SoundTrack_Zurich 03

Michael P. Aust

Festivaldirector SoundTrack_Cologne and Producer TelevisorTroika GmbH

Business graduate (Dipl.-Kfm.) Michael P. Aust is a German curator, organiser of cultural events and film producer born in 1965. His focal point of interest lies in the intersectionality of art forms, especially in the relationship of music and moving pictures. He heads the filmmusic festival and conference SoundTrack_Cologne that he founded in 2004 – with 850 accreditations Europe’s leading filmmusic industry event – as well as SoundTrack_Zurich since 2020. Parallel from 2014-2019 he was festivaldirector of Braunschweig International Filmfestival that grew to 28.000 admissions under his direction.

Aust has worked in the film industry for more than 25 years with producer credits for 21 feature films and feature-length documentaries, including “101 Reykjavik”, “Stumbling Block”, “Low Lights”, “Parallax Sounds Chicago”, “Eva Hesse” and “The Sound of Cologne”, focusing on music and art. His directorial debut “Can and Me”, co-produced by WDR, will hit the cinemas in autumn 2022. Michael curates exhibitions and festivals e.g. DuKunst Media Art Festival 1992, Klangvisionen sound art exhibition 1994, StadtKlangNetz conference on cultural education 2007-2014, European Film Music Day at Cannes Film Festival 2009-2016, the highly successful The Art of Pop Video exhibition (MAKK Cologne 2011, Odessa Art Center 2012, Liverpool FACT 2013), Next Level Conference on video games 2012, PLAY!CGN exhibition and conference on video games in art 2013, Digital Distri-bution conference 2014, BIFF Film Criticism LAB: on the Future of Film Criticism 2015, Hostile Sisters - Interdependencies of Theatre and Film conference 2016, FxM Film meets Music Festival 2018+19. His latest project is the 30-month Re-Educating Digitisation funded by Erasmus+.

He is a voting member of the German Film Academy, Filmbüro NW and of the World Soundtrack Academy and Board Member of KulturNetzKöln and MusicFilmFestivalNetwork. He is Managing Director, Owner and Producer at TelevisorTroika GmbH, a Cologne-based company established in 1993 for film production, art events and public relations in arts.

Roger Baltensperger

Sound Technician, Audio Engineer

Growing up in an actively musical and naturally curious environment between classical music, science and rock'n'roll, Roger Baltensperger was drawn to technology and music from a young age and found a fulfilling symbiosis of his passions for in audio engineering. besides playing in various ensembles and bands, he dedicated himself to recording and mixing for a variety of genres as well as classical ensemble and orchestral works. He pursued his passion for movies in parallel through short films and web series, to commercials and corporate video, to working on feature films and TV. What began with stereo expanded to film and surround sound to finally culminate in 3D audio. Immersive content quickly took a central role in both recording and mixing for music, as well as postproduction. Meanwhile, immersive audio projects range from film, cinema and web, mixing for atmos music and auro 3D, as well as regular lectures and workshops.

David Buckley

Emmy nominated film music Composer

Emmy nominated composer David Buckley is currently scoring Kandahar starring Gerard Butler. Recent film scores include Universal’s Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk, Greenland also starring Butler, the remake of Papillon starring Charlie Hunnam & Rami Malek, Jason Bourne directed by Paul Greengrass and The Nice Guys for Shane Black and Joel Silver. Previous scores include the Joel Schumacher-directed thriller Blood Creek, Ben Affleck’s crime drama The Town, Taylor Hackford’s action feature Parker and Rob Minkoff’s fantasy adventure The Forbidden Kingdom.

For television, David composed the music for Netflix’s Neil Gaiman DC Comic adaptation of The Sandman, the hit Scott Free/CBS drama series The Good Wife and continues to score the spin-off, now in its sixth season, The Good Fight (for which he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Title Music). He also composed the scores for Mercy Street (PBS), BrainDead (CBS), The Gifted (Marvel/FOX), The Stranger (Netflix), Stay Close (Netflix) and The Lincoln Lawyer (Netflix). He is currently scoring the third season of Evil (CBS).

Born in England, David’s first involvement with film music was as a cathedral choirboy performing on Peter Gabriel’s score for Martin Scorsese’s The Last Temptation of Christ. He continued his musical education at Cambridge University. In 2006, David moved to Los Angeles where he began collaborating with Harry Gregson-Williams on film scores, including Shrek The Third and Gone Baby Gone. He has written music for films including Wonder Woman, all the Fifty Shades movies, Big Eyes and American Hustle, and his music was featured in David O’Russell’s Joy. David was honored as a ‘Brit to Watch’ by BAFTA.

As well as film and TV, David has written the music for a number of games, including Batman Arkham Knight (Warner Bros/Rocksteady).

Caroline Braun

Film producer. Executive producer/partner at Shining (co-founder)

Caroline was born in the countryside near Zurich, and after graduating from business school, she travelled extensively in Australia, Thailand and New Zealand. After returning to Switzerland, she was keen to get to know the film business and began working as a PA/Line Producer in a film production company.

She studied at the DFFB, Berlin and graduated as a film producer in 2002. Back in Zurich, she worked on many projects as a Producer and, in 2007, co-founded Shining. Since then, she has been with Shining as an executive producer/partner. Caroline lives with her family in the agglomeration of Zurich. She loves travelling, the water, playing tennis and doing yoga.

Camille Budin

Independent filmmaker

Born in Paris in 1979, Camille Budin has lived and worked as an independent filmmaker in Zürich since 2005. During her Studies in French Literature and Cinema in France and Italy, she discovered the work of documentary filmmakers such as Chris Marker, Raymond Depardon, Johann Van der Keuken, Robert Kramer... and fell in love with documentary filmmaking. In Zürich, she majored in Image as a camerawoman at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste. She then worked as a camera assistant, camerawoman and director (“Be Free”, “Grand et Petit” “Les Nouvelles Eves”) and collaborated with different filmmakers such as Peter Mettler (“The End of Time”).

David Constantin

Film and advertising director, author and actor

David Constantin is a Swiss film and advertising director, author and actor.

Born in 1984, Constantin grew up in Salgesch in a family of winemakers. During high school, he shot his first videos and music videos for his band, "Lineli Concept".

In 2006 Constantin left for the USA and studied film in New York for a few months while doing part-time jobs on various film shoots. He returned to Switzerland without a degree and made several attempts to study German, film studies, sports science and psychology until he trained as an economist at the Bern University of Applied Sciences.

In 2012, in cooperation with 20 minutes, Constantin published the 9-part web series "Tschutter", which parodies a Valais football team.

From 2013 Constantin worked for the production company "Shining Film AG" in the Zurich Oberland. With the producer Sophie Toth, he shot for clients such as Swisscom, Emmentaler, Federal Office of Public Health, Coop, Switzerland Tourism and others. He developed not only classic TV advertising but also longer fictitious formats such as the series "Rocco", "Hamster", or "Mitsch Dri", with which he won national and international prizes.

With Tschugger, Constantin directed his first TV series in 2021 in cooperation with Swiss radio and television and Sky Switzerland, in which he was also involved in the script and played the leading role. The series achieved a market share of over 30 per cent. The second season has been available on Sky Schweiz since September 15, 2022 and will be broadcast on SRF from December 18.

Emmanuel Deletang

Music Supervisor

Passionate about music and cinema, Emmanuel Delétang has been developing an independent group dedicated to music publishing and music-to-picture. For 20 years, he has developed an important network of partners, publishers, producers, and artists in France and abroad. His company, 22D Music, is a direct member of about twenty collective rights management societies allowing the group to ensure an efficient royalties collection. 22D's expertise includes the production of music for films, series, and albums as well as rights management, and soundtracks release with a dedicated label. Active in various music organizations, the 22D team dedicates its savoir-faire to the independent music community.

Fatima Dunn

Composer, Songwriter, Stage Artist

Fatima Dunn discovered her passion for composing at the age of 18. She wrote her own songs at the end-of-school exam, recorded them and produced her own CD. After secondary school she was involved in the Switzerland pop-rock scene for ten years as a member of the electric rock band Coldeve. With cello, voice and a loop station, Fatima Dunn performed as a solo artist for the first time in May 2014.

In 2004, the musician professionalized her skills by studying music and vocal studies at the WIAM (Winterthur Institute for Contemporary Music). She also built up her expertise at the ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts), where she further developed her composition by completing a Master's Degree in Composition for Film, Theatre and Media.

Since then, Fatima Dunn has scored various national and international feature films and radio plays and has worked in various productions as a theatre musician, and composer for dance.

In 2022, she won the Swiss Film Prize for Best Film Music for “Beast - Soul of Youth” by Lorenz Merz.

Dr. Yati Durant

Composer, Lecturer, Musician

Dr. Yati Durant is a U.S. born composer, lecturer, trumpeter and conductor. His musical background began with composition and jazz music from the age of 7. He was a founding member of the experimental jazz ensemble Honey Junkie and The Yati Durant Project Band in the 1990s. He studied with Portland trumpeter (and Grammy winner) Thara Memory before moving to New York, where he began a successful stint as a TV and film music composer.

Yati holds a PhD in Composition from the University of Edinburgh along with a prestigious Konzertexam Meisterklasse in composition under the composer Krzysztof Meyer at the State Conservatory of Music in Cologne, Germany, and a Diploma in Electronic Composition under Hans Ulrich Humpert. He has also studied with George Crumb, Philip Lasser, Narcis Bonet, Lee Konitz and conducting with Jonathan Brett. From 2010 - 2019 Yati was a Lecturer and Programme Director of the MSc Composition for Screen Programme at the University of Edinburgh. His compositions and films have received many prizes from International festivals, including a 3rd Pl. Panorama Public Prize at the 2008 Berlin International Film Festival for Erika Rabau – Der Puck von Berlin and a BAFA National Commerce Film Award nomination for the WDR/ARD documentary Ein Klavier geht um die Welt.

He is a finalist of the 2009 Concorso Giovani Musicisti Europei in Aosta, Italy with his score to C. Chaplin’s The Vagabond. His contemporary compositions have been commissioned and performed in New York, Seattle, Berlin, Edinburgh, Cologne and Sao Paolo, released on CD and DVD by Film Dienst/Normal Records, Filmmuseum München and he remains an active performer of jazz, with regular appearances and recordings throughout Europe and USA. His TV and Film credits include work for WDR, ARD, HBO, MTV, Disney and many others.

Since 2019, Yati is Director of the International Media Music and Sound Arts Network in Education (IMMSANE).

Photo by Lea Hepp

Michael Egli

Head Legal and Deputy Director of SWISSPERFORM

Head Legal and Deputy Director of SWISSPERFORM, the collecting society for neighbouring rights, i.e. the rights of performers and producers in the audio and audiovisual sectors. In his position as Head Legal, his responsibilities include negotiating the tariffs applicable for uses of copyrighted content. He also advises musicians, actors and producers in copyright and neighbouring rights matters. Before he joined SWISSPERFORM in 2011, he worked as a lawyer in the fields of copyright, media and entertainment law. After graduating from high school and during his law studies, he worked six years as a radio journalist for the public broadcaster SRG.

Cosima Frei

Film director

Cosima is born in Zürich in 1987. During an exchange year in New Zealand, she discovers her interest in filmmaking. 2012 she finishes her Bachelor's studies at the Zurich University Of The Arts. Her graduation film WO GÖMMER (Where are we going) travels the festival circuit successfully, e.g. it got a nomination for the Studio Hamburg Nachwuchspreis.

For two years, she works as an assistant director on various feature film sets in Germany and Switzerland (NACHTLÄRM, NIGHTTRAIN TO LISBON, NICHTS PASSIERT).

In 2017 Cosima leaves the ZHdK with a master's degree in fiction directing with her short film ZWISCHENSTOPP (Stopover). The film premiered at the Max Ophüls Preis in Germany and the Shortfest in Palm Springs.

Cosima worked as a Co-Director for the 2nd season of the Swiss TV-Show SEITENTRIEBE (Monogamish) by Güzin Kar. Cosima lives in Berlin and Zurich, where she writes her debut feature film with the working title 5 EURO (co-prod Germany and Switzerland) and a feature documentary 8 TO 18.

Adina Friis

Composer

Adina Friis (*1988) is a jazz pianist, singer, songwriter and composer for film and theatre. She studied jazz piano, singing and composition in Lucerne, Zurich and Copenhagen.

Her main musical project is the jazz trio "Luumu", with which she transforms her most personal thoughts and ideas into art. Since 2010 she has been playing concerts in Switzerland and abroad. Since 2015 she has been writing the music for various theatres and from 2017-2019 she was responsible for the musical design of the "Berner Reden" at the Konzerttheater Bern.

In 2020 she had the chance to demonstrate her skills as a film composer for the film "Eden for Everyone" directed by Rolf Lyssy.

Marie-Hélène Froidevaux

Music Supervisor

From hairdresser to music supervisor. Over twenty years, living abroad, traveling around the globe, a bachelor's degree, countless hours of work, a self-study in law and a deep dedication to music and people in the creative industry, lie in between.

Pierre Funck

Film music composer. President of the association Forum Filmmusik

Pierre Funck was born and grew up in Luxembourg. After completing a degree in chemistry at ETH Zurich, he studied singing, music theory and composition at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Trossingen (Southern Germany). Later, he completed a Master of Arts degree in composition for film, theatre and media at the Zurich University of the Arts, where he teaches music theory and composition.

Since 2007 he has worked as a film music composer and has scored over 80 films.

Pierre Funck is the president of the association Forum Filmmusik, which aims to raise public attention for film music and to facilitate the exchange of information and experience between film composers and filmmakers. Forum FIlmmusik is one of the organisers of SoundTrack_Zurich and the International Film Music Competition.

Besides working as a film music composer, Pierre Funck reconstructs partially extant Renaissance and Baroque works. He sings in several professional vocal ensembles, some of which specialise in Renaissance-style improvisation.

Pierre Funck lives and works in Zurich.

Julia Furer

Documentary filmmaker and freelance soundwoman

Julia Furer was born in 1990 in Riggisberg, Switzerland. 2015 Bachelor of Arts from HSLU (Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts), Video Department.

In 2015 got the Promotion Award of the zeugindesign - Foundation. She has carried out various activities as a freelance soundwoman and documentary filmmaker.

In 2021 Master in Film, specialisation in Realisation Documentary Film, Directing at ZHdK (Zurich University of the Arts). With her first feature-length documentary film, LOVE WILL COME LATER, she got a nomination for the Opera Prima at the Solothurner Filmtage 2022.

Furer won the Norderneyer Engel, the integration prize of the international film festival in Emden and also was awarded the Swiss Film Prize in the category Best Graduation Film 2022.

Hoepker

Flora Grolitsch

Film producer

Flora Grolitsch studied English Literature and Film & TV in London and subsequently Production at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, where she produced various scenic shorts, music videos and documentaries and finally graduated with a 90-minute feature film.

In 2008, she participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus as a producer and then started working as a junior producer for Millbrook Pictures in Zurich.

She then worked as a freelance script consultant for Scripthouse in Berlin, focusing on the Swiss market. From 2009-2011 Grolitsch worked as a producer for Okofilm in Zurich, then as a commercial producer. Since 2019 she has been back in the feature film business and joined Tellfilm as a producer in January 2022.

Berend Dreier

Sabine Gruber

Film producer

Sabine Gruber is a Vienna-based producer focusing on politically, ecologically and socially committed feature films and creative documentaries.

Sabine produced over 20 feature films and documentaries as a producer, co-producer and/or executive producer for cinema and TV.

She is known for EISMAYER by David Wagner (Venice International Critics’ Week 2022), BORN IN EVIN by Maryam Zaree (Kompass Perspective Award Berlinale 2019, Lola for Best Documentary German Film Awards 2020), SOLO by Artemio Benki (ACID Cannes 2019) and EVERYDAY REBELLION by The Riahi Brothers (Audience Award CPH:DOX 2013) among others.

She is a board member of the Austrian Documentary Film Alliance dok.at and of FC Gloria – Women Networking Film and a founding member of the Austrian producer’s association Die Produzent*innen.

Simone Häberling

TV and film producer. Founder of the association filmkids.ch

Simone Häberling was born in Zurich in 1976. In 2003 she founded the production company Presence Production GmbH, and in 2007 she founded the association filmkids.ch, a film school for kids and teenagers.

She produced two TV documentaries and a short film. She then started to work for Kontraproduktion AG as a junior producer for “Sennentuntschi” and “Das Missenmassaker” by Michael Steiner. 

In 2009 she finished the Master of Advanced Studies ZFH in Arts Management. After two baby breaks, she started to work as a production manager for 400asa, e.g. for “der Polder”. Together with 400asa, she won the Federal Office of Culture theatre prize for “innovative storytelling”. 

In 2017 she produced the feature film “The Real Thing” in cooperation with filmkids.ch. Seventy kids between 10 and 18 years old did everything on their own: writing, directing, camera, acting etc. 2021, she produced the teenager series “Becoming Momo“ for Instagram, a co-production with SRF. In 2022 the next teenager series, “Lost in Paradise“, will be shot.  

Daniel Desborough

Stella Händler

Film producer

Stella Händler is a film producer based in Basel, Switzerland. She founded 2000 her production company freihändler Film Production Ltd.

She joined the committee of several film juries, such as Aargau Kuratorium, as Chairwoman for film and jury for the international competition at the Oberhausen Short Film Festival.

As a creative producer, Stella develops and produces short and feature-length documentary and animation films, as well as experimental video pieces for the art world, focusing on socio-political and cultural topics.

Her films have been awarded nationally and internationally and shown at important international film festivals such as Venice, Sundance, Oberhausen, SXSW, Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand, Zurich, Nyon, TIFF.

Jessica Hefti

Producer at Zodiac Pictures

Studied documentary film, multimedia production and arts management. She worked as an assistant director and production manager. In 2018 she joined Zodiac Pictures as a TV Producer for the development and production of series.

Daniel Helmer

Film composer, musician

Born in 1986 in the province of Burgenland, Austria. Daniel Helmer is a musician, producer & filmmaker.

He was raised as the oldest brother of three sisters and soon shelved the dream of becoming a professional football player to study at the University of Music and performing Arts Vienna / Film Academy Vienna under Michael Haneke, Michael Hudecek & Christian Berger.

Besides his studies Daniel was touring Europe as a founding member of “Gudrun von Laxenburg“ (est. 2009), a live electro-punk spectacle that created a buzz big enough to be picked up by legendary record label “SKINT Records / BMG“ (UK) - (home of “Fatboy Slim“) and releasing the album “PANIC!“ (2017). Late 2019 it was time for a change and Daniel aspired to evolve and redefine his artistic output.

The result: musical collaborations.
- “Mantra Mantra“ with Sam Irl; EP “Funke“, “International Major Label“ (AT) in 2019
- “Yogtze” with Daniel Meuzard (aka Feater); released on Gerd Janson´s esteemed label “Running Back Records“ (DE), self-titled EP (2020)
- Daniel Helmer’s solo debut as “ifsonever” will be released via the cologne based label “Jazz&Milk Records” (DE), fall 2022.

Due to Daniel Helmer’s background as a filmmaker and his growing interest in exploring new musical languages he decided to fuse his two passions film & music and dove into the vast ocean of composing music for film.

In 2021/22 Daniel composed & produced the score for two Austrian feature films:
- “Rubikon“ (together with Wolf-Maximilian Liebich) directed by Leni Lauritsch
- “Heimsuchung“ directed by Achmed Abdel-Salam (to be premiered in 2023)

Daniel also dipped into theater productions and composed & performed for two stage plays in 2020 & 2021 together with Michael „Pogo“ Kreiner.

At the moment Daniel Helmer is focusing on his work as a film composer and his musical solo project “ifsonever”.

Vasco Hexel

Composer, Author and Educator

Vasco Hexel is a media composer, author and educator. For nearly 12 years, until early 2020, he ran the Masters Programme in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music, London. He was visiting lecturer at the Faculty of Music, University of Cambridge, 2016-2029. He is consultant at the Film and Television Music Research Center, Beijing Normal University, and he was Head of Music at the London Film School, 2010-2013. Vasco earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Film Scoring and Vocal Performance at the Berklee College of Music, Boston. He earned his Masters degree in Composition for Screen at the Royal College of Music where he also wrote his doctoral thesis Understanding Contextual Agents and their Impact on Recent Hollywood Film Music Practice. Vasco has composed music for award-winning animations, documentaries, commercials, and feature films. His music has featured in numerous broadcasts internationally. Vasco’s music was used exclusively for the 2012 Christmas branding of S4/C (Wales) and he created the new sonic identity of Kanal D (Romania) in 2009. Past and current clients include RSA Films, Music Sales, SohoMusic as well as fashion brands Gucci and Boden. Vasco’s music is published by Universal Music, EMI, and Bosworth.

As an educator and scholar Vasco is passionate about coaching aspiring screen composers and filmmakers, devising and delivering relevant, industry-facing, hands-on training on the creation and function of music in screen media. Vasco’s academic writing and international speaking engagements continue to nourish the appreciation of film music and explore the creative practice of film music creation and collaborative soundtrack composition.

Vasco is the author of 50 Movie Music Moments (New York: Routledge, 2023), The Film and Media Creators Guide to Music (New York: Routledge, 2018) and Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard’s The Dark Knight – A Film Score Guide (Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). He is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, a member of the British Academy for Film and Television Arts (BAFTA).

Maya Wipf & Daniele Kaehr

Laura Kaehr

Director, writer and film choreographer

Laura Kaehr is a director, writer and film choreographer. Born in Locarno, Switzerland, Laura trained as a professional ballet dancer at the Centre de Danse de Cannes, Rosella Hightower, and at the Academy of Ballet, San Francisco, CA. She danced at the Zürich Opera for three seasons.

She studied with Jack Waltzer in the Sanford Meisner technique and worked as an actress, notably in Raymond Vouillamoz's awards-winning TV film "Déchaînées." Laura studied art, film directing and screenwriting at ZHdK, Zürich University of the Arts, and UCLA, University of California, Los Angeles. Her debut short film, "1927," opened at the International Locarno Film Festival in 2014, "L'immagine e la parola."

Laura is co-Founder and co-President (2018-2020) of the SWAN Association (Swiss Women's Audiovisual Network). She is also a member of Women in Film, Hollywood, CA advocating for gender equality and diversity in film. In 2022, she directed her feature-length debut documentary "Becoming Giulia". Currently, she is developing a cinema feature film.

Anna Kazejak

Film director and screenwriter

Anna Kazejak is a film director and screenwriter. Prior to attending at the National Film School in Lodz in 2001, she spent many years studying film theory. Her first documentary student film, Pulse, garnered attention from film festivals throughout the world. Her next short, You Are There, garnered awards (Main Prize for Best Short Film – FilmFestival Cottbus, Festival of East European Cinema, 2004; Best Short Film – „Sisily” Film Festival, Tbilisi, 2005; Main Prize, CEI Section – Maremetraggio Film Festival, Triest 2005.)

In 2005, Kazejak and two of her friends from school decided to produce a three part film dealing with the economic migrations of young Poles. This film was the much-celebrated, Ode To Joy. The three directors not only won the hearts of critics, but won many major prizes.

A Few Simple Words was her diploma film produced right after to her feature film debut. This touching story has garnered prizes at film festivals around the world (Best Feature Film, Young Talent Film Award - 37the International Film Festival Sehsuchte, Potsdam, 2008; Main Prize, Next Reel International Film Festival, New York-Singapore, 2007).

The first feature helmed by Kazejak was Flying Pigs. It turned out to be a great commercial success.

Kazejak has made documentary films and worked in television formats for all broadcasters in Poland. Her stand out directing work in television was for numerous episodes of HBO Poland's version of In Treatment.

Next film - The Word  had a Word Premiere at 64. Berlinale IFF, Generation Section and the latest – Fucking Bornholm was premiered in Main Competition at 56 Karlovy Vary IFF, where got a Europe Cinema Label.

Kazejak has many screenplay prizes (among others: Hartley-Merrill 2008 and Script Pro 2013). She is a member of the European Film Academy, Polish Film Academy and Directors Guild of Poland.

Dominique Plüss

Stefanie Klemm

Director and screenwriter

Before studying for her master's in directing and screenwriting at the Zurich University of the Arts, Stefanie Klemm studied german literature and psychology. This diverse background and over ten years of experience in the film industry give her unique capabilities both as a director and as an entrepreneur with her own film production company. 

As well as commissioned pieces, she directs and produces shorts, experimental films and dance videos that have been screened at festivals and on television around the globe. Her drama Renatas Erwachen got the Swiss Treatment Award and with Von Fischen und Menschen Klemm received the Opera Prima for the best film debut as director/scriptwriter at Solothurner Filmtage 2021. 

Photo: Catherine Lieser

Cornelia Köhler

Producer, author

Cornelia Köhler has been working in the media industry since 2000, first as a producer of the sitcoms "Das Amt" and "Bernds Hexe" for Cologne-Gemini film, later in the script development for Constantin Entertainment. Since 2007 Cornelia Köhler has been an independent script-writer for cinema, TV formats and stage. Together with the composer Camille van Lunen she wrote the youth operas “Talitha, come back!” and „Over the Wall“ in 2020.

She is editor of the magazine “Rundbrief” (Film-und Medienbüro Niedersachsen) and director and scriptwriter for a series of documentaries about German Literature, worked among others as dramaturge for the feature films “Low Lights” (produced by dagstarfilm, 2009), “Pattys Catchup” (dagstarfilm, 2011) and as co-writer for the German-Lithuanian documentary “Liebe Oma, Guten Tag” (dagstarfilm, 2017, supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.) Since 2009 she has been a member of Women in Film and Television Germany and since 2010 she has been a board member of WIFT Germany. Cornelia Köhler is represented by the agency "charactors"

Sune "Køter" Kølster

Film music producer

Sune "Køter" Kølster (b. 1976) produces film music that combines the art of classical composition with the energy and edginess of the extreme underground music scene in Copenhagen, where he is coming from.

With a master's degree in Film-music, a bachelor's in Musicology, writing for symphonic orchestras, ensembles and musicians on an international level, and recording noisy guitars and local musicians in his own studio, he tries to give each film the soul it deserves.

Starting in punk rock, moving through extreme rock and middle eastern underground music, as well as working with classical/contemporary music in the unique field between classical/modern composition and arabic/middle-eastern tonality, Sune has a unique musical vocabulary for setting the right mood in his film-music.

Michael Künstle

Composer, Songwriter, Arranger

Golden Eye Award winning Michael Künstle is a Swiss-Polish composer / songwriter / arranger: a crossover artist with a keen desire to push the boundaries of musical genres. His joy in collaborative work, sense of visual storytelling and friendly character makes him a frequent collaborator in film, pop and concert music. His music ranges from electronic pieces to symphonic scores, „with a high degree of dramaturgical realisation, a clear attitude and a sensitive and thematically expressive voice“ (David Zinman and Henning Lohner on „Evermore“). His work for Film and Television includes „Neumatt“ (Sabine Boss, Pierre Monnard), the first Swiss series available on Netflix, „Die Beschatter“ (Michael Steiner) and „Jagdzeit“ (Sabine Boss), which was recorded at the AIR Studions with members of the London Symphony Orchestra and conductor Anthony Weeden (Jóhann Jóhannsson, Mica Levi).

Magdalena Lauritsch

Director, free writer and script consultant

She was born in 1988 in St. Veit in Austria. She graduated high school in 2006 and studied cinematography and directing at the Film Academy Vienna.

She got her Bachelor of Arts in 2014 and is now involved in the Master’s program.

Lauritsch currently works as a director, free writer and script consultant in Vienna.

Maximilian Liebich

Musician, film composer, director

Wolf-Maximilian Liebich is a musician, film composer, film director.

He was born in Carinthia (Austria) and grew up between old walls in wild nature. Observing life and death in his father’s vet surgery he wanted to become a philosopher at first. Studying in Vienna he focused on film scores, film and art installations.

At the Filmacademy Vienna under Michael Haneke and Peter Patzak he directed, scored and made sound design for several film projects. His musical work is influenced by electroacoustic, ambient, indie, noise music and experimental. He releases music as “millianx” and is collaborating with other musicians in projects like “Son Fou” or “Too Moon”. Based in Vienna Liebich is working as a film composer and film director.

Hanna Sophie Lüke

Composer, music journalist and presenter

Hanna Sophie Lüke (M.A.) is a composer, music journalist and presenter for music and science topics based in Cologne, Germany.

In 2022 she received a composition commission for the WDR Funkhausorchester by the WDR Composers Mentorship Programme in cooperation with SoundTrack_Cologne (STC). In 2021 she was the winner of the composition competition by the Media Innovation Orchestra, Austria, and her compositions were performed life by the orchestra in Vienna.

Her original compositions have been released eg. by Sonoton Production Music, Universal Production Music and West One Music. She is regularly commissioned to write demos for Native Instruments and Orchestral Tools. Her latest film score is “Einer Dieser Tage“ (Dir.: Anjorka Strechel, 2021, short). Since 2018 she is an ardent contributor to a composition collaboration with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg, and her recordings with the orchestra have been played by radio and tv stations like BBC, RTL and WDR. Her 2021 recordings with the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg premiered at the FilmMusicHouse at Sundance Film Festival 2021.

After completing her Bachelor of Arts degree in “Popular Music and Media“ at University Paderborn/HfM Detmold, Hanna Sophie Lüke completed her Master of Music: “Music Journalism for Broadcasting and Multimedia“ with distinction at Karlsruhe University of Music (degree thesis radio-feature and documentary film: “Break (in) time - Die Pause in der Musik“). She took part in several masterclasses, e.g. Vocal Solo Singing Class “Belcanto am Broadway“ (Noelle Turner) or Masterclass “Jazz Vocals & BigBand“ (Anette von Eichel). She is alumni of STC’s first Female Film Composer Class 2018 and co-founder of the female composer collective track15.

As a music journalist Hanna Sophie Lüke has a long track record in working for radio programmes like 1LIVE, WDR 2, WDR 3, WDR 4 and orchestras like WDR Funkhausorchester, Gürzenich Orchestra and Deutsche Grammophon/Klassikakzente. In 2016 she was the responsible editor for the concert project “One day in life” with architect Daniel Libeskind at Alte Oper Frankfurt.

As a presenter focused on science and film music, Hanna Sophie Lüke appears at renowned festivals like STC, SoundTrack_Zurich, Berlinale, FilmMusicHouse at Sundance Film Festival or Science Festival EFFEKTE (since 2013) on the topic “Climate - Environment - Sustainability“. She hosts international conferences and symposiums like BTHVN2021 Dresden, HEIKA Symposium “KI im Dienste des Menschen? Möglichkeiten und Grenzen“, Karlsruhe or “10 Years Helmholtz Institut Ulm - Jubilee Celebration“.

At SoundTrack_Zurich and STC she hosted panels eg. with Lele Marchitelli and Flemming Nordkrog. She hosted the award ceremony at STC 2020, 2021 and 2022. In 2021 Hanna Sophie Lüke participated in the WDR Thinktank “A new sound for the WDR Funkhausorchester“.

Homepage: www.hannasophielueke.de

Lea Hepp

Bruno Marty

Managing director of the Swiss Performers' Cooperative SIG. Former musician, manager and promoter

Bruno Marty is the managing director of the Swiss Performers' Cooperative SIG. On the one hand, he knows the music industry as a former musician, manager, promoter and booker and as a member of various organisations (Swissperform, Suisseculture, mx3, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung SIS, Sonart, Musikschule Köniz).

Merlin Mattheeuws

Bass player and yoga teacher

Merlin Mattheeuws is a musician based in Zurich. He plays bass in numerous bands and is also sought out for studio sessions.

He discovered Yoga already as a teenager and increasingly deepened his knowledge. Impressed by the benefits of Yoga in his personal and professional life, he decided to take the steps required to become a Yoga teacher. He loves sharing his practice with his bandmates before a concert or with his students in a regular class.

Liza Mazur

Artist manager

Having been passionate all along about the music scene and its industry, Liza Mazur works as an artist manager striving to export the Swiss music scene internationally and contribute to the Swiss cultural development.

Georg Meier

Music and film producer - Content Creation Specialist for Dolby

Georg Meier works as Content Creation Specialist for Dolby, supporting research investigations focusing on headphone experience and automotive integration, creating demo content and educating Atmos content creators.

Georg worked as a music and film producer. He created his first Atmos music album in 2017 and joined Dolby two years later.

www.mauricehaas.ch

Susanne Regina Meures

Film director

Susanne Regina Meures is a German/Swiss filmmaker known for making films about rebels and pioneers who dare to stand up against systemic political and social repression.

She holds a Master's in Photography and History of Art from The Courtauld Institute in London. She also has a Master's in Film from Zurich University of the Arts. 

With RAVING IRAN (2016), her first feature-length documentary, Susanne Regina Meures launched an international festival and box-office success. The film portrays two Iranian Djs who rebel against the regime and escape. The documentary was screened at over 130 film festivals worldwide (including Berlinale, Hot Docs, IDFA...), where it won numerous awards. 

In 2020, SAUDI RUNAWAY premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. The film documents a young Saudi woman's escape using her own cell phone footage. At the European premiere at Berlinale, the film won the Audience Award. National Geographic / Disney Ltd acquired the world rights to the film. SAUDI RUNAWAY was nominated for the European Film Award and won the EUFA 2020. 

GIRL GANG is Susanne Regina Meures' third feature-length documentary, which premiered in competition at CPH:Dox and Hot Docs in 2022 and is now showing at festivals around the globe. The film is an intimate portrait about a 14-year-old influencer and her family and takes us backstage of the claustrophobic social media world.

Susanne Regina Meures is a member of the Swiss Film Academy, the German Film Academy and the European Film Academy. 

(c) Wolf Peter Steinhesser

Nils Petter Molvær

Trumpeter, Composer and Producer

Nils Petter Molvaer (born 1960) is a Norwegian trumpeter, composer and producer. He is internationally regarded as an important pioneer of modern jazz. After nearly two decades as a sideman in various ensembles and projects in the early 80’s and 90’s (most notably with the group Masqualero), Molvaer finally released his debut album “Khmer” (ECM) under his own name in 1997 - leading to a career of over 40 album releases and counting.

“Khmer” brought Molvaer to the world stage, and marked the start of a unique musical journey that has contributed greatly in merging various musical genres and sonic explorations with improvised music and jazz as a creative platform. 

Drawing inspiration from electronica, dub, hiphop, rock, classical, folk, various traditional world music and jazz, Molvaer has produced an extensive catalogue of album releases and concert productions. Collaborators include Marilyn Mazur, Sly&Robbie, Herbie Hancock, Tari Kahn, Jon Christensen, Mino Cinelu, David Sylvian, Manu Katche, Moritz von Oswald, Jon Balke, Eivind Aarseth, Sidsel Endresen, Robyn Schulkowski, Zakir Hussain, Dhafer Youssef, Koichi Makigami, Bill Lawswell to name a few.

Molvaer has received numerous Norwegian and international awards. Most notably four Norwegian Grammy Awards (Spellemansprisen) for “Khmer” (1997), “Solid Ether” (2000), “ER” (2005) and “Buoyancy” (2016). He has also been awarded the German Music Journalist Price (Deutche Schallplattenpreis), the European Film Awards for best soundtrack (“Great freedom”, 2021) and a long list of other Norwegian and international awards.

Molvaer's musical career also includes a long list of music for theatre, dance and film in addition to commissioned works for music festivals. In particular, his music for “Ghosts” (Gjengangere, Henrik Ibsen) at the Norwegian Opera in 2014 was well received. 

Nils Petter Molvaer continues to break new ground, exploring new sonic possibilities with musical collaborators from all corners of the world. He is touring extensively, and is also working on a new album scheduled for release in 2024 on the Modern Recordings record label.

Zeltia Montes

Music composer for film and TV

Zeltia Montes is a Spanish Academy Award Goya winner for the Best Original Score for the 2022 Oscar shortlisted movie "The Good Boss", starring Javier Bardem, and a Goya nominated composer for Best Original Song for the 2016 Goya Best Documentary "Delicate Balance". Zeltia composes music for film and TV and is also passionate about songwriting and sound design.

Phuong Boi Nguyen

Music producer, songwriter, sound engineer and musician

Phuong is a Dutch-Vietnamese music producer, songwriter, sound engineer and musician. After finishing her studies in music production, Phuong moved to the vibrant city of Los Angeles for an internship with Warren Huart. After discovering the ins and outs of the LA music industry, she landed a job at MassiveMusic Amsterdam where she is now running the MassiveCatalogue department as a Coordinator of Owned Music. On a daily basis, Phuong produces music, writes songs and creates sound designs with MassiveMusic and her own company VOON Music. That’s not all – aside from her regular jobs, Phuong is also active in the music industry as the lead singer of her electro-pop band ‘D A R K D A Y S’, part of the ‘NEW’ jury and a spokesperson for women in the music/audio industry.

© Jessy Moravec

Liliane Ott

Producer and writer

Born in Zurich, Liliane Ott studied Directing & Writing for Film and Theatre in Auckland, New Zealand. 

Back in Switzerland in the early 2000s, she produced Kit Hung’s first feature film, "Soundless Wind Chime", while working for Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke GmbH, which premiered at Berlinale 2009. 

She directed several plays and short films before reuniting with Kit Hung as a producer for his second feature, “Stoma”, which took part in the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2020 and was nominated for the Firebird Award. 

After years of collaboration with Judith Lichtneckert, Ott joined Emilia Productions and Perron X as a shareholder. Emilia Productions’ collaborative documentary “Les Nouvelles Èves” premiered at the Zurich Film Festival in 2021. 

Liliane is currently developing several projects as a writer/producer.

LIECHTERWAERK-Tanja Krebs (c)

Matteo Pagamici

Musician, Film composer

Matteo Pagamici is a Swiss musician and film composer. In 2014 he received a nomination for the Golden Eye "Best International Film Music" at the Zurich Film Festival. He is also a Berlinale Talent Alumnus.
His most recent works include PLATZSPITZBABY (director: Pierre Monnard), the SRF/Netflix series NEUMATT (director: Pierre Monnard and Sabine Boss) and the French-Swiss series HORS SAISON (director: Pierre Monnard).

LISA Foto & Film

Irène Philipp Ziebold

Chief Operating Officer at SUISA

Irène Philipp Ziebold is Chief Operating Officer at SUISA and a Member of the Executive Board. A trained lawyer, she first joined SUISA's legal department. Later, she took over the management of one of the client services departments before being elected to the Executive Board.

As head of the department "Operations", she is responsible for the core process at SUISA, which comprises licensing and distribution.

(C) B Ealovega

Rachel Portman

Composer

Rachel Portman OBE – British Film Composer and first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Score for Emma (Douglas McGrath). She was also the first female composer to win a Primetime Emmy Award, which she received for the film, Bessie (Dee Rees). She has received two further Academy Nominations for The Cider House Rules and Chocolat (Lasse Hallström), which also earned her a Golden Globe Nomination as well as Bafta nominations for Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit and The Woman in Black. Other films include The Manchurian Candidate (Jonathan Demme), Oliver Twist (Roman Polanski), Beloved (Jonathan Demme), Benny and Joon (Jeremiah Chechik), Life Is Sweet (Mike Leigh), Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek), Grey Gardens (Michael Sucsy), The Legend of Bagger Vance (Robert Redford), The Duchess (Saul Dibb), One Day (Lone Scherfig), The Lake House (Alejandro Agresti), Mona Lisa Smile (Mike Newell), The Human Stain (Robert Benton), Their Finest (Lone Sherfig), Belle (Amma Asante), A Dog’s Purpose (Lasse Halstrom), Mimi and the Mountain Dragon for the BBC and Godmothered (Sharon Maguire).

Her classical work includes an opera of Saint Exupery's Little Prince for Houston Grand Opera; The Water Diviner's Tale an oratorio for BBC Proms; Earth Song for the BBC singers; Ask The River, a collection of pieces for piano, violin and cello; The First Morning of The World for Joyce Di Donato's Eden.

As the winner of the SoundTrack_Cologne Lifetime Achievement Award, Rachel Portman joins the ranks of many renowned prize winners such as Craig Armstrong, Bruce Broughton, Cliff Martinez, Michael Nyman, Irmin Schmidt, Peter Thomas, Klaus Doldinger or Don Davis.

Rutger Reinders

Music composer, specialised in film scores

Rutger Reinders is an award-winning music composer for films and commercials based in Amsterdam. He has composed scores for a wide range of films and series, including Dirty God (director: Sacha Polak), for which he received a Gouden Kalf for best Dutch original score 2019; Zagros (director: Sahim Omar Kalifa), for which he won a World Soundtrack Award for best Belgian original Score 2018; I.M. (Director Michiel van Erp) for which he won Best original score in Dutch tv series; and several others.

Rutger started his career as a composer for television and internet commercials, leading to scores for ads for global brands such as IKEA, MTV, Heineken, Randstad, Audi and Nikon. From there, he established himself as an in-demand composer for all media, specialising in film scores. A highly versatile composer, equally at home writing for a large orchestra or intimate synth-based productions, Rutger trained at the Alkmaar conservatory but is primarily an autodidact. An extensive list of credits can be found at www.rutgerreinders.com.

Gregor Rosenberger

Sound designer

Rosenberger was born in Zürich in November 1982. He started playing the drums at the age of 10, took some piano lessons, and later started DJ'ing and went to the SAE (school of audio engineering), where he didn't do well. Rosenberger didn't finish any vocational training either.

He started his career at Jingle Jungle Studios in Zurich at 18, has worked there for 21 years, and has had the opportunity to be part of some great projects. Next to well over 2000 commercials, he was responsible for the sound design in feature films like "Strähl" and "Der Kreis" and some action sequences in "Mein Name Ist Eugen". He loves working on animation films too; in this related, he did many for Neil Stubbings. Right now, Rosenberger is building his own studio called dubdub studios.

Irmin Schmidt

Musician, Film Composer

Before Irmin founded the now legendary German band CAN in 1968, he received a formal musical education and studied composition, piano, conducting and music ethnology. Amongst others his teachers were Karlheinz Stockhausen and Ligeti. Between 1962 and 1969 he conducted numerous orchestras including his own compositions. During this period he also composed music for various film and theatre productions. In the late 60ies Schmidt decided to unite classical New Music with Rock and Jazz and founded CAN. Between 1969 and 1978 he worked exclusively with CAN.

After 1978 Irmin released several solo albums - Toy Planet (with B. Spoerri), Musk At Dusk, Impossible Holidays - and a 3 CD box-set of his work as a film composer (Anthology - Soundtrack 1978 - 1993). He also wrote the Fantasy Opera, Gormenghast (premiered in 1998) and a ballet, La Fermosa (premiered in 2008) as well as over 120 film scores.

With British composer KUMO he released two CDs, Masters of Confusion (2001) and Axolotl Eyes (2008) and a DVD of their sound installation Flies, Guys and Choirs (originally commissioned by the Barbican Centre).
In 2008 he also released his second Anthology - Soundtracks (1994 - 2008) and the original score to the Wim Wenders film Palermo Shooting which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival 2008.

Schmidt's sound-journeys combine what is usually opposed: Rock, Pop, Jazz, Classic, Electronic, Ambient, Drum'n' Bass, Walz, Oriental... He is a musical alchemist. The unusual paths Schmidt choses for his compositions were celebrated in 2010, when the prestigious Festival Ludwigsburger Schlossfestspiele presented a gala evening in his honor. Schmidt conducted the Orchestra of the Schlossfestspiele and presented a selection of his work to great critical acclaim.
In 2012 the CAN Label Spoon Records released The Lost Tapes, a 3 CD Can Box of previously unreleased Can material curated by Irmin Schmidt. The following year he released his double CD compilation Villa Wunderbar, a selection of his solo work and work for film (curated by Wim Wenders).

In 2015 Irmin Schmidt was knighted by the French Ministry of Culture and received the highly prestigious medal Chevalier De L'Ordre Des Arts Et Des Lettres for his contribution to art and music. The same year Spoon Records released his 12 CD box Electro Violet - a complete set of Schmidts work (6 solo CDs and 6 Soundtrack CDs).

In 2016 Irmin - in collaboration with Thurston Moore (Sonic Youth) - performed a live composition at the Louvre, Paris to the film STREET by English artist/film maker James Nares.

At The Can Project Event in April 2017, Irmin presented Can Dialog, a new composition for large orchestra by Schmidt and G. Schwellenbach as well as Schmidt’s ballet La Fermosa and conducted the London Symphony Orchestra at the prestigious London art centre The Barbican. The orchestral part was followed by an Homage a CAN concert curated and presented by Thurston Moore.

May 2018 saw the release of the Can book The Story Of Can – All Gates Open. The book in two parts presents a biography written by Rob Young and a second part „Can Kiosk“ written by Irmin Schmidt, a collage of diary entires and interviews. The book is already in the second re-print.

Irmin is currently working on his new composition Filmmusiken together with Gregor Schwellenbach with whom he already wrote Can Dialog. The piece – an orchestration of several of Schmidt’s soundtracks - premiered at the International Film Festival Braunschweig in November 2018 where Irmin conducted the Staatsorchester Braunschweig. In December 2018 he took the composition to the Volksbühne Berlin where Irmin conducted the Deutsche Filmorchester Babelsberg.

In November 2018 Spoon Records will release Irmin’s new piano solo album 5 Klavierstücke. 

Beda Senn

Music consultant at Swiss Television

Music consultant at Swiss Television since 2006 and involved in over 500 documentary film projects.
Since 2018 conception & production for new library/production music under Tonangeber GmbH, he is expert in the implementation of new sounds for current and future topics:
What does today's modern urban environment sound like? (Sounds Of Urbanity).
What does music have to sound regarding sustainability, the new food movements, healthy and sustainable nutrition and lifestyles? (Organic Food Sounds). How do you create a sound image that depicts the regions of the world in a new and timeless way?
Without all the clichés and stereotypes, but with the by integrating the traditional sounds of the regions concerned.
What are new alpine sounds? What is the new sound for stories in today's alpine region (including Southern Germany, Austria,
Switzerland, Slovenia and the north of Italy and France).
Creating sounds that make the colours ring. And much more.
Another important motto: Modern Modular Motif-based Production Music.
The goal are minimal and modular structured mood tracks, which have unique and modern sounds as core element and thus on the one hand perfectly underscore fitting and not overloaded but on the other hand have strong motif expressiveness.
For each track there are several variations, which may differ in instrumentation of the motif, tempo, time signature etc., but which play around the central element (the leitmotif) in some form.
And all this under the aspect of making it as close, touching, high quality and timeless as possible for all kinds of audio-visual productions and suitable for stories in the here and now.
Although music is his life, he never learned to play an instrument well. He spent a few years as a drummer, but never really gained a foothold as a musician.
Despite, or perhaps because of it, he has immersed himself {associatively}, in what kind of images does music create, which images need which music. He finds the exploration of music exciting. And he has immersed himself in it.
He also sees himself as a diver for musical pearls in the playlists of Tonangeber. He curates and mixes them together.

Mirjam Skal

Composer and orchestrator

Mirjam Skal is a composer and orchestrator based in Zurich, Switzerland. She is currently completing her master‘s degree in film scoring at the Zurich University of the Arts and has been working as a freelance composer over the past few years. Her work includes music for several animated shorts, advertisements, documentaries and music for the national Swiss television (SRF). In 2018 she won the “TAURUS Award” for best music in an animated film (“The Market of Lost Things”) at the Animatou International Film Festival in Geneva.

Earlier this year Mirjam has been selected as a sound studio participant in Berlinale Talents 2021, which has been a mind opening experience for her. In addition, Mirjam has been chosen to be part of the AWFC Mentorship program under the guidance of renowned composer Mychael Danna (Life of Pi).

As a synesthete, Mirjam‘s approach to composing is very intuitive. She is fascinated by combining live instruments with electronic soundscapes to create evocative textures. In 2020 she recorded and conducted her orchestral composition ANIMA with the Budapest Art Orchestra. She is also an experienced orchestrator and has been contributing to the music of bands such as ELUVEITIE and ILLUMISHADE

Martin Skalsky

Filmmaker and composer

Martin is a filmmaker and composer of Swiss and Czech origin. In 2019, he directed his first feature documentary, “Cody - the dog days are over”. His narrative short film “As the tide turns “premiered in 2022. He has 20 years of experience in film music composition. His works include, amongst others, i.e. the award-winning feature “The Sandman” by Peter Luisi, “The forgotten” by Daria Onyshenko, world premiere at Warsaw Film Festival 2019 or Oscars® 2022 best live action short film nominee “Ala Kachuu “by Maria Brendle.

Andreas Suttner

Cellist, music manager and promoter

Andreas Suttner has studied violoncello and music tuition and has been awarded as a cellist at several well-known contests. As a musician, he works as a soloist and in different ensembles.

After completing his MA in Arts Management at the City University of London, he focused on music management and promotion.

Since 2004 he has been working as a music consultant for the film department of Bavarian Television, and from 2008 as a trainer for the ARD-ZDF media academy.

In 2007 Andreas Suttner founded the production music label KLANGIDEE and since then has been focusing on his work as a composer and producer for film music on TV, radio and the web.

Christian Tafdrup

Actor, director, and screenwriter

Tafdrup is a Danish actor, director, and screenwriter. His feature debut as a writer-director, PARENTS (2016), celebrated its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and his second feature, A HORRIBLE WOMAN (2017), a box-office hit in Denmark, was selected for numerous festivals. Tafdrup’s third feature film, SPEAK NO EVIL, had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2022.

Sophie Toth

Film and TV producer

Sophie Toth studied media and communication, film, and social and economic history at the University of Zurich. During her studies, she worked in a postproduction company as an in-house producer before practising the same profession in The Netherlands for two years. After returning to Switzerland, Toth oversaw product placements for Swiss television productions and worked as a freelancer producer before joining Shining Film as a permanent employee in 2013 and becoming a partner in 2020. Since 2020, she has built up and devoted herself to the fiction division of Shining Film, and her first series, Tschugger, has already turned out to be a cult.

Marcel Vaid

Musician and composer

Marcel Vaid (*1967) works as a musician (guitar) and composer for film. He has worked in Filmmusic for over 90 feature films worldwide. 

Head of the electro-acoustic collective Superterz, he has completed numerous Tours in Japan and Europe. 

Vaid has collaborations with Nils Petter Molvaer, Norbert Möslang (Voice Crack), Lauren Newton, Mauro Pawlowski (dEUS), Jojo Mayer (Nerve), Alain Monot (The Young Gods), Marianne Schroeder (John Cage) or Rodrigo Gonzales (Die Ärzte). Worked with Fredi Murer, Milo Rau, Léa Pool, Greg Zglinski, Svetlana Rodina and Tommaso Landucci. 

He won 2019 his 4th Swiss Filmprize Best Filmmusic for Chris the Swiss and was nominated a.o.for the European Animation Award. 

He works as a lecturer at the Zurich University of the Arts. He is a member of the European Film Academy EFA, the Swiss Film Academy, and a board member of SONART, the swiss music association.

Oscar van Hoogevest

Sound Designer

Oscar van Hoogevest, born in 1990 in Basel, is a Sound Designer based in Zurich. His musical background and his love for arthouse films led him to discover his passion for sound design.

Having worked on numerous films as a production sound recordist and sound designer, he decided to expand his knowledge by absolving a master’s degree in Sound Design at ZHdK. So far, he has worked on feature-length movies like 99 Moons (Jan Gassmann), Becoming Giulia (Laura Kaehr) and, Preparations for a Miracle (Tobias Nölle).

In 2021 he was nominated for the Schweizer Filmpreis in the category of best sound for his work on Soul of a Beast

Viola von Scarpatetti

Actress, singer and filmmaker

Viola von Scarpatetti has evolved in the film and television business for more than 10 years. Her acting is recognized in the cinema and at various international festivals. She played with Jane Birkin or Carlos Leal. 

The career of the multi-talented swiss-french actress, singer and filmmaker is impressive. Her self-produced and directed feature “Fly in Fly out”, for which she wrote not only the screenplay but as well the music, won a Special Mention at the Hong Kong International Film Art Festival in 2019. Her actual short movie “Mayflower“ was nominated for the Basel Film- and Mediaprice in 2021. 

Her first solo album, “Fais un pont” (french chanson), will be released on October 28th and is already a “Tip“ on cede.ch.

Martin Villiger

Composer, especially focused in the film music field.

Martin Villiger has composed the music for over 120 films and series. That’s about 400 series episodes and counting.

“I love to bring different people and art forms together and to dare new things.“, Martin says. In addition to songs he writes and produces with pop greats, he has always tried new areas of music. He has, for example, composed the music for a circus show, for installations, numerous commercials and corporate sound for companies. Martin Villiger is also interested in 3D audio like Dolby Atmos, spatial audio for VR (virtual reality) and games.

Villiger was born in Glasgow and grew up in Jerusalem, among other places. He feels at home all over the world and speaks six languages. His new concert series “Culture Clash” fits in with this. He is married to Catherine, and together they have four children.

Eva Vitija

Film director and screenwriter

Born 1973 in Basel, Switzerland. Eva Vitija studied screenwriting at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (DFFB) and made a Master's in Documentary Directing at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHDK). She has written for cinema and television, including the screenplays of MEIER, MARILYN, MADLY IN LOVE and LITTLE PARADISE.

Her first feature-length documentary as a director, MY LIFE AS A FILM (2015), was nominated for the Swiss Film Award and a prize from the International Documentary Association in Los Angeles.

The film garnered various national and international awards, including the Prix de Soleure, the Basel, and the Manchester and Zurich Film Awards. In 2022 her second documentary LOVING HIGHSMITH opened the Solothurner Filmtage and was shown in many Film Festivals (DocAviv, Sydney & Locarno Filmfestival, Biographilmfestival, Outfest, Frameline etc.) around the world and is currently showing theatrically in more than 20 countries.

Gabriel Hill

Claudia Wick

Film producer

After completing her business education, Claudia Wick graduated from the College of the Swiss Mercantile Society in London. She started working in 1987 for Topic Film Zurich and Topic/Colelli Miami and gained experience in various areas of film production. 

In 1994 she founded ABRAKADABRA FILMS producing mainly spots and corporate films for domestic and international clients. After 1999 she devoted herself to developing and producing fiction films and now focuses exclusively on this field.

Wick is a member of GARP (group of authors, directors, and producers), the Swiss Film Academy, SWAN (Swiss Women’s Audiovisual Network), as well as of the Zurich Association of Film (as Vice President from 1998 to 2000). SAMI, JOE AND I, produced by Wick, won the Audience Award at the Zurich Film Festival 2020.

Michael Wohlgemuth

Legal Counsel and Licensing Manager

Michael Wohlgemuth is a Legal Counsel and Licensing Manager for SUISA, where he is predominantly involved in licensing audio- and video-on-demand services.

Before his position at SUISA, he studied law at the University of Basel and gained experience in private practice and a court of the first instance and the insurance sector.

Chantelle Woodnutt

Composer agent and Music Supervisor

SELECTED CREDITS

DEATH OF ENGLAND: FACE TO FACE (2021)
VELENO (TV SERIES) (2021)
CATHERINE THE GREAT (TV SERIES) (2019)
OUTLAW KING (2018) 

Chantelle is a composer agent and music supervisor at Air-Edel Associates Ltd in London. She has over ten years of music supervision experience, starting in 2012 with Julien Temple’s London – The Modern Babylon. Since then, she has worked on an array of projects across film and television, including Liam Neeson starrer Non-Stop, Bill for Cowboy Films and the BBC drama series Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell,. Her recent credits include National Theatre feature film Death of England: Face to Face, the Italian Fremantle series Veleno, New Pictures’ Catherine The Great, Outlaw King for Netflix, and BAFTA Scotland Award winning Nae Pasaran.

Chantelle is a member of BAFTA, the World Soundtrack Academy and the UK & European Guild of Music Supervisors.

Photo: Marie Lautiers

Gary Yershon

Composer

In his long and varied career, Gary has written scores for the leading UK theatre companies, West End and Broadway productions, radio, television, film, dance and concert hall.

His best-known film work has been for Mike Leigh. Their collaboration began with Topsy-Turvy, on which Gary was musical director, followed by scores for Happy-Go-Lucky, Another Year A Running Jump, Mr Turner and Peterloo. Other film composition projects include Brighton for Stephen Cookson and 23 Walks for Paul Morrison.! !

Gary’s stage work includes many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre, the West End (including English-language premieres of Yasmina Reza’s plays Art, The Unexpected Man, Life x 3 and God of Carnage) and Broadway.

Gary has written for BBC radio since 1979, beginning as a singer-songwriter. Since then he has composed for many plays, including the 2002 Sony-award winning Autumn Journal. TV work ranges from detective drama (Trial and Retribution IX & X) to children’s cartoon series (James the Cat, Ebb and Flo). Music for dance includes Ma Vie en Rose (2007) for the Young Vic, and The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (2017) for Northern Ballet. Recent concert works include The Great Blueness (2019) commissioned and premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra, and the woodwind quartet Des Vents (2020) for the Calum’Arts Quartet.

Having begun his career as an actor-musician, Gary returned to live performance in 2019 with his show Once Upon A Song at London’s premiere cabaret venue, the Crazy Coqs.

For Another Year Gary was nominated for a European Film Award. For Mr Turner he won the Camille Award for Best Orchestral Score, and was nominated for an Ivor Novello Award, the ASCAP Composer’s Choice award, and the Academy Award for Best Original Score. For The Norman Conquests he was nominated for a Drama Desk award.

Gary is an Associate Artist of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Old Vic theatre, an Associate Teacher at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and a guest lecturer at the London Film School. He has taught at academic, vocational and professional institutions both in the UK and internationally. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Helmut Zerlett

Composer

Helmut Zerlett, lives and works in Cologne, Germany. In the 1980s he had first chart success and began writing music for films. With Joachim Witt he was a member of the „Neue Deutsche Welle", studied in the legendary CAN-Studio with Drummer Jaki Liebezeit and Stockhausen disciple Holger Czukay and co founded the Ethno-Dancefloor by composing the 12“ Single „Masimbabele“. He produced in London (Abbey Road, Mayfair, Matrix, et al.) and in New York (Sigma Sound, Power Station) several artists and played on stage and recorded over 20 years with Marius Müller Westernhagen. He became famous as Musical-Director, Organ Player and Sidekick in the Late-Night-Shows with Harald Schmidt from 1995 bis 2014. Since 1983 („Last Trip to Harrisburg“ with Udo Kier and Rainer Werner Fassbinder) he works as a movie score composer. He is a board member of the DEFKOM (Deutsche Filmkomponist:innen Union), a member of the Deutsche Filmakademie and the Deutsche Akademie für Fernsehen. cinema filmography (excerpt): „Maria an Callas“ (2004), „Neues vom Wixxer“ (2006), "Kein Bund für´s Leben“(2006), „Jerry Cotton“ (2010), "Das Haus der Krokodile" (2012), "Die Vampirschwestern" (2014-2016), "Die Mannschaft“ (2014), „Robbie Tobbi und das Fliewatüüt“ (2016), Forget About Nick“ (2017), „Der Vorname“ (2018), „Kalte Füße“ (2019), „Enkel für Anfänger“ (2020), „Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull“ (2021), „Der Nachname“ (2022), „Mein Lotta Leben- Alles Tschaka mit Alpaka“ (2022)