The Guests

Berlin-based director, dramaturg and editor Georg Maas worked in carpentry and social work before he studied film direction at the German Film & Television Academy (DFFB). His studies were followed by masterclasses with Istvan Szabo, Tilda Swinton, Krzysztof Kieslowski and Wojciech Marczewski. Apart from documentary and feature film direction, he has also explored scriptwriting, music videos, video installations and industrial films.

Jan Tengeler works as film director, journalist and musician. At the festival he will present ‘Sound of Heimat’, a musical road movie dealing with Germany’s special relation towards folk music. The movie has caused a new debate on how to deal with terms like ‘Heimat’, ‘roots’. ‘idendity’ and is prenominated for the renowned German Film Award. He will take part in Q+As and also play some of his favourite songs. ‘Come along – sing along’.

Marten Persiel broke onto the German film-scene in 2012 with a bang. His genre-defeating debut film This Ain’t California was the most talked about in last years Berlinale Festival and went on to collect awards all over the world. Born and raised in Germany, Persiel travelled the world for 14 years, working as a photographer and director and came back somewhat of a polyglot. A storyteller with a wild heart and a fresh voice in German cinema.

An acclaimed German French Australian writer, director, actor and artist. He has made over forty films internationally in all genres including documentaries, dramas, science fiction and historical films. An expert on the Third Reich, his classic film Swastika is used in universities worldwide. His films and art are represented in museums and archives internationally including the National Archives of the United States, and the National Film and Sound Archives of Australia has an extensive collection of his work.

Born in 1949, Grosskopf is an avant-garde electronic musician. A contemporary of Krautrock or kosmische acts such as Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Klaus Schulze and Ash Ra Tempel, Grosskopf’s seminal music continues to influence modern artists today. Grosskopf has released six solo albums to date, as well as contributing other musical projects. In 2009 he met Australian filmmaker Philippe Mora in Berlin. They became friends and produced the documentary German Sons, a film about their German fathers and their different historical roles in the Nazi era.

Born in 1968, Christian Buß is a German film and media critic based in Hamburg. His texts have been widely published in pop culture magazines such as Tempo and Rolling Stone as well as newspapers such as Berliner Zeitung and die tageszeitung. Since 2010 he has worked as Editor at Spiegel Online, one of Germany’s most popular online publications. An avid observer of young German cinema, Buß was a guest at the 2010 Audi Festival of German Films and will join us again this year. He will provide an inside look into the latest developments in the movie scene.