Special Guests
Nina Hoss
Born in 1975 in Stuttgart, Nina Hoss studied at the Ernst Busch Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin. She then became a member of the Deutsches Theater until 2013. In 2014, she joined the Schaubühne Theatre in Berlin where she acted under the direction of Thomas Ostermeier in several plays, among them, Bella Figura by Yasmina Reza, The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman and in 2017 Returning to Reims, a monologue by Didier Eribon. Nina Hoss has been best known in recent years for her outstanding roles in movies and series. In 2007, she received the Silver Bear at the Berlinale for her performance in Yella by director Christian Petzold. Since then, they collaborated in several films: Jerichow (2009), Barbara (Silver Bear, Berlinale 2012) and Phoenix (2014). Nina Hoss also played under the direction of Anton Corbijn (A Most Wanted Man, 2014), Volker Schlöndorff (Return to Montauk, 2017), Katrin Gebbe (Pelican Blood, 2019) and Ina Weisse in The Audition (2019). For her performance in that movie, she received the Silver Shell for Best Actress at the San Sebastian Film Festival 2019. Nina Hoss has also been playing the recurring role of Astrid in the American series Homeland. She just finished shooting the series Shadowplay, together with Michael C. Hall. Nina Hoss has received many awards, among them the Adolf-Grimme Prize (2003 and 2005), the Bavarian Television Prize (2005) and the Deutsche Filmpreis (2008). In 2019, she was honored with the Douglas-Sirk Award, given to a personality who has made outstanding achievements within culture and the film industry.
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Lead actress Nina Hoss will join us for the live virtual Swiss Film & Talks Q&A, following the screening of My Little Sister on Saturday, November 21st (1:00 PM showtime).
Photo credit: Geisler-Fotopress GmbH / Alamy Stock Photo
Caroline Link
Caroline Link graduated from the University of Television and Film in Munich. Since the mid-1980s she has been working as a screenwriter and director. In 2003 she was the first German filmmaker in 23 years to receive the Academy Award for her film Nowhere in Africa. Today she is one of Germany’s most renowned directors. Her directorial credits include German Academy Award winner A Year Ago in Winter (2008), Exit Marrakech (2013), and most recently All About Me (2018), which also won a German Academy Award.
Caroline Link has attended Berlin & Beyond twice in the past, at our Opening Night screening of the Academy Award® winnning film, Nowhere in Africa, and with the Academy Award®-nominated film, Beyond Silence. All About Me won both the Youth 4 German Cinema runner-up award and the Audience Award Narrative Feature Premiere at this past February’s 24th Berlin & Beyond Film Festival.
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Director Caroline Link, will be part of a very special Q&A with the Step Into German nationwide educational screening of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit.
Please note: The Step Into German event of When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit is an exclusive screening and live virtual Q&A for participating school. Details on how to watch the Q&A will be provided soon.
Photo credit: Mathias Bothor
Ilker Çatak
Ilker Çatak studied directing in Berlin and Hamburg, where he graduated in 2014. His graduation film SADAKAT received many international awards including the Student Academy Award in Gold in 2015. Çatak’s directorial credits include an adaptation of the award-winning youth novel, Once Upon A Time In Indian Country, which received a German Academy Award nomination in 2017. In 2019 Ilker Çatak directed I Was, I Am, I Will Be, his second feature film, which was awarded the prize for best screenplay at the Munich Film Festival, as well as a German Academy Award. Ilker Çatak’s new film Stambul Garden (Räuberhände) was released in German cinemas in September 2020, and will hit international theatres in April 2021.
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Director Ilker Çatak will join us for a live virtual Q&A following our Opening Night screening of I Was, I Am, I Will Be on Thursday, November 19th (7:30 PM showtime).
Photo credit: Erik Mosoni / if…productions
Johannes Naber
Johannes Naber made several documentaries before directing his first feature film in 2009, the German immigration drama The Albanian, for which he also wrote the script. The film was awarded the Silver George at the international Moscow Film Festival in 2010 and the Max-Ophüls-Award in 2011, amongst others. Naber’s second feature film, Age of the Cannibals, a grotesque on globalization, was voted Best German Film of 2015 by the German film critics association. His third feature film, The Cold Heart, a period adventure based on the fairy tale by Wilhelm Hauff, was released in 2016. The satirical thriller Curveball is his fourth feature film.
Filmography:
2007: DER ZWEIFEL (THE DOUBT), short, 13 min, director/writer
2010: DER ALBANER / SHQIPTARI (THE ALBANIAN), feature film, 104 min, director/writer
2014: ZEIT DER KANNIBALEN (AGE OF CANNIBALS), feature film, 93 min, director
2016: DAS KALTE HERZ (HEART OF STONE), feature film, 119 min, director/writer
2020: CURVEBALL, feature film, 108 min, director/writer
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Director Johannes Naber will join us for a live virtual Q&A following our Closing Night screening of Curveball on Saturday, November 21st (7:30 PM showtime).
Photo credit: imago images / Future Image
Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond
Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond have known each other since their childhood. Both accomplished actresses, their first step towards cinema was by including video in their theatre plays. Their debut film The Little Bedroom premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2010. Starring legendary French actor Michel Bouquet, it won Best Fiction Film and Best Screenplay at the Swiss Film Awards, received numerous prizes in international festivals and was the Swiss submission for the Academy Awards. The duo moved on to write and direct the series Open Book (2014), for which Véronique Reymond was awarded Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Swiss TV Awards. This successful experience led them to write a second series, Toxic, currently under development. In 2018, their documentary feature Ladies was nominated at the Swiss Film Awards. After being a Swiss box-office hit, it has been released in France, Germany and Italy. Chuat and Reymond’s second fiction feature, My Little Sister, starring Nina Hoss, Lars Eidinger and Swiss icon Marthe Keller, premiered in Competition at the Berlinale 2020. It has been selected for the European Film Award 2020 and is the official Swiss entry for the Academy Awards. It will be released in the US by Film Movement in January 2021.
Filmography:
2021: TOXIC, series, writers and directors
2020: MY LITTLE SISTER, feature film, writers and directors
2018: LADIES, documentary feature, writers and directors
2014: OPEN BOOK, series, writers and directors
2010: THE LITTLE BEDROOM, feature film, writers and directors
2008: BUFFO, BUTEN & howard, documentary feature, writers and directors
2005: BACK TO SCHOOL, documentary feature, writers and directors
2004: BERLIN BACKSTAGE, short, writers and directors
2003: BREATHE, short, writers and directors
2003: PIECES OF LIFE, short, writers and directors
2002: HARD WORK – short, writers and directors
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Directors Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond will join us for the live virtual Swiss Film & Talks Q&A, following the screening of My Little Sister on Saturday, November 21st (1:00 PM showtime).
Photo credit: Sophie Brasey
Elke Lehrenkrauss
Elke Margarete Lehrenkrauss is a Berlin based filmmaker and visual artist, *1979. In 2012, she graduated with distinction from the KHM Academy of Media Arts Cologne as fellow of the German National Academic Foundation. In 2003, she received her diploma in Video Arts from the HSLU Lucerne University of Art and Design. Her films and artworks have been exhibited on festivals, in museums and galleries worldwide and been multi-awarded. LOVEMOBIL is her feature debut which premiered (int´l) at 72.Locarno FF / Semaine de la Critique 2019 and won the German Documentary Film Award 2019.
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Director Elke Lehrenkrauss will join us for the live virtual Q&A following the screening of Lovemobil on Saturday, November 21st (10:00 AM showtime).
Photo courtesy of Elke Margarete
Jean de Meuron
After working as a branded-content and TV commercial producer in his native Switzerland, Jean de Meuron interned at several major media conglomerates, networks, as well as Hollywood studios such as MTV, ViacomCBS, Paramount Pictures, The Weinstein Company, Universal Pictures and MGM. Jean commenced his professional career working for prolific Emmy®, Grammy, Oscar®, Golden Globe and Tony Award winning producer Scott Rudin, as well as Oscar® nominated producer Eli Bush at Scott Rudin Productions. Jean’s first film credit was Associate Producer for CINEMAsuisse: Marc Forster (2012), a documentary short subject about Hollywood director Marc Forster. Serving as Executive Producer, Jean’s short film, La femme et le TGV (2016), starring the iconic Jane Birkin in the leading role, premiered at the prestigious Locarno Film Festival in the Pardi di domani section. The short was further recognized with an Oscar® nomination at the 89th Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short Film. Jean’s latest film he produced, Megan (2018), an ambitious sci-fi proof of concept, gathered widespread critical acclaim, global press coverage and multiple festival accolades. Several media publications such as The Hollywood Reporter, Entertainment Weekly, Empire, /Film and IndieWire reported on the short. Megan won Best International Sci-Fi Short at the 2018 London International Short Film Festival and went viral online, surpassing 1.5M views and 25.8K likes on YouTube. In 2019, Megan was honored with the renowned Telly Award (Silver Winner 40th Annual Telly Awards) in the Online: General-Viral category. The short also won Best Sci-Fi at the 2019 Los Angeles Film Awards and 2019 New York Film Awards. Since 2019, Jean is a Member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the Short Films and Feature Animation Branch.
At Berlin & Beyond in Focus: Filmmaker Jean de Meuron will join us for the live virtual Swiss Film & Talks Q&A, following the screening of My Little Sister on Saturday, November 21st (1:00 PM showtime).
