Giacomo Abbruzzese’s films combine the passion for visual experiments with a passion for storytelling, the eye for decrepit political structures with a sympathy for those who elude them in subversive ways. The born Apulian studied at the Art Academy Le Fresnoy. His films were shown at many of the most renowned festivals: Clermont-Ferrand, Oberhausen, the Viennale, IndieLisboa or Premiers Plans d‘Angers. His feature film debut Disco Boy was chosen for the writing workshop of the Cinéfondation in Cannes. Two years ago, he was a guest at LICHTER with his short film Stella Maris, this year, Fame can be seen as part of the International Shortfilm-Roll II.

Uri Aviv is the founder and general director of the Utopia non-profit association and its namesake festival, which groups together the Tel-Aviv International Film Festival for Fantastic Film, and a program of events and creative projects titled Science, Imagination and Future Visions, which include academic and professional conferences, public talks, creative workshops, art exhibits and more. Aviv is also curator of the digital program for Copro, Israel’s Documentary & Animation Marketing Foundation, film coordinator at Israel’s Ministry of Culture project Culture to the Periphery and consultant at B3, the Frankfurt Biennial of the Moving Image, focusing on digital, tech, design, and media innovation. Aviv’s primary interests are the fantastic genres, science fiction film and speculative thought, science communication and the intersection, influence and inspiration between science, technology, art and society.

After winning the Audience Award at the 10^th LICHTER Film Festival Frankfurt International 2017 with Ghostland – The View of the Ju/’Hoansi, we are excited to be able to welcome him as a jury member this year. Simon Stadler studied Historical Ethnology at the Goethe University Frankfurt, and the influence of his studies can be sensed in his films as well. He initially worked on TV productions of Sat 1 and ZDF as well as on Bolivian productions. In 1997, he founded the production company Cameleon Film GbR with Ivo Fuchs in Frankfurt. Since then, Stadler has made numerous films as camera operator and director - particularly documentaries – for, among others, ZDF, 3Sat and the big screen.

Since 1990, Uwe B. Carstensen has been the head of S. Fischer Theater und Medien Verlag, where he is also the editor of the series Theater Theater. Before that, he worked as a dramaturg at the Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel in Munich (Bavarian State Theatre). There, he worked with Herbert Achternbusch, Ingmar Bergman, Wally Bockmayer and Werner Schroeter, among others. Carstensen has held teaching positions in the past and currently teaches at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Frankfurt (Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts).

At not even 30 years old, Carolin Weidner is one of the most prominent film critics of the new generation. Weidner studied film studies and journalism in Berlin. She writes, amongst others, for the taz, Spiegel Online and the Cargo. In addition to her journalistic work, she participated in the critics jury of various renowned festivals such as the International Film Festival Rotterdam or the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen. Since 2017, she has been a member of the DOK Leipzig's selection committee and a board member of the Association of German film critics (VDFK).

Julia Zange gives to German film what it lacks all too often: intelligence paired with artistic talent and style, as well as openness and an eagerness to experiment. She portrayed the protagonist in not one but two of the most exciting films of the past few months: Irene von Albertis’ Der Lange Sommer der Theorie (The Long Summer of Theory) and Philip Groenings Mein Bruder heißt Robert und ist ein Idiot (My Brother’s Name is Robert and He is an Idiot). Before mixing up German cinema, she studied Social- and Business Communications and wrote two much discussed novels. She also regularly organises the event series Dead Poets Society at the Soho House Berlin. She has a dog and lives and works in Berlin. Hopefully, we will hear a lot more about Julia Zange in the future.

At the tender age of eleven, Andreas Heidenreich started his film and cinema career at the Youth Film Club Reutlingen – the beginning of a great passion. His next stops were the Student Film Club at the TU Darmstadt, the municipal cinema in Weiterstadt, as well as the local open-air festival. At present, he is part of numerous film festivals in the Rhine-Main Area: the Nippon Connection, the exground filmfest, and the goEast Festival. Since 2000, he has been active at the film archive of the German Film Institute in Wiesbaden and responsible for the programming of the Caligari Filmbühne. He is the chairman of the Bundesverband Kommunale Filmarbeit and a member of the German Federal Film Board’s and Cinema Commission’s administrative council.

In her work as director, film author and producer, Lilo Mangelsdorff has specialized in documentary and experimental film. Her projects are produced by her production company Cinetix GmbH, founded in 1983 with her colleague Wolfgang Schlemmert. She is not an unknown at LICHTER anymore: two of the films she produced, have been shown in the regional competition in the last few years. In 2014, she was represented by Wenn Pferde träumen (When Horses dream) and in 2016 by Unterwegs in der Musik – die Komponistin Barbara Heller (On the go with Music – the composer Barbara Heller). Wenn Pferde träumen won both the first place and the cinema price at the Choreographic Captures competition. She lives and works in Frankfurt am Main.

Peter Rippl studied sculpting and film-making at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach (HfG) (University of Arts and Design). This was followed by a scholarship for the screenplay-lab at HFF München (University of Film and TV). He found the entry to his professional life as a content-developer and screen-writer for Bavaria, ARD Degeto and Sat 1. Numerous documentaries ensued, for which he was awarded the Hessischen Filmpreis (Hessian Film Award), among others. His film A Grawame – das Stahlwerk, der Tod, Maria und die Mütter von Tamburi (2016) won the Regional Feature Award at the LICHTER Filmfest 2017.

Since February 2017, Eckart Köberich has been Head of VR at ZDF Digital. From late 2014 to January 2017, he managed the 360° and VR development project for ZDF. During this time, more than thirty 360° productions and platforms for IOS, Android, Google Daydream and the web platform vr.zdf.de were realized. The VR Unit at ZDF Digital, which was set up in 2016, produces 360° films and interactive Virtual Reality applications. Moreover, it involves and actively promotes the exploration of the new medium of VR. In 2017, he was also a jury member and curator of the VR Storytelling contest, the VR Conference and VR Trade Fair at LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International.

Vanessa Kincaid is a founding member and the Chief Brand Officer at Littlstar, the largest global platform dedicated to immersive virtual and augmented reality content. The platform allows consumers to discover, watch, and share content on all major virtual reality headsets, native mobile iOS and Android, Apple TV and Android TV, and the web. Littlstar’s proprietary technology distributes immersive content from global brands such as Disney, Sony, ABC, NBC, Fox, Universal, Showtime, A+E Networks, Syfy, Sony, Discovery VR, National Geographic, and more. Prior to building Littlstar, Vanessa was the Design Director at DKNY and Partner at Basta Studio – a New York based design studio & consultancy firm.

Stefanie Böttcher is an art historian and curator. Since 2015, she has been the director of Kunsthalle Mainz, where she curated among others a solo exhibition with Lebanese artist Rabih Mroué and the duo show Daniel Buren & Bettina Pousttchi. 2017 she was the curator of the Icelandic Pavilion at La Biennale di Venezia. She worked as artistic director of the Künstlerhaus Bremen from 2007 until 2013, where she gave young international artists such as Lara Almarcegui, Ahmet Öğüt or Kateřina Šedá their first solo shows in Germany. In 2013, the Goethe-Institute awarded her a curatorial research stipend for Serbia, and the same year she co-curated the group exhibition 8 Ways to Overcome Space and Time at the Museum of Contemporary Art Belgrade.

Since July 2016 Sergey Harutoonian is the Deputy Head of Collection of the MMK Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt am Main, where he is currently in charge of the collection presentation of the MMK and exhibitions on young, emerging artists. Prior to that he was involved as a freelance art historian in various art exhibition projects in Frankfurt am Main.

Saul Judd is an independent curator based in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2010 he is responsible for the video art section of the LICHTER Filmfest Frankfurt International. He conceived exhibitions with artists such as Keren Cytter and Mike Bouchet in the context of the festival until he created the LICHTER Art Award in 2011. He started to curate the LICHTER Short Films International program in 2015. Among his project BLANK SLATE a publication about art, architecture and design he started in 2016 with SCHAUT! - a series of exhibitions of contemporary art film and video art at the MAL SEH’N movie theater in Frankfurt. In 2017 he presented the artist John Skoog as a guest curator for Double Feature at Schirn Kunsthalle. 

Cornelia Ackers is from the feature film department at the Bayerischer Rundfunk. There she was responsible for Maria Schrader’s “Vor der Morgenröte” or Fatih Akin’s “Tschick” among others. Before her television work, the studied Theatre Studies scholar and art historian worked as a dramaturge and actress.

Since 2016, Svenja Böttger manages the Max-Ophüls-Prize of Saarbrücken, one of the most important festivals for German film. Böttger studied at the Film University Konrad Wolf in Babelsberg.

Director Stadt Land Fluss, Nach Klara, Sleepless Knights, Lichtes Meer

Claudia Dillmann is a film scholar. From 1997 until 2017 she directed the German Filminstitute, which merged with the German Filmmuseum Frankfurt in 2006. From 2004 to 2012 she was the president of the Association des Cinémathèques Européennes (ACE). Under her leadership, the internet portal of German film filmportal.de was created in 2005. Dillmann is the host of the roundtable talk “Distribution and Cinema Culture”.

Julius Feldmeier had his breakthrough as the lead actor in Katrin Gebbes “Tore Tanzt”,which was screened in Cannes 2013 and for which he was awarded Best Actor at the Bundesverband Regie and Best Breakthrough Actor by the Bundesverband Schauspiel. “6 Minutes 66” is his directing debut.

Lars Henrik Gass is leading the International Shortfilmdays Oberhausen since 1997. His latest publication is the updated and extended reissue of his book “Film und Kunst nach dem Kino” (Film and Art after the Cinema). Gass regularly publishes texts on photography and film.

Ellen M. Harrington is, since January 2018, the director of the German Film Institute and the German Filmmuseum in Frankfurt. Formerly she was working for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills since 1993, where she acted as “Director of Exhibitions, Public Film Programs and International Outreach” and was responsible for roughly 80 exhibitions and more than 500 film events.

Jörg Himstedt is from the feature film department of the Hessischer Rundfunk. There he was responsible, among other things, for “Oh Boy” (LICHTER Film Festival 2013) and “Herbert” (Lichter Film Festival 2016). He also supervises the “Tatort” productions of the station. The technically unusual approaches of these films have garnered the station recognition, but critique as well.

Philipp Jedicke works as a freelance journalist, online editor and researcher for public broadcasters, international film production companies, websites and magazines. His work focuses on music and culture. His has worked for the WDR, ARTE, Deutsche Welle, SWR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung. He lived in Canada and France and found a home in Cologne since 2001. Shut Up and Play the Piano is his first directing work.

The media economist Tanja C. Krainhöfer works in strategic consulting and applied sciences in the media- and culture economy. Her dissertation is a study on the success factors of film festivals in Germany.

Jakob Lass is one of the leading representatives of German Mumblecore. With Love Steaks and Tiger Girl he managed two notable, mostly improvised feature films. He described his familiar manner of behaviour on set and shooting as Fogma. In 6 Minutes 66 he is one of the questioned filmmakers.

Silke Johanna Räbiger worked for the International Women’s Film Festival in Dortmund from 1986 until 2005 and became its director in 1992. 2007 she assumed the artistic direction of the IFFF Dortmund | Köln, the only international Women’s Film Festival in Germany, that takes place alternating between Köln and Dortmund. With the festival she organises an international networking event for women filmmakers who dedicate themselves to questions of gender equality and diversity during the Berlinale since 2013. Räbiger was a member of the selection committee of the Film Festival Max-Ophüls-Prize in Saarbrücken for 7 years until 2016 and is a member of the Landesausschuss NRW der Deutschen Künstler*innenhilfe.

Thorsten Schaumann took on the place of festival director at the Hofer Filmtage 2017 after the unexpectedly deceased founder Heinz Badewitz. The economist who formerly worked for Bavaria Film and Sky now directs one of the most renowned festivals for German film, but international cinema as well.

Roderik Smits is a research associate at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television of the University of York. His publications include “Film Distribution: A Changing Business“ and “Tournaments of Values at the European Film Market“.

Urs Spörri is a film scholar, cultural manager and host of numerous festivals. For the German Filmmuseum in Frankfurt he curates the film programme with an emphasis on German film and is involved with the content of this congress. He is a column writer for kino-zeit.de on the developments of current German film scene.

The camera man Alex Traila in his function as consultant for EU-matters & foreign relations represents the Romanian Film Centre and is also EURIMAGES-representative for Romany at the Centrul National al Cinematograiei in Bucharest.

Gerhard Wissner has been a filmcurator, festival maker and cinema operator since the late 1980’s. He directs the renowned Kasseler Dokfest, which dedicates itself to the documental form, as well as the Bali Kino. He also organised several showcases and worked for the documenta 10, 11 and 12.

The Hamburg lawyer Jascha Alleyne is a specialist lawyer for copyright- and media law. He recently published, together with Lars Henrik Gass, the noteworthy article “Monument des Stillstands” (F.A.Z.) on the occasion of the 50th birthday of the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA).

Robert Bramkamp is a filmmaker and professor at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg. His films such as “Art Girls” or “Prüfstand 7” combine elements of documentary, experimental and feature film. The collective film created under his direction at the HfbK“Dazu den Satan zwingen” explores the role of television for the German cinema. 

Together with Linus de Paoli, Anna de Paoli produced the horror film Der Samurai, which premiered in 2014.

Frank Döhmann, film producer and filmmaker, is a professor for Film Production at the KHM since 2001. From 1998 to 2004 he was the director at Colonia Media Köln, in 2005 at Studio Hamburg Production, from 2006 to 2009 at Novafilm and Nostro Film as well as from 2009 to 2013 of Badlands Film.

Born 1954 in Greven, North Rhine-Westphalia. Robert Fischer has been an author since the mid-1970s. Together with Joe Hembus he wrote a story of New German Film. In 1999 he made his first documentary. He was a programmer for the Munich Film Festival for 25 years and works as a consulting producer for The Criterion Collection in New York.

Director, Screenwriter, Guest Professor for Feature Film Direction at HFF München

Alfred Holighaus is the president of the Spitzenorganisation der Filmwirtschaft (SPIO). After working in film economy he founded the Berlinale section “Perspektive Deutsches Kino” in 2001, which he directed until 2010. Following that he was the acting director of the Deutsche Filmakademie. Holighaus is the host of the roundtable talk “Training and Youth”.

Christian Jungen is the head of culture at the “NZZ am Sonntag” as well as editor in chief at the film magazine “Frame”. Recently his biography “Moritz de Hadeln: Mister Filmfestival” was published. Jungen has been a film journalist for 24 years, awardee of the Prix Pathé for Filmpublicism and founding member of the Swiss Film Academy.

Florian Krautkrämer is a guest professor for Film Studies at the Institute for Film-, Theatre- and empirical Cultural Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz.

Director of HFF München

Bettina Schoeller-Bouju is a german director, producer, author, journalist and curator. 2006 she founded the production company depoetica with goal to combine artistic and experimental film with commercial marketability. In collaboration with the film critic Claudia Lenssen she published the book “Wie haben sie das gemacht?Aufzeichnungen zu Frauen und Filmen” in 2014. She is a member of the Bundesverband Regie and on the board of Pro Quote Regie.

Linda Söffker worked as program coordinator at the Zeughauskino cinema of the German Historical Museum. In 1999 she switched to the Berlinale, where she has been head of the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section since 2010. She is a regular member of film and sponsorship juries. Every now and then, Linda Söffker is also the author of publications on film and cinema (2006: co-editor of a monograph on Aki Kaurismäki).

The film critic and filmmaker Rüdiger Suchsland is considered one of the distinguished voices in the film political debate in Germany. Additionally to his work in media like the FAZ, Deutschlandfunk or the SWR, he is the director of two film-historic essay films (“Von Caligari zu Hitler” and “Hitlers Hollywood”)

Dominik Tschütscher is the founder and curator of the cineastic trainee initiative “Cinema Next – Junges Kino aus Österreich”

Doris Bauer is the program director in the international competition of the VS Vienna Shorts in Austria.

Director 3 Zimmer/Küche/Bad, Kreuzweg and others

Linus de Paoli studied at the dffb in Berlin. His graduation film Dr. Ketel - Der Schatten von Neukölln was internationally successful at festivals. The horror film Der Samurai, which he produced together with Anna de Paoli, was released in 2014. Besides his film work he writes music for cartoon series and his rock band. His new and self-financed movie A Young Man with High Potential will premiere soon.

The filmmaker, director, camera man and author Fabian Eder is the director of the Austrian Filmmaker Association

The film- and TV producer Thomas Gammeltoft (inter alia “Stealing Rembrandt”, “Good People” and “Die Brücke”) leads the Copenhagen Film Fund in Denmark.

Martin Hagemann is a producer and acting director for zero fiction film, where among other films he produced “The Turin Horse” by Béla Tarr. He is a member of the standard committee of the FFA and on the board of the DFFF. As a lecturer he taught at the Film University Konrad Wolf in Babelsberg. Hagemann is the host of the roundtable talk “Funding and Financing”.

Andrew Higson is professor at the Department of Theatre, Film and Television of the University of York. His publications include “European Cinema and Television: Cultural Policy and Everyday Life“ and “British Cinema, Europe and the global reach for audiences“.

Professor for media studies at the "Institut für Theater-, Film-und Medienwissenschaft" at the Frankfurter Goethe-Universität

Cornelia Köhler is a producer of the RTL-sitcoms “Das Amt”, “Bernds Hexe”, and “Nicht von dieser Welt”. As a dramaturgic consultant she was involved in the films “Lowlights” and “Pommes essen” and is co-author of the documentary “Liebe Oma, guten Tag”. For “Deutsch Interaktiv”, a DVD series on German literary history she acted as director and screenwriter. She is a member of the board for Women in Film and Television Germany(www.wiftg.de)

Moderator, Actor, Writer, Director // Videoschnipsel-Vortrag

Mischka Popp is an author and filmmaker. Since 1986, together with Thomas Bergmann she made eight noteworthy cinema documentaries (lastly “Mazel Tov”, LICHTER 2010). In addition, she developed and produced formats and films for television. The chosen Frankfurter was distinguished for her work with the Grimme-Prize and the Hessischer Filmpreis and others.

Edgar Reitz is a filmmaker, author and university teacher. Born and raised in Morbach in the Hunsrück, Reitz studied German literature, journalism and theatre studies in Munich. Since 1957 he has been working as a cameraman and director. Reitz taught directing and photography at the "Institut für Filmgestaltung" (Institute for Film Design) at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Ulm (the first film school in Germany) for eight years. His first feature film Mahlzeiten, which today is one of the most influential works of the "Young German Film", was awarded a prize at the 1967 Venice Film Festival. Since the mid-1970s, Reitz has published numerous texts and works on film theory and film aesthetics, but also stories, essays, poetry and literary versions of his films. In 1995, he founded the "European Institute of Cinema Film, EIKK" in Karlsruhe, which he led until 1998. Since 1994 he has been Professor of Film at the State Academy of Design in Karlsruhe. His most important films include: Cardillac, Die Reise nach Wien, Der Schneider von Ulm, Stunde Null and the world-famous Heimat-Trilogie (home trilogy), which consists of 31 full-length individual films to create a century-long epic and, with over 54 hours of playing time, is one of the most extensive narrative cinematographic works in film history. Together with his son Christian Reitz, he also founded Reitz & Reitz Medien in Munich. 

After two years of intensive preparatory work, research and the collection of material, Edgar Reitz ties in with his homeland in 2012 and shoots the German-French cinema co-production Die andere Heimat im Hunsrück, where he tells a family history in the 19th century, at the time of mass emigration from Germany to North and South America. LICHTER presented the film in the presence of Edgar Reitz in 2016.

Edgar Reitz is a member of several academies such as the Akademie der Künste Berlin, the Europäische Film-Akademie and the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste. His films have won awards and honours all over the world and have been honoured by various European universities. These include among others the Golden Lion of Honour of the Biennale di Venezia, six national film awards, four Adolf Grimme Prizes, Luchino Visconti Prize, Federico Fellini Award, Premio Opera d' Autore, Carl-Zuckmayer-Medal, State Art Prize Rhineland-Palatinate, Cultural Honorary Prize of the City of Munich, Konrad-Wolf Prize of the Academy of Arts, German Television Prize,"Kulturgroschen" of the German Cultural Council, and more. In 2006 he received the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. Edgar Reitz lives in Munich with his wife, the singer and actress Salome Kammer.

Director "Kuratorium junger deutscher Film" in Wiesbaden

Daniel Sponsel is an author, filmmaker and festival director. He engages artistically and journalistically with documentary film, as in his film “Der letzte Dokumentarfilm” and the book “Der Dokumentarfilm ist tot, es lebe der Dokumentarfilm”. Since 2009, he directs the International Documentary Film Festival Munich, which he turned into one of the high-public of its kind in Germany.

Christoph Thoke (Mogador Film, Germany) acts as producer and co-producer for films such as “Little Senegal”, “Tropical Malady”, “Twentynine Palms”, “Kirgisische Mitgift”, “Bedways” and “Von Menschen und Pferden”.

Tini Tüllmann received the Heinz-Badewitz-Prize awarded for the first time at the Hofer Filmtage 2016 for her privately financed directing debut Freddy/Eddy – a psycho thriller à la Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde – and designed a new model of direct sales.

Marie Wilke is a filmmaker, film editor and lecturer. After studying in Bozen and at the University of Arts Berlin, she dedicates herself particularly to documentary film. After “Staatsdiener”, the Berlinale 2018-premiered “Aggregat”, which can also be seen at LICHTER, is her second work on politics and society in Germany.

Director: Die Sonneninsel

Anja Krug Metzinger, born 1966 in Frankfurt/Main, studied film-, television- and theatre studies as well as German literature and philosophy at the Goethe University. After her graduation (Magisra Artium), she worked as a freelance writer and director from 1992 on, among other things for television, various ARTE documentary film productions as well as for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Today, Anja Krug-Metzinger works primarily as a producer, director and screenwriter. At the 11th LICHTER Filmfest, her documentary "Das stille Leuchten - Die Wiedererangung der Gegenwart" (The Silent Glow - The Reconquest of the Present) will be screened in the regional feature film competition.

Director: Wunder der Wirklichkeit

Director: Die Tortur

Director: Ink of Yam

Director: Anne Clark – I'll walk out into tomorrow 

Director: Leipziger Straße

Dennis Baumann began his film career at the age of ten. His only tool was a small webcam. 15 years and some projects in the field of feature film, short film, advertising film and music video later, he still shoots smaller and bigger films. Over time, his cameraman Florian Stratenwerth and him were able to gather around him a fantastic team of enthusiastic filmmakers, without whom all the films would not have been possible. Dennis is never dedicated to just one genre – as long as it's fun, it's done! LICHTER 2018 will screen his short film Drive In as part of the regional short film competition.

Jannik Gensler, born and raised in Offenbach county in 1996, realized his first cinematic works during his time at the Berufliche Gymnasium für Kunst und Mediengestaltung at the August-Bebel-Schule in Offenbach am Main. Afterwards he was involved in various functions in university film productions. In 2017 he realised his two short films Mir selbst so fremd and Lügner. Lügner will be screened in the LICHTER short film competition in 2018. 

Director: Talkshow

Eugen Merher was born 1990 in Chisinau, Moldova and moved to Germany at the age of six. He discovered his passion for filming with his parents' DV camera, with which he also shot small action films with his buddy. Eugen studied communication science and journalism at the University of Hohenheim and the University of Oregon before he began his studies in advertising at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy in 2014. In the regional short film competition 2018 LICHTER will show his film Hinter Glas.

Director: Vom Schweben

Karolin Twiddy was born in 1990 in Marsberg, Germany and studies animation at the School of Art and Design Kassel since 2011. Her works are mostly experimental or digital drawn short films, inspired by themes like gender, comedy, esthetic in shapes and colors or simply nice or new animation techniques for moving & playing. Her animated film The Manly Mountain of Men will be screened at LICHTER 2018 in the regional short film competition.

Director: Zum Beispiel Frankfurt am Main

Diretor: Die Fotzy-Biene

Director: reset 

Director: Der amerikanische Traum

Director: Sonntagabend

Director: Afterword 

Theresa Worm was born in Kirchheimbolanden in 1994, grew up in a small town near Kaiserslautern and did not have a television. In 2014, she began her studies at Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in the "Motion Pictures" department, where it is now clear that her dramaturgy and storytelling are the most important subjects and that she would like to specialize in this area in the future. Her short film Der Tod ist voll in Ordnung runs at LICHTER in this year's short film program.

Alma W. Bär is an animator, illustrator and musician. Since 2011 she is been studying Visual Communication with the focus on film animation in Kassel. In between she took part in two film productions of Katrin Rothe in Berlin as animator and background designer and studied animation at KASK in Ghent, Belgium. She plays drums in the riot grrl-grunge-band The Shna. Her short film Obvious is an entry in the LICHTER regional short film competition. 

Director: Dire Straits

Sinje Köhler was born in Darmstadt in 1988. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Motion Pictures from Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences. With her 38-minute bachelor film Nadja & Lara, she won the Hessian University Film Award in 2012. Since 2013 she studied scenic directing at the Baden-Württemberg Film Academy and works as a freelance screenwriter and director. Her third year film at the Filmakademie BW was nominated for the Student Oscar in the category "Narrative International Film Schools". LICHTER will be showing her short film Freibadsinfonie in the regional competition 2018.

Born in Bonn in 1987, director Peter Meister studied film studies, literature and philosophy in Mainz. After graduating with a Master of Arts degree, he gained experience as assistant director and director at film sets and in the theatre as a director. In addition, Meister began to work as an author. His films have won many awards and have been screened at numerous festivals around the world. He is a fellow of the 29th script writing workshop in Munich. At LICHTER, his short film Horizont is competing in the regional competition.

Tobi Sauer was born in Fulda. Since 2012 he has been studying at the Kunsthochschule Kassel, in the class film and moving image with Prof. Jan Peters. His short films have already been selected by numerous festivals, such as the Kassel Dokfest, Stuttgarter Filmwinter, IndieLisboa and the Festival de Cine de Huesca. In 2017 he received the LICHTER Art Award for Simba in New York. Other filmmakers, who took part in the Documenta 14, were portrayed by him, among them Ben Russell and Wang Bing. In the LICHTER Short Film Competition 2018, his production Portrait Jonas Menke will be screened.

Director: Thomas Adam – Frankfurt von unten

Regie: HALT!LOS

In seinen Geschichten erzählt Oliver Kyr von Erfahrungen jenseits dessen, was wir Realität nennen. Sein Spielfilm The Big Black (2011) nimmt uns mit auf eine Reise in die Seele eines Schuld geplagten. Der Film gewann u.a. den Goldenen Pegasus für die beste Regie beim Internationalen Filmfestival von Korinth (Griechenland). Olivers Novelle Audrey und der Tod erzählt vom Tod, der sich unglücklich verliebt, während Meine Freundin Scarlett vom kleinen Ole erzählt, dessen Hund auf einmal nicht mehr da ist. In Ascheland (2017) entwirft Oliver die düstere Vision eines Deutschlands nach dem Dritten Weltkrieg und stellt die Frage: „Wenn wir unsere Kinder so sehr lieben, warum zerstören wir dann ihre Zukunft?“ Ascheland wurde mit dem silbernen Skoutz Book Award ausgezeichnet. Seit 2015 reist Oliver mit seiner Frau Tatjana, der gemeinsamen Tochter Bonnie und den beiden Chihuahuas Yannick & Sherry quer über unseren Heimatplaneten. Die Mission: die Menschen wieder mit allem Leben auf der Erde zu verbinden. Die erste Episode der Film-Trilogie „One planet. One family.“, Citizen Animal, stellt die Frage warum wir immer sagen: „Es ist ja NUR ein Tier.“ Der Dokumentarfilm, u.a. mit Paul Watson von „Sea Shepherd“ und Dr. Jane Goodall, feiert 2018 auf dem LICHTER Filmfestival in Frankfurt Premiere. 2019 wird der zweite Teil der Trilogie veröffentlicht: Root Republic, über das Bewusstsein der Bäume und die magische Weisheit der Pflanzen. Oliver dreht Root Republic derzeit in Mittel- und Südamerika.

Director: Der Herbst des Untergrunds

Director: The Mud House Way

Brice Juanico defended his thesis in Physics, ten years ago. Maybe this is one reason, why he has such a special relationship with setting up experiments. Being a self taught filmmaker, his first short film Dépendance or the Initiation of a laywoman dealt with the life as a sex worker in a very experimental way. In 2017 he received a special mention at Maison du Film, Paris, for the script of his nsecond project Ce qui nous sépare (What separates us). His latest film Should we give birth is part of this year's LICHTER international short film program related to the topic of „Chaos". Juanico works and lives in Paris.

The filmmaker Nikita Diakur was born in Russia and lives in Mainz. He studied at Central Saint Martins College and the Royal College of Art in London. His work has been shown internationally at film festivals such as the Prix Ars Electronica (Austria) Animafest (Zagreb), Annecy (France), Ottawa Animation Festival (Canada), OFF (Odessa) and Edinburgh International Film Festival (Scotland). His work Ugly runs in 2018 as one of the finalists of the LICHTER Art Award 2018, as well as in the regional short film program on chaos. 

Jakob Engel (born 1988) lives and works as a freelance artist, filmmaker, theatre maker and musician in Hamburg. He studied fine arts at the HFBK Hamburg and received the Deutschlandstipendium (German Scholarship) in 2015. His cinematic works have already been shown at various film festivals and in institutions such as the Hamburger Kunsthalle and the Mousonturm Frankfurt. His work Waiting for Record is one of the five finalists of the LICHTER Art Award 2018.