Matchmaking

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”).

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.

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.

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.

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. 

(c) Stephanie Englert

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"

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. 

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.

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.

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.

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.