, and other international film festivals.
He prefers to personally supervise large-scale and integrated projects, including working with companies such as Gazprom Neft, S7 Airlines, Salym Petroleum Development, and Rusnano. Many years of experience in solving the problems of large companies has made it possible to expand the sphere of his competence to all aspects of marketing and promotion.
ALA HAMDAN
Filmmaker
Ala Hamdan an award-winning filmmaker. She studied filmmaking at NYFA and now is a co-founder of (at Films) production company. Ala's work focuses on PSAs on social justice and uplifting topics, documentaries, and short films. Some of her web-series work was viewed over 5 million times on various social media platforms.
CONRAD HEBERLING
University Professor
Conrad Heberling teaches Media Economy and TV Marketing Research at the German Film University Babelsberg “Konrad Wolf”. He has nearly 20 years of experience in management positions with TV stations in Germany (RTL2 Television, DAF Television), Austria (Austria 9 TV) as well as internationally. He holds a number of international advisory positions such as with Dori Media International, a leading producer of telenovelas, drama and game shows and has authored numerous scientific papers in regards to topics such as “Big Brother”, “Popstars”, merchandising, children´s television and many more.
CHRISTIAN HESCHL
Composer for Film & Television
Christian Heschl started his music career by learning the trumpet where he completed a jazz education. Later, he added the piano, cello and his biggest passion - composing. Film-music itself and composing music to the motion picture has always been a huge passion and now he brought his dream to reality and composes music in different genres for various projects and studios including National Geographic, Sony, NBC/SyFy, ARTE, SFR and many more.
After learning everything from scratch and attending several masterclasses & workshops, hosted by Hollywood’s multiple Oscar winning A-List composers like James Newton-Howard, Hans Zimmer, Alexandre Desplat, Danny Elfman and John Lunn, he strengthened his knowledge of music production in various genres of film music.
Over the years his music got featured on various NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC & SONY UK short documentary projects for which his music won several awards as well. Besides that, he is writing production music freelance for various respected music libraries.
2017, 2018 and 2019 he won several awards in a row in for "Best Original Score" at the Los Angeles Film Awards, LA Short Awards, New York Film Awards and at the CineFest LA - for his work on nature documentaries like "Frozen Warriors " and "Okavango".
Over the past few years Christian also built up a strong network of composers, mixers, orchestrators and recording studios who have worked on productions like Planet Earth or Blue Planet. Remote Control Productions, Abbey Road, Air Studios or Synchron Stage Vienna are some of the many studios with whom he stays in touch regularly, with their composers, engineers & musicians for various services.
Since 2019 he is working for Sandra Tomek’s TOMEK PRODUCTIONS (World of Hans Zimmer ) as Co-Curator and “Creative Brain” on her high-end concert productions like Two Steps From Hell LIVE or Hollywood in Vienna 2019 featuring Oscar-winning composers like Gabriel Yared, Alexandre Desplat, Hans Zimmer, James Newton-Howard and many more.
PHILIP HOLLERBACH
Executive Producer Film & Content / Global Communications at AUDI AG
Philip Hollerbach can look back on already 12+ years of experience as an award-winning PR and marketing film and content professional in the automotive industry. His international works for many leading companies such as Audi, Bentley, BMW Mini, Lamborghini, Porsche or VW (to mention just a few) took him to approximately two dozen countries on all continents. His work was already medaled with multiple awards at international festivals, including the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards, AutoVision and the World Media Festivals.
The versatile director is experienced in helicopter & drone shots, stunt shoots, automotive Russian & Scorpio Arm shoots, underwater shoots, slow motion, full CGI animation, documentary work and much more.
Since 2017, he works for AUDI AG as Executive Producer Film & Content Global Communications.
YIBI HU
Founder/Creative Director
Yibi Hu is a multi-award-winning visual artist and director with a diverse and eclectic body of work. Before setting up Future Power Station he was a senior member of the BBC’s in-house creative team.
His work experiments with 2D illustration, stop motion, hand drawn and 3D animation; creating TV commercials, brand identity and visual installations for high profile brands such as Huawei, BBC, BOSCH, Sky, Nike and The FA.
Yibi has written and illustrated 4 volumes of his self-created comic series — selling over 60,000 copies - and has directed music videos for some of the world’s best-known artists including George Michael, Joey Bada$$, Faithless, Zero 7 and Beyoncé.
WOLFGANG JO HUSCHERT
Producer and chairman of the Federal Association of German film and audiovisual producers e.V. Wiesbaden
Winner of 19 German National Corporate Film Awards and more than 150 international and national Awards. President of the International Tourism Festival "The Golden City Gate" at the ITB Berlin.
MARIA IANKOVA
Campaign coordinator at the Federation of Austrian Industries
She gained first experience in the film business at “DoRo Filmproduktion” and several other production companies.
The work in the film business brought her to the world of advertising agencies where she worked at “Super-Fi GmbH” or rather “VIICE CEE” for six years. Since 2015, she is working as campaign coordinator at the Federation of Austrian Industries in Vienna.
HUGO KEIJZER
Director
Hugo’s career began as a DOP and Editor at the famous music channel MTV, although he soon realized his heart was more in the directing side of the industry.
After he directed various music videos for international artists, Hugo soon flourished into a versatile filmmaker with an array of short films and campaigns for global brands. Over the years he earned multiple awards for his brand stories, including Cannes Corporate.
His style can be best described as an intimate and melancholic character. His creative strength lies in combining gripping narrative with stunning aesthetics and whose reel shows an extraordinary level of detail. Hugo believes in an approach of storytelling that invests in the power of collaboration and takes pride in his close relationship with talented writers, actors, visual artists and – most of all – his clients. Recently, alongside his commercial work, he is developing on two feature films and a television series.
TERUHIKO KIMURA
CEO and Executive Producer at IMAGE SCIENCE, INC.
Over 25 years, Teruhiko Kimura has been creating corporate films and digital contents based in Tokyo, Japan.
Since 2011 he is Managing Director of the Japan Association of Audiovisual Producers, Inc.
WENKE KLEINE-BENNE
Head of Audio Department, Creative Director Sound
Wenke is one of the leading European sound designers.
Her deep believe in a true creative process in combination with careful intuition, playful passion and sharp knowledge is the essence of her work.
To truly understand the art of sound design, is to grasp people’s visions
and present them with the sound.
Her work enriches commercial productions and feature films, as well as international art projects. In 2019, Wenke created an exceptional sound design art exhibition in collaboration with an illustration artist shown in Los Angeles and Berlin.
The long list of her internationally won awards includes sound designs for remarkable campaigns such as: Mercedes Benz „Sound Of Summer“ or „Grow Up – Get A Job“.
After more than 20 years working for one of the most renowned post-productions in Germany, Wenke now faces the next major challenge and will go her own way.
Her desire to fundamentally redefine work processes and structures in sound design as well as to share and pass on her knowledge drives her forward.
Wenke is a member and judge of the Art Directors Club and the German Advertising Film Academy, where she is also a speaker and seminar leader for sound design.
DOMINIC KÖFNER
Managing Director at Serviceplan Austria
Dominic Köfner started his career as a consultant at Brunswick Group, a renewed communication consultancy, where he also developed the company’s activities in Austria. Some of his numerous accomplishments are the stock market launch of the Austriamicrosystems, the strategic communication at the acquisition of BAWAG P.S.K. by Cerberus on behalf of the ÖGB, as well as the successful defense communications in the attempt of OMV to acquire the Hungarian MOL Group. After that, Dominic Köfner switched to the corporate side and, for more than a decade, he was Head of Marketing & Corporate Communications for international companies of the Fortune Global 500 Rankings. Most recently, Dominic Köfner was Executive Vice President for Marketing & Communications at the Austrian lightning company Zumtobel Group. Throughout his career he got honored with several international awards for marketing and communications. Since September 2018, Dominic Köfner is Managing Director at Serviceplan Austria. With this setting, the Serviceplan Group accelerates the successful development of Vienna’s “House of Communication”, which combines the agencies Serviceplan, Plan.Net and Mediaplus.
MICHAEL KÖGLER
Director, Producer and Reporter
He has been working for TV stations such as: ORF, RTL, SAT1, SKY, SPORT1, KABEL1 and VOX. Director of sport events, producer for comedy shows, gala events and concerts. Emmy Award winner for Red Bull Air Race.
RONALD KRAPP
Director and conceptual writer for advertising and corporate film, TV trailer, TV and documentary
Canadian citizen Ronald Krapp was born in Hamburg in 1968. After finishing his education as a bookseller and publisher he went off to Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg to study Advertising Film Direction.
This was where he obtained first awards for his works. One of his student films was copied by a large automotive company without his prior agreement and was televised worldwide. This is how Ronald learnt about the worth of a good idea – including his own ideas.
Since 2001 he has been working as director and conceptual writer for advertisements, corporate films, and TV trailers. He loves to draft and write promotional concepts – for others, too. When a project is funny, absurd, or very lyrical, you can trust he will put his heart and soul into the project while sitting in his office in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
In 2009, Ronald Krapp started educating film students in Salzburg and Berlin as a lecturer for conception of advertising films and documentaries, for which he also has a major soft spot.
During a gunfight in the streets of Berlin, a 9mm bullet broke into his Kreuzberg office and missed him tightly. Ronald decided to focus on the few upsides of the incident, took it as an inspiration and started to write TV crime stories with an author friend of his.
His motto: Why have hair when you can have ideas!
STEFANO LENTINI
Composer
Composer, best-known for his album Stabat Mater to Wong Kar Wai’s film “The Grandmaster” two Academy Awards nominee. Mainly interested in unconventional scoring. He composed the soundtrack - feat. Charlie Winston - for TV Series “La Porta Rossa” nominated for Best Score and Best Song at 2017 Fimucinema Awards and the score for International Emmy Kids Awards nominee “Braccialetti Rossi”. His first instrument was a classic guitar made by his grandfather who was a carpenter out of some old wardrobe doors.
NEO MASHIGO
Partner & Chief Creative Officer M&C SAATCHI GROUP
LinkedIn: Neo Mashigo
Twitter: @neomashigo
Facebook: Nęô Ali Mashigo
Instagram: @neomashigolife
On top of being the Chief Creative Officer for the M&C Saatchi Group, South Africa, Neo is also the Co-Founder of I See A Different You – a collective of Soweto-born creatives who set out to change the world’s view of Africa. In fact, throughout his career, Neo has been passionate about the creativity in Africa and producing work that better represents the continent.
He is former Chairman and current board member of The Loerie Awards – South Africa’s premiere advertising awards. He also sits on the Executive Committee of the Creative Circle, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting creativity as a business tool. Before joining M&C Saatchi Group, Neo was Executive Creative Director at two of South Africa’s largest advertising agencies, Ogilvy & Mather Johannesburg and FCB Johannesburg. While there, he was instrumental in leading both these agencies to the top spots in creative ranking tables.
Neo has won several local and international awards including a Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity and The Loerie Awards. But his greatest achievement is his ability to identify and develop black creative talent that become leading creatives in the industry.
THORSTEN MEIER-BARTLOG
Senior Consultant & Creative Producer Film-Photo-CGI for Corporates
Schaeffler Technologies AG & Co. KG
Thorsten Meier-Bartlog has 20+ years of experience in production of audio-visual media for all ranges of use, including Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Toyota, Brose and many more.
In 2008, he co-founded and ran GoodFilm GmbH Stuttgart as Executive Producer.
In 2015, he switched sides and from then on gained experience from the clients’ point of view. He currently is at Schaeffler AG and carries responsibility for all global topics including film, photography, and CGI.
He strongly emphasizes on cross-media and sustainable production for various versatile applications in marketing and communication.
ANGEL NAVARRO GOMEZ
Director of documentaries and reports at RADIO TELEVISION ESPAÑOLA
He currently works at RADIO TELEVISION ESPAÑOLA as a Director of Documentaries and Reports.
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
- Premio Academia de Televisión Concha García Campoy, MALAIRE (MALARIA)
- Premio Francisco de Cossio Junta de Castilla y León, MI HISTORIA, ADOLFO SUÁREZ
- Premio Cuerpo Nacional de Policía de Periodismo, ACOSO EN LA SOMBRA
- Premio Internacional Junta de Extremadura, LA CAZA FOTOGRAFICA
- Premio Internacional Periodismo Rey Juan Carlos, DETRÁS DE LA ABAYA
- Premio Internacional Rey Juan Carlos, DETRÁS DE LA ABAYA
- Premio Especial Príncipe Rainiero Festival de Montecarlo, CAMBIO CLIMATICO
- Premio Roma Civis de la Televisión italiana, GITANOS, EUROPEOS SIN ESTADO
- Premio Manos Unidas Documental, MALI, LA RUTA CLANDESTINA
- Premio Internacional Periodismo Rey Juan Carlos, El PAPA QUE VINO DE POLONIA
KARLIJN PAARDEKOOPER
Executive Producer
Karlijn Paardekooper is the Managing Partner and Executive Producer of Czar, an award-winning production house and photography agency that creates content ranging from commercials, music videos, or any other form of media that demands high-quality production. With over 15 years of experience in the film industry and offices all around Europe, she has an extensive career and travels the world non-stop.
She kick-started her career as a Producer at Czar. After a few years, her ambition and passion for film led her into the role of Head of the Comrad department, a branch where they focused on talent development for young directors.
In 2015, she was promoted to Executive Producer of the Amsterdam based office. Under her leadership, Czar produced several global campaigns for some of the world’s biggest brands. She has been recognised for her successful and enduring relationship with top tier agencies, clients, directors and photographers.
She believes in creative diversity and supporting the young talent within the industry. Because of her vision, Czar’s roster has flourished into a high-end creative community.
Over the years she has earned multiple awards at Cannes Lions, Eurobest, Ciclope and D&AD.
FERNANDO FARIA PAULINO
Visual Anthropology
Fernando Faria Paulino, PhD in Anthropology (Visual Anthropology), Professor at University Institute of Maia, Dept. of Communication Sciences and Information Technologies (in the areas of visual communication, visual semiotics, documentary video, photography and new media) , researcher at CITEI – Research Center for Technologies and Intermedia Studies and researcher at CIAC Research Centre for Arts and Communication / University of Algarve. He is the Head Coordinator of the undergraduate degree of Multimedia Communication | University Institute of Maia, Coordinator of CLM Multimedia Lab Center ISMAI and Coordinator of the CCCom Communication Sciences Center | Multiplatform Audiovisual Studio ISMAI. Research interests: anthropology, visual anthropology and anthropology of visual communication, methodology, technology and epistemology of images and audiovisual culture, visual semiotics and visual culture, digital media, multimedia / hypermedia, new media, documentary film and documentary photography, interactive documentary, i-docs and web-docs; anthropology, cultural heritage, culture and tourism development. He is author of several scientific articles, documentary filmmaker, as well as hypermedia products author, essentially based on anthropological content nature.
CAROLIEN PEETERS
Corporate Campaigns Manager at European Commission
Carolien is managing corporate campaigns at the European Commission like EUProtects and the upcoming campaign on the European Green Deal. She studied literature and has 20 years of experience in communication with citizens. She ran the award winning EUandME youth campaign, for which the Commission joined forces with renowned directors like Jaco Van Dormael and popular platforms like VICE. She’s one of the driving forces behind the Commission’s new corporate approach.
PIETER-RIM DE KROON
Filmmaker
Pieter-Rim de Kroon is a highly acclaimed director of distinguished feature documentaries, shorts, corporate image & product films for premium brands. Over the years Pieter-Rim's films received over 145 international awards including numerous festival Grand Prix’s.
KATRINE PHILP
Film director and co-founder
Emmy-nominated film director and co-founder of Good Company Pictures.
Katrine is an Emmy-nominated film director. She graduated from The National Film School of Denmark in 2009 and holds a bachelor’s degree in Film Production Design from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts.
Her films have been screened and awarded on various festivals around the world. Her graduation film, Book of Miri, was awarded the President´s Award at the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, nominated at IDFA and won the European Young CIVIS Media Prize in Germany. Her debut feature length documentary Dance for Me is nominated for an Emmy Award in the category 'Outstanding Arts and Culture Programming' (2016) and her latest films, 'Home Sweet Home', won the Danish Academy Award (Robert Prize) and the feature length, False Confessions, won the Audience Award at CPH:DOX and Special Mention at LA Film Festival (2018).
Katrine is co-founder of the production company Good Company Pictures based in Copenhagen, Denmark, proudly representing international creative documentaries to the world.
STEPHANE RENARD
Executive Producer
Stephan has 20+ years in production ranging from advertising, corporate, events, feature film, documentaries, social & digital content. Stephan has worked with clients across many different sectors including the finance, energy, luxury, telecommunications, educations, constructions, retail, FMCG, pharmaceutical, automobile and transport industries. Over the years he has earned multiple awards around the world including Cannes, New York, Hamburg and Sydney.
MICHAEL RITTMANNSBERGER
Concept developer and film director
Michael Rittmannsberger is a Vienna based concept developer and film director. He started his career by producing award-winning narrative short films which got screened at over 200 international film festivals. After three years as writer for Ogilvy & Mather Vienna, he began to work as a commercial director for clients such as Three Mobile, Hofer, WWF, Greenpeace and Raiffeisen Bank. His commercial work is characterized by powerful and emotional storytelling and thus got already awarded numerous times (ADC*E Film Silver, Cannes Young Director Nominee, Brand Film Festival London Silver and many more).
DÎDEM ŞAHIN
Director and producer
Dîdem Şahin was born in Germany. After having graduated from the TV and Cinema Department of the Marmara University, Istanbul, she went on to continue her studies in England, where she completed a scenario cursus at Birkbeck University. Afterwards, she completed a Master’s Degree in Documentary Production & Direction at the Brunel University in London.
Dîdem Şahin was chosen as a documentary director for “Berlinale Talent Campus” in 2010. Her films were awarded with best Turkish Documentary by SIYAD in 2007, at the 2.Cyprus Golden Bunch International Film Festival in 2008, Best TV Documentary Film in I. International Sport Film Festival of TV Category Milano and received a finalist status at the 48th Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, Turkeys most prestigious festival.
Since 2013, Dîdem Şahin has been producing and directing TV-documentaries and -programmes as a freelance. Most of the time, her work is based on current affairs, human stories and sports. She worked in Malaysia, Gambia and of course Turkey. Her latest documentary is about Syrian Refugee's life in the camp and the city.
ŽELJKO SARIĆ
Member of the Croatian Society of Film Workers and secretary of the Croatian Association of Cinematographers
Željko Sarić was born in Croatia, Zagreb. He has graduated from the Academy of Dramatic Arts at the University of Zagreb. As a cinematographer, he worked on documentaries and short films with renowned Croatian directors of every age. He has furthermore worked as an associate cameraman for the Croatian RadioTelevision (Croatian public broadcasting company) where he recorded more than 200 titles of television broadcast for all programs (television shows, documentaries and motion pictures). He also filmed a music video with David Bowie for the Chinese market. He has since directed numerous short feature films, documentaries, TV series and experimental films. He has besides participated in different film festivals as for example: Sao Paulo, Tampere, Regensburg, San Francisco, Tanger, Cottbus… With his unique style of Cinematography, he also makes exhibitions in the field of Fine Arts.
KAI SAUL
Cinematographer
Kai Saul is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer with credits spanning an extensive range of genres and formats. His narrative work has premiered at Sundance Film Festival and played in dozens of festivals across the globe. He has lensed commercials for major clients such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, while his music video résumé has garnered over a half-billion views through collaborations with an array of top artists from Lady Gaga to Moby. An avid photographer in his spare time, he continually strives to create emotionally resonant and powerful images through his craft.
Kai is a member of the International Cinematographers Guild and is represented worldwide by Dattner Dispoto & Associates.
JANE SAYERS
Filmmaker
Award-winning Filmmaker, Motorbiking Mother and Occasional Ballerina. Jane Sayers has achieved a highly successful career in TV and corporate film production – Series Producing the Emmy award winning Stephen Hawking’s Favourite Places in 2017. Jane has written, directed and produced hundreds of hours of primetime documentaries for international broadcasters and has recently created the Content Engine - an award-winning in-house film unit within Shell.
MARK SAYFRITZ
Composer and artist
Mark is an English composer and artist who shares his time between London & LA.
He started his musical journey as a recording artist / record producer and multiple gold selling albums later it brought the attention of Hollywood and a request for film scoring duties.
He’s now scored over 20 US features, global TV series and countless advertising campaigns including numerous DnAD pencil & Clio awards and nominations for numerous clients including Nike, Audi, Reebok and the NBA.
Last year Mark performed his Symphony 'Sound of Light' inspired by the northern lights & composed in collaboration with Artificial intelligence at Brahms Saal, Musikverein, Vienna.
The orchestra driven piece mixed with experimental visual driven synthesis techniques was broadcast live around the world and was the final stage of a 2-month long odyssey from deep in the arctic circle though to Cambridge, London and finally Vienna. The project sponsored by Huawei has since won numerous innovation awards.
CHRIS SCHUELER
President and Chief Executive Officer at Christopher Productions, LLC
www.ChristopherProductions.org
Chris Schueler has created over 100 television programs in the past 25 years that have garnered 26 Regional Emmy® Awards and have been broadcast throughout the country and around the world. Focusing on educational and social issues, Mr. Schueler creates youth programming and documentaries that are “Television to Touch the Heart.” His innovative process of program creation was the focus of Mr. Schueler’s recent TED talk. That audience driven process has been integral in creating social change for his work with clients including the United Nations, the National Institute of Mental Health, the PBS network, the CBS Network Foundation as well as networks and governments worldwide.
Mr. Schueler has created projects in locations worldwide including Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Central America, Russia and Africa. His documentaries have raised public awareness and also impacted public policy nationally and internationally. His programs have ranged from global warming solutions to mental health stigma and included topics such as date and domestic violence, AIDS, alcohol, gambling addiction, opioid abuse and many others. As a director, Mr. Schueler has worked with Glenn Close, Bryan Cranston, Sam Donaldson, Montel Williams and others. The National Broadcast Association for Community Affairs named Chris Schueler national “Innovator of the Year” for his News 101 project.
Mr. Schueler has a BA in English and Theatre from the University of the Pacific and an MA in Playwriting and Directing from the University of New Mexico. UNM has honored him with its Lobo Award and UOP with the Distinguished Alumni Award for Public Service. In addition to being CEO of Christopher Productions, Mr. Schueler is the Executive Director of SafeTeen New Mexico which was named one of the six best Community Outreach Programs in the United States. Due to the quality of his work, Mr. Schueler has been honored to be on the Grand Jury for the New York Festivals the past 8 years. Mr. Schueler is the only three-time winner of the Board of Governors Award (Emmy© Award) from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, Rocky Mountain Chapter.
JANINA SCHÜLLER
Content Director at C3 Creative Code and Content
Since October 2018, Janina Schüller is strengthening C3’s content marketing experts’ team as Content Director in Munich.
She formerly worked at Sky Germany, where she was co-responsible for the inhouse production strategy as Head of Content Strategy and, among others, in charge of the overall project lead for Babylon Berlin.
Together with the account teams she pushes forward the development and implementation of cross-media content strategies and concepts for C3’s clients. As graduated Media Manager, she started her career as TV editor at Pro Sieben. After that, she was Channel Manager for the cross-media management at Kabel 1 & Sixx, where she completed her doctorate about “Innovation Management for TV Businesses” and was co-responsible for the launch and management of the TV channel Kabel 1 Doku.
SIMON SCHENNACH
Film Director, Editor and Author
Simon is freelance director, editor and author for Film, TV and Corporate TV projects. After having finished his studies in Austria and the USA, he carried out several national and international projects including documentaries, reports and journal articles for ORF broadcast, ServusTV or Red Bull Media House. Furthermore he developed Corporate films for various international companies. He affiliates a long-term working cooperation with DMG Film Wien. He has received numerous prizes for his films: a report named „Die letzten Fahrenden“ developed for the TV magazine „Am Schauplatz“ (ORF) won the P.Leopold-Ungar – Recognition price. The documentary „Das Schicksal fragt nicht“ received a prize at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards.
PHILIP SPAAR
Multimedia-Editor at Swiss Life AG
Philip Spaar, born and raised in St. Gallen, lives now with his family in Zurich.
He studied journalism and communication and gained work experience as editor for various TV stations including ProSieben (Galileo) and the Swiss Television (Giacobbo/Müller). He spent a semester abroad at the University of Television and Film in Munich (HFF) were he graduated in Film and Television Documentary. For more than four years now he has been working as multimedia-editor at Swiss Life AG – the largest life insurance company of Switzerland – at corporate communications. Thereby he is responsible for several award-winning corporate film productions. Additionally, he works as a lecturer for video productions at the College Zurich (ZFH). The father of four loves his kids, his wife and films.
MEGHAN SHEA
Director and Producer
Co-founder of Persistent Productions Meghan’s work spans documentary film, branded content, and the arts. Working as a director/producer Meghan is double-based in Boston and Singapore. Her commercial work and branded content include collaborations with Sony Music, Nikon, BBCStoryworks, and Amanresorts. Her documentary work includes the recent feature films; “How I Live”, a film about global pediatric cancer and “Under the Turban”, an exploration of Sikhism, the world’s fifth largest religion.
Whether working in the documentary sphere, television, or with corporate brands her focus in on telling authentic human stories. Meghan graduated with a Master’s of Fine Arts from the George Washington University during which time she was a fellow for EJS Women’s Leadership Program. Meghan’s work has been screened at such venues as The Tribeca Film Festival, US Public Broadcasting, and universities such as The Harvard Kennedy School, Yale University, and MIT.
MARIOS TAKOUSHIS
Film/Television composer & pianist
He is currently writing the music for Channel 4's factual series "The Supervet (season 11)" and has been assisting composer Charlie Mole with additional arrangements for Universal Pictures’ "Dad’s Army" starring Bill Nighy, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Toby Smith as well as ITV's "Mr. Selfridge" starring Jeremy Piven.
Scores for film include "Balik" directed by Dervis Zaim (Best Music Award at the 5th Malatya Film Festival), Mani Benchelah's feature documentary "This is Exile: Diaries of Child Refugees" and "A Boy Called Dad" directed by BAFTA and EMMY winner Brian Percival.
He has also written music for commercial campaigns of Gillette, Panasonic, Turkish Airlines, Nissan and more.
Other projects include the score for EA Games "Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit" (PS3, XBOX 360, PC, iPhone). One of 2010’s most successful releases having won numerous awards including best multiplayer game at the BAFTAs.
Marios is also featured on recordings as orchestrator and arranger and has performed with a wide range of ensembles in Berlin, Cologne, London, Paris, Sydney and Athens.
ILYA TSELYUTIN
Motion graphics designer and art director
Ilya Tselyutin is an award-winning Emmy-nominated motion graphics designer and art director. Throughout his career, Ilya worked on a variety of commercial and broadcast projects throughout the world. Ilya currently resides in Los Angeles and works with some of the top production studios including The Mill, Imaginary Forces, Big Block, Sony, and Intel. Some of his latest projects include design and direction of cinematic spots for Lenovo computer, Superbowl commercial, Epix TV Network rebranding.
LAURENT ULRICH
Executive Producer und Partner at Maybaum Film
Qualified in communication planning, he got into film production in 2006 and co-founded Maybaum Film. Since then, he made countless films in the field of corporate and advertising films as director and later as director of photography. He worked on diverse international documentaries and his works on corporate films have been awarded many times. His company employs 15 people and is one of the leading production companies for corporate films in Switzerland.
ELLEN UTRECHT
Executive Producer
Ellen Utrecht is an accomplished film, TV, and online video producer with over two decades of experience making exceptional visual product. Ellen has the ability to build global teams of talented artists and technicians and motivate them to deliver their best work. Her ability to manage and organize complex productions has been recognized by many awards from across the production spectrum, from Cannes Lions to the Online Media Virals Gold Dolphin, to the Clio awards, and Grand Prix Lion 2012 for CNN Ecosphere.
Her deep experience with planning & budgeting productions large and small, paired with her exceptional communication skills and creative perspective make Ellen a premier candidate for any project that requires a world-class visual product.
In 2011 Ellen founded MikeTeevee, a production company based in Amsterdam, Los Angeles & Toronto, offering comprehensive production services de-coupled production, line production, and production consultancy. MikeTeevee’s mission is to help companies shine by applying methods used in Film production to tell engaging and entertaining brand narratives. The MikeTeevee team has decades of experience in a wide array of industries including fashion, auto, finance, travel, and consumer packaged goods.
MARCO VALPIANI
Producer at Seed Audio-Visual Communication AG
Marco Valpiani is a film producer and communication consultant in Zurich, Switzerland. He looks back on 30 years of creative and consulting activities in the film industry. As producer, author and director he realized commercials, brand and corporate films. In the last 10 years, he also contributed as producer to a fiction film and two documentaries, which were released in the cinema. His production “Der Herzschlag der Schweiz” for the Swiss Federal Railways was awarded with the Grand Prix at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards in 2015. Throughout his professional career he worked with various prestigious companies including Condor Films, Wirz & Fraefel, Atlantic Productions, Teleclub, Sehfeld, Ringier Film and Lichtspiele 'The Film Agency'.
IVAN VERMES
Director & DOP
Ivan is an award-winning freelance multi-genre filmmaker. He began his career as cinematographer in the mid-nineties shooting music videos, tv films and documentaries across Europe.
Over the years, he turned to commercial-filmmaking and has been shooting ads for brands like Bayer, Coca-Cola, Douwe Egberts, Gösser, Henkell und Söhnlein, LG, McDonald’s, Molson-Coors, Nestlé, Römerquelle, Samsung, Telekom and Unilever.
For the past ten years, he has also been directing his own films.
As a specialist for super slow-motion, food and liquid beauty filming he earned serious reputation.
Furthermore, he is passionate about shooting of sport-event promos.
MEGAN WELLS
Director and Creative Director
Megan Wells is a multi-national award-winning branded content creator and commercial/ film/ documentary/ multi-episodic Director. She has spent more than 20 years working with major global broadcast, commercial and sports clients, including: Under Armour, Red Bull, Google, the NBA, MLB, PGA and NASCAR, ESPN and YAHOO! Sports, Dove Beauty, Gatorade, Sprite, Delta Air Lines, THE Home Depot, XFinity, comcast, Regal Cinemas, and Chick-Fil-A.
Wells was formerly the Executive Producer and Director for Red Bull's Non-Live/ Flanking Format global productions group, as well as the former Executive Producer and Head of Under Armour's Content House. She is the creator behind the Under Armour Originals entertainment content franchise, and several syndicated branded entertainment series. Prior to these positions, she worked on staff for Turner Sports as a Director and Producer, with a focus on NBA, NASCAR and PGA.
She has been a keynote presenter at conferences and universities around the world and is known for being a leader in the conversation surrounding branded content and entertainment, as well as a featured guest on several global podcasts, focusing on Creativity, Content Creation, the History of Storytelling and the Evolution of Digital Media.
SANDY WIDYANATA
Film Director
Born to Indonesian parents, Sandy Widyanata is a German/Australian filmmaker currently based in Los Angeles. Sandy studied at the prestigious Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney, Australia. For many years Sandy has worked as an animator, designer and visual-effects artist for Australia’s major post-production and animation studios. As a result, her directing work integrates authentic and truthful performances with seamless animation and visual effects. With a focus on storytelling, her approach is to make the post part of the idea, rather than overpowering it. Her work enjoyed great international success on the festival circuit and won multiple awards. Sandy received a Visual Effects Society Award, which was introduced by Steven Spielberg. Other awards include an Australian Film Institute nomination, Australian Effects and Animation Award, Cannes Lions Young Director, and Bronze AWARD. She has a couple of feature films in various stages of development.
JAN-WILLEM WIRTZ
Creative producer / content producer
Owner of Wirtz Film & Experience Agency
After his study at the School of Arts in Utrecht (Bachelor) and the Portsmouth University (European Media Masters of Arts) he started working as an independent producer.
The last twenty years he produced more than 500 different corporate, documentary and fiction productions.
As a company they produce daily content for different online platforms up to large (corporate) films for events, experience projects, corporate channels or television.
They work exclusively for the Dutch Government and different national and international corporate clients like Heineken, KPN, Dutch national railway, ABNAMRO and ProRail.
Their goal is to tell beautiful stories in a special way. They do this with a big dedicated team in Amsterdam and The Hague.
MAX ZILKER
Film editor, member of the BFS (German Federation of Cutters & Editors)
Max Zilker is an award-winning editor for commercials, fictional movies and corporate films. After having graduated from university with highest distinction, he has entered the world of commercials and corporate films. His commercial “Schwitzender Klaus“, for which he has been in charge not only of the montage but also of the visuals effects, he has been awarded the “Porsche Award”, two times gold and one time silver. In the masterclasses given by Patrick Tucker in London as well as in the classes of Mark Travis, he has reinforced his interest in the direction of films. At present, he is developing his own materials and lives with his wife and his daughter in Munich.
ZBIGNIEW ŻMUDZKI
Film producer and Founder of the Se-ma-for Production Company
Zbigniew Żmudzki graduated in Economics and Film and Television Production Management in Lodz, Poland.
He is an Oscar-winner with “Peter and the Wolf”.