Matchmaking for Women

© ContrastFilm

Anke Beining-Wellhausen

Film producer and managing director at Contrast Film

Anke is the commercial managing director and one of the producers of Contrast Film in Zurich and Bern - one of the leading production houses in Switzerland. She is a former Disney executive, managing director of world sales Global Screen and was part of the management team of German distribution and production companies Senator Film and Kinowelt. As CEO and program director of Teleclub, a Swisscom - now Blue Entertainment - subsidiary, and with her company Utofilm she co-produced over 70 features, docs and series (e.g. HEIDI, THE LITTLE WITCH, QUARTIER DES BANQUES, BLUE NOTE RECORDS: BEYOND THE NOTES).

Anke studied law and political science in Germany, Switzerland and the U.S. and holds a Ph.D. in international copyright law. She serves on the board of Trustees of FOCAL, is a lecturer in film law at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK) and a member of the "Feature Film" Expert Commission of the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (FOC) and the Swiss Film Producers’ Association SFP.

Mara Deuschle

Sync Manager

Mara Deuschle has been working in the music industry for over a decade as a concert promoter and artist manager around Switzerland, during her business studies at the University of St. Gallen. Eager to develop her perception of the music industry on an international level, Mara moved to Denmark for her master’s degree in Management of Creative Industries at Copenhagen Business School.

Currently based in Copenhagen while still working with Swiss artists as a manager, Mara started working in music licensing in 2021 and she is now the global sync manager for APL Publishing. Her main focus at this Nordic music publisher is representing their catalogue for all types of visual media on an international level, working together with broadcasters such as ARD, SRF and the BBC, and acquiring placements on programs like VICE on Showtime in the US.

Milena Fessmann

Music Supervisor, Radio host, Film producer, DJ

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 with her own weekly show called "Free Falling".

In 1989 she founded CINESONG and has been working as a music supervisor on more than 500 films and series.

She is moderator of several national events and panels such as Reeperbahn-Festival, c/o pop Cologne, Soundtrack Cologne/Zurich and many more. Milena Fessmann teaches music supervising and copyright clearing at film schools such as DFFB Berlin, KHM, FFF and is advisory board member of the World Soundtrack Academy and Member of the European Filmacademy.

She founded a film production company called Sugar Town Filmproduction Gmbh & Co.kg in 2011. Its first project was "The Potential of Noise- Conny Plank" by Stephan Plank and Reto Caduff. Fessmann is executive-producer of "When Hitler stole Pink Rabbit", directed by award-winning director Caroline Link.

The newest documentary project “Don't talk! Do it- She-punks from 1977 until now” about female punk and the new wave in german speaking territory from 1979-89 is in pre-production.

Danielle Giuliani

Producer

Since 2020, Danielle Giuliani has been an active partner and producer at telefilm GmbH. She is currently finishing the documentary ICEMAN as a producer. Her career began in theater as a dramaturge and director. After successfully completing several short films, she moved on to work as an assistant director and producer on feature films and documentaries, directing two feature films herself. She then shifted her career to journalism, working in print media and for TV broadcast stations. Simultaneously, she lectured on Acting and Staging at the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts. 

In 2010, she became Head of Editorial at SRF/Factual Entertainment, where she developed several television formats. From 2018, she served as an Executive Producer, responsible for major national projects. 

Simone Häberling

Film producer and CEO of 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.  

In 2022 and 2023 the second teenage series “Lost in paradise” was shot. 2024 she produced the documentary “Das Geheimnis von Bern” by Stascha Bader, which will be distributed in cinemas 2025.

© Ornella Cacace

Claudia Lehmann

Producer and Chief Executive

Claudia Lehmann is founder, chief executive and producer of Lehmann Sisters. She grew up in Zurich and Valais, studied Law at the University of Fribourg and Production and Media at the University of Television and Film in Munich. While still a student she made a number of prize-winning short films and documentaries.

She subsequently worked as a screenplay reader, production coordinator, post-production director and creative producer with various film production companies in Munich and Zurich. As creative producer with Turnus Film she shared responsibility for the comedy THE AWAKENING OF MOTTI WOLKENBRUCH, based on the successful novel of the same name by Thomas Meyer.

The first feature film made by Lehmann Sisters GmbH was the Ukrainian-Swiss co-production THE FORGOTTEN. The film was screened in competition at two A film festivals, screened at festivals numerous worldwide and won prestigious awards.

www.mauricehaas.ch

Susanne Regina Meures

Director and producer

In 2016, Meures made her feature film debut with RAVING IRAN. The film was shown at over 130 film festivals worldwide (including Berlinale, Hot Docs, IDFA), won numerous awards and became a box office success. 

SAUDI RUNAWAY followed in 2020, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and Berlinale. It was nominated for the European Film Award and won the European University Film Award 2020. The rights for the film were acquired by Disney / NatGeo. 

GIRL GANG followed in 2022, which has since screened at over 120 film festivals, won numerous awards and was also nominated for the European Film Prize. GIRL GANG is currently streaming on NETFLIX.

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

Neeltje Mooring

Music Consultant

Since 2007, Neeltje Mooring runs her own company SOLID as a rock and operates internationally as an independent publisher (in collaboration with BMG Rights), sync agent and music supervisor. The core business is bringing music and images together in for instance: TV-series, adds, films and games. Clients include: V2 records, CTM  Publishing, NPO (National Dutch Public Broadcasting Company), Dox Records, The Film Kitchen, Kaap Holland Film, NTR, Key Film, Willy Waltz Noord B.V. and Oak Motion Pictures.

Neeltje is also jury member at the yearly Buma Music In Motion Awards (BMIM) Categories: Best Sync, Best Music in Film, TV Series and Commercials.

Besides this she is a parttime lecturer at Inholland University. She developed the mutual study program: International Music Publishing & Licensing together with Berklee College of Music, Boston (U.S.) She also teached the course: Publishing, Licensing and Distribution, part of the master program at the Faculty Global Music Business at the Berklee campus in Valencia, Spain.

In the past Mooring achieved great success working as a product manager, label manager, and a&r manager for several world known and respected record companies such as Sony Music Entertainment, Epic Records, Double T Music, Idol Media and Flow Records.

She is a 1994 graduate in Design & Communication at the University in Rotterdam and accomplished an associate master degree in Media Psychology & Advertising at NCOI (2016).

Samira Sahli

Producer

Samira is a producer born and raised in Switzerland, with a degree in International Business Management. She began her film career by interning with the media team of the Basel Film Festival in 2020. The following year, she took on the roles of festival producer and artistic director for the 13th edition. Samira further expanded her experience with Innovative EYE and ZAS Film projects, contributing to a documentary for the Christoph Merian Foundation, managing logistics for a Swiss cinema release tour and setting up the distribution of an international documentary. She also gained valuable skills during an HR internship at the Kempinski Hotel in Berlin. At the age of 24, Samira produced her first feature film, September Babies, under HUB MEDIA AG. Since 2021, she has served as the CEO of HUB MEDIA, where she oversees financing and production for the company’s upcoming projects.

Sarah Schiesser

Producer

Sarah comes from a background in political, social and media studies, which she merges with her interest in artistic and cinematic practices in her current positions. 

She moved her first steps in the audiovisual sector in France and at the Locarno Film Festival since 2015, where she also works as Deputy Head of the Open Doors program.
In 2022, she joined Amka Films Production (TI) as junior producer, following the development and production of fiction, documentary, animation feature and shorts mostly with upcoming directors - as well as serial content. Since 2024, she collaborates as producer with Lido Pictures (ZH): supporting director-driven films that values diverse, contemporary, politically relevant content that is emotionally and visually resonant to an international audience

Eveline Stalder

Director of documentaries, and director and production assistant

Eveline Stalder was born in 1993 in the canton of Lucerne. During her studies of Empirical Cultural Studies and Film Studies at the University of Zurich and the Free University of Berlin, she specialized in visual anthropology and created several documentary short films during her studies.

2020 she graduated with her master film HANGE I DE LUFT. Since then she has been working in the film industry as a production assistant and 3rd assistant director.

She is also the project manager of Filmstaff, an initiative of the Swiss film industry with the aim of presenting the film industry as a professional field and enabling people to enter it.

© Filmfest München / Kurt Krieger

Ursula Ulmi

Animation producer and director

Ursula Ulmi is a Swiss animation producer and director. After graduating 2008 in Animation with honors at the Lucerne University of Applied Science and Art, she has worked in the European Animation Industry for 15 years, as a production manager, animator and puppet modeler for features, TV- and web series.

Projects include stop motion features by Wes Anderson and Tim Burton, renowned BAFTA-winning Cartoon Network series THE AMAZING WORLD OF GUMBALL and YouTube series TALKING TOM AND FRIENDS.

In 2016 she founded her own production company in Switzerland where she creates short animation films as a producer and director with a profound heart for the art and craft of visual storytelling. Ursula Ulmi also regularly participates at various film festivals as a curator, project manager and programmer and as a lecturer at animation schools and universities with a passion for the promotion and support of young talent.

Jelena Vujović

Writer, Director

Jelena Vujović is a writer & director based in Zurich. In 2020, she attained her Bachelor's degree in film from the Zurich University of the Arts. During her studies she spent an exchange semester at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2018. 

Her graduation film "Bićemo najbolji" (EN: We will be the greatest) was nominated for the Swiss Film Award in 2021 and has been screened and awarded internationally. In 2021, she was selected to participate in the Zurich Film Festival Academy. 

Since 2022 she has been a writer for the Swiss Television Series "Tschugger" and directed the second unit for the 3rd and upcoming 4th season of the series. 

Kathleen Wallfisch

Music Supervisor and former Cellist

Kathleen Wallfisch is a Music Supervisor and former cellist, graduating from The Royal Academy of Music in London. Based in Berlin and London, her company, Music In Vision, contracts musicians for on-camera work.

Recent work includes NAPOLEON / Apple Studios, GLADIATOR 2 / Paramount (both directed by Ridley Scott), and a German documentary, DIE ZEIT VERBRECHEN for X-Filme/Paramount Plus.