Irene Wellershoff is the head of Children and Youth Fiction in ZDF. She had been working with the ZDF since 1983 when she initiated her career as a journalist. A year later she shifted to the Children’s Department and worked as a film-author, director of picture stories and producer. She created the popular characters Raven Rudi, Siebenstein and The Suitcase. Many short animation films from these series won national and international awards like Prix Danube, Prix Niki, Prix Jeunesse and Goldener Spatz. Irene has also done workshops on Children’s Television and works as a youth expert for the age certification board for films.
Robin Mallick is the festival director at the Filmfest Dresden – International Short Film Festival which offers the best funded short film competitions across Europe. In addition, from 2002 until 2007 he was the General Secretary of the European Coordination of Film Festivals based in Brussels (Belgium), which comprised a network of some 250 festivals. He has also initiated several film exchange projects between Germany and partner cities and institutions in countries such as Canada, Estonia, Japan, United Kingdom and Poland.
