Matchmaking

Milena Fessmann

Since 1991, Milena Fessmann has worked as a full-time DJ (2001-2014 Radio Eins After Work Lounge, Trompete/Berlin, European Film Awards 2015 etc.) and has worked for various radio stations. Since 1997 she works for Radio Eins/RBB and her own weekly show called "Free Falling".

In 1989 she founded CINESONG. She is moderator of several national events and panels such as the "Cartoon Movie Award"/Postdam 2002-2008, Reeperbahn-Festival 2014-21, c/o pop Cologne 2014-2021 and many more. Milena Fessmann teaches music supervising and copyright clearing at film schools such as DFFB Berlin and is advisory board member of the World Soundtrack Academy. She founded a film production company called Sugar Town Filmproduction Gmbh & Co.kg in 2011. The first project was "The Potential of Noise- Conny Plank" by Stephan Plank and Reto Caduff. She is executive-producer of "When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit", directed by award winning director Caroline Link and is co-producer on "Evaluation", "Girl made of Dust", Director: Hiam Abbass, “Prince of swans” and a few more.
Her newest documentary Project is called “ Jung kaput spart Altersheime”, directed by Christine Franz about female punk and new wave in german speaking territory from 1979-89 which is currently in pre-production.

Julien Chavaillaz

Jela Hasler

Jela Hasler studied Photography in Zurich and Istanbul, and Video in Lucerne. Her short films have been shown at festivals internationally and won several awards. Jela is an alumna of the ZFF Masterclass, the GIFF New Talent Screen as well as the FEST Training Ground. She’s been awarded an artist residency at the Cité Internationale des Arts Paris, and was granted the Carte Blanche for the trailer of the International Short Film Festival Winterthur. She’s been a speaker at film schools and workshops, and at Go Short Festival Nijmegen (Netherlands), she gave a talk on «Filmmakers Fuck Ups». 

Jela has been a jury member of several film festivals and film funds. She is a board member of Pro Short, the Swiss Short Film Association, as well as the Swiss film directors and screen writers’ association ARF/FDS.

Judith Lichtneckert

Studies of Media Science, Sociology and English Literature & Linguistics in Basel.
From 2001 - 2012 she joined “point de vue” Basel focusing on documentaries.
From 2005 she worked on many fiction features, tv movies, serials and commercials as an AD, PM and producer.
2013 founding of Emilia Productions.
2016 release of her first feature doc as a director.

After managing six seasons of the Swiss TV Serial “The Undertaker” she joined the Zurich based Snakefilm as a producer in charge of the mystery-drama “THE BLACK SPIDER”, a CH/H coproduction shot in Hungary in 2020. Simultaneously she founded Perron X Gmbh in Basel and with Emilia P. she produced their winner of the Swiss documentary competition “LES NOUVELLES EVES”, directed by a collective of 6 female directors - release at -ZFF 2021.

Thaïs Odermatt

Thaïs Odermatt

Born and raised in Stans, Switzerland. Graduated with a Bachelor degree from Lucerne School of Arts and Design and with a Master degree in Documentary Film Direction from the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF.
Thaïs Odermatt has been working as a freelance filmmaker, editor and video artist since 2009. Her work as a director (among others „Nid hei cho“ and „Kurt und der Sessellift“) as well as an editor (“En la Boca”, „Blaulicht“ or „Caves“) have been shown and awarded at numerous international film festivals.
Her first feature-length documentary won the 2021 Swiss Film Prize "Quartz" for best graduation film.

Elena Pedrazzoli

1985 Degree in Romance Studies at the University of Zurich
Since 1985 Over 500 commercials and corporate films
Since 1991 Co-owner of Peacock Film
2000 Member of the Short Film-Jury “Pardi di domani”. Locarno Film Festival
2002 Member of edi-Jury for commercials
2003-2006 Member of the selection committee for short films, students’ films and animation (Federal Office of Culture FOC)
2005 President of GARP Groupe Authors, Directors, Producers, 2006 Vice President
Since 2009 Member of network ACE Ateliers du cinéma européen
2012-2015 Member of the selection committee for fiction and doc (FOC)
Since 2015 Member of the European Film Academy
2016-2019 Member of the Federal Film commission EFiK
Since 2018 Co-president of GARP

Elena Pedrazzoli is Managing Director of Peacock Film AG

Katrin Renz

Katrin Renz has been working as a producer and script consultant for tellfilm, based in Zurich, since November 2007. Since 2014 she is CEO and shareholder. In summer 2013 tellfilm Germany, situated in Berlin, was founded. Shareholders are Katrin Renz, Oliver Schütte and Stefan Jäger.

In addition to the successful production of various feature films (Monte Verità, Youth Topia, Blue my Mind, Tiere, Der grosse Sommer, Horizon Beautiful), TV movies (Tatort - Wunsch­denken) as well as documentary films and series for Swiss television she has just closed financing for the new feature film BACHMANN & FRISCH by Margarethe von Trotta, a 4-country co-production to be shot in 2022.

Katrin Renz is a member of the European Film Academy and the Swiss Film Academy.

Rebekka Stange

Zora Rux

Zora Rux studied at dffb and Columbia University. Her short films were shown at Palm Springs, Austin, Montreal World, Tel Aviv, Riga, Sao Paulo, Reykjavik, Talinn Black Nights and sold to ARTE.

Having worked for Roy Andersson's films About Endlessness and A Pigeon as Casting Director, Zora teamed up with some of Andersson's crew for her first feature ICH ICH ICH. She is currently writing her second feature MEN BEHIND FAMOUS WOMEN and co-writing the Hamburg-Schleswig-Holstein-funded feature GIRLSPLAINING.

Anna Thommen

Anna Thommen was born in 1980 in Basel. After initially training as a primary school teacher, Anna Thommen begins a bachelor’s degree in film in Lucerne, before switching to Zurich University of the Arts where she graduates with a master’s in film directing with her award-winning cinema documentary “NEULAND” (Unknown Territory) in 2013.

Since then she has worked as a freelance director, author and editor on severals projects like „VOLUNTEER“ in 2019, „LES NOUVELLES ÈVES“ in 2021. 

Her first fiction „IN THE BARN“ and a cinema documentary „NAIMA“ are in development.