Professors

• Organigram

  
  
  
  

• Stefan Arndt | Feature Film & Television Feature

  

  Stefan Arndt

  Foto: 2016 / HFF München, Robert Pupeter

   

  Stefan Arndt - Film producer & cinema operator
  Stefan Arndt was born in Munich in 1961. Together with directors Wolfgang Becker, Dani Levy and Tom Tykwer, the producer founded the production company X Filme Creative Pool in 1994, which he now runs together with Uwe Schott. Major audience and critical successes such as Tykwer's LOLA RENNT, Levy's ALLES AUF ZUCKER and Becker's GOOD BYE, LENIN! paved the way for international co-productions under German leadership, such as the multiple award-winning Michael Haneke productions DAS WEISSE BAND and AMOUR or Tom Tykwer and Lana & Andy Wachowski's CLOUD ATLAS, the most expensive independently financed European film of all time.
  This was followed in 2000 by the founding of X Verleih AG, of which Stefan Arndt has been a shareholder and board member ever since. Arndt was also a board member of film20 (an association of German production companies with a 70% market share) from 2001 to 2008, a board member of the Alliance of German Producers Film & Television from 2008 and a founding member and chairman of the board of the German Film Academy from 2003 to 2009. Since 2013, Stefan Arndt has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which, among other things, decides on the annual awarding of the Oscars®. Stefan Arndt has also run the Zeise Kinos (Hamburg) and Thalia (Potsdam) cinemas since 1984.

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• Prof. Mo Asumang | Guest Professor

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Mo Asumang shows us how creative diversity can lead to an impressive international career as a director, author and producer (also internationally) as well as a presenter and finally a lecturer (including at Yale/USA). As a black German woman, she has made it to the top in her career with worldwide recognition and was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon in 2019. She not only stands for the fight against discrimination, but also for versatile empowerment of various artistic design processes and didactic teaching. Like her colleagues, Asumang works across departments and is organizationally assigned to the Department of Documentary Film Directing (Head: Prof. Karin Jurschick).

  Further information: https://www.mo-asumang.com/

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• Prof. Beatrice Babin | Film Editing

  

  Prof. Beatrice Babin

  Foto: 2020 / HFF München

   

  Beatrice Babin was born in Munich in 1964. She grew up in Munich and in Italy south of Rome.
  She completed her studies in film studies and philosophy at the LMU in Munich with her master's thesis on Fellini: The figure of the clown as a border crosser between life and death.

  She is a film editor and dramaturgical advisor for feature films and documentaries. 
  Since 2017, she has also worked as a scriptwriter for documentaries.

  She has worked with various directors such as Emily Atef, Volker Koepp, Markus Imhoof, Cordula Kablitz, Elisa Mishto, Wim Wenders, Elke Hauck, Pierre-Alain Meier, Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt ... 
  Almost all of her films are cinema productions that have also been successful at festivals worldwide.

  Besides her passion for film montage, since 2018 she is performing although as a VJ with live video performances, especially in the genre of "live cinema". 

  Since 2019 she shares the chair Film Editing at the HFF with Michael Palm.

  Further information:

  LuckyPunch

  Internet Movie Database

• Prof. Ingo Fliess | Production & Media Business

  

   Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

  After studying art history in Bamberg and Berlin, Ingo Fliess worked as a screenplay agent, editor and managing director at Verlag der Autoren in Frankfurt am Main. In 2007 he founded his independent production company if... Productions.
  His portfolio includes nationally and internationally successful documentaries such as VOGELPERSPEKTIVEN (director: Jörg Adolph), ELTERNSCHULE (2018, director: Ralf Bücheler & Jörg Adolph), TACKLING LIFE (2018, director: Johannes List) and multiple award-winning feature films, including Ilker Çatak's DAS LEHRERZIMMER (2022, honoured with five German Film Awards including Lola in Gold for Best Feature Film), ES GILT DAS GESPROCHENE WORT (German Film Award in Bronze) and Oliver Haffner's WACKERSDORF (2018). Current productions by if... Productions include NEUE GESCHICHTEN VOM FRANZ (directed by Johannes Schmid, in co-production), IM LAND DER WÖFE (2022, directed by Ralf Bücheler), GAME OVER (directed by Jörg Adolph and Ralf Bücheler), MUTIGE GEHIRNE (directed by Jörg Adolph) and FILMSTUNDE 23 (directed by Edgar Reitz). The film GELBE BRIEFE (director: Ilker Çatak) is currently being financed. Fliess is a member of the German and European Film Academy and on the board of the Producers' Association. In addition to his work as a producer, Fliess has also been a professor of production and media economics at the HFF Munich since 2023.

• Prof. Dr. Siegfried Fößel | Technology

  Departement Head Technology

  

   

  After studying electrical engineering, Fößel completed his doctorate at Erlangen‘s Friedrich Alexander University. He simultaneously served as the head of automation and industrial sensor systems in the electronic systems department of Fraunhofer IIS (Erlangen). In 2002, still at IIS, Fößel was appointed group manager for digital cinema within their electronic imaging department – making a significant contribution to the introduction of digital cinema through his involvement in such diverse organizations as the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the Digital Cinema Initiatives (DCI), the German Federal Film Board (FFA), and the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE). Since 2010, he serves as head of IIS’s motion picture technologies department, in charge of strategic technology and innovation planning, among other duties. Fößel holds around ten patent families and other patents pending, and has authored more than 60 publications. Alongside his professional work, he is active in numerous networks, serving as the speaker of the Fraunhofer Digital Media Alliance, as a regular guest of both the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) and the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC), as the chairman of the Fernseh- and Kinotechnische Gesellschaft e.V. (FKTG/German Association of Television and Film Technology), as well as as a board member and regional governor of the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers SMPTE. For his outstanding work with digital image technology, as well as his innovative solutions for the media industry, Fößel was honored with the 2014 Joseph-von-Fraunhofer Award; and, in 2015, was named an SMPTE Fellow.

• Prof. Dr. Gerhard Fuchs | Film & Television Documentary

  

  Born in Augsburg, he studied economics and journalism as well as communication design at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. After completing his doctorate in finance, Professor Dr Gerhard Fuchs worked for two years as a research assistant at the University of Augsburg. Professor Dr Gerhard Fuchs began his career at Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1978 as an editor in the television business department. From 1982 to 1985, he was a representative of Bayerischer Rundfunk in the political department of ARD. There he presented the ‘Tagesthemen’ programme on the first channel and was head of the Tagesschau and Tagesthemen editorial team at Bayerischer Rundfunk until 1987. He then took over as head of the television programme management department. In 1990, he was appointed Head of the Politics and Current Affairs programme department and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Bayerischer Fernsehen. From August 1991 to June 1993, Professor Dr Gerhard Fuchs was First Editor-in-Chief of ARD-Aktuell in Hamburg and thus responsible for ‘Tagesschau’, ‘Tagesthemen’ and ‘Wochenspiegel’. He then returned to Bayerischer Rundfunk as Editor-in-Chief of Television. Professor Dr Gerhard Fuchs was Director of Television at Bayerischer Rundfunk from 1 September 1995 to 31 May 2012. Professor Dr Gerhard Fuchs has been an honorary professor and head of the ‘Documentary Film and Television Journalism’ department at HFF since 1997. He was President of the HFF from 1 October 2003 to 30 September 2015.

   

• Prof. Sinje Gebauer | VFX Producing

  

   

  Foto: 2023 / HFF München, Robert Pupeter 

  Sinje Gebauer has been working in film and television for 20 years and has been involved in over 30 German and international projects as the responsible VFX producer for more than ten years. These included films such as “The Little Witch”, “Balloon” and “Black Panther” before she set up Studio Isar Animation, newly founded by Studio 100, as Head of Studio in 2019. Within 18 months, the first studio-owned feature film project “Maya the Bee 3” was successfully realized here. From 2021 to 2024, she took over the studio management and management of Rise FX South GmbH. Over a period of two years, the permanent workforce increased from 20 to over 50 employees. Accordingly, projects with a higher volume have now been successfully realized, including “Wakanda forever”, “Ms Marvel”, “Generation V” and “Megalopolis”.

  She has been teaching the “VFX Producing” workshop at HFF Munich since 2012. She has been organizing the VFX Stammtisch in Munich since 2014 and is a member of ACCESS:VFX, the Visual Effects Society and the German Film Academy. She graduated from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and the Animationsinstitut in Ludwigsburg.

  Filmography

• Prof. Dr. Phil. Julia von Heinz | Feature Film and Television Feature

  

  Prof. Dr. Julia von Heinz

  Foto: 2020 / HFF München

   

  Julia von Heinz, born in Berlin in 1976, realised her award-winning short films as a writer, director and producer while still a student. Her feature film debut WAS AM ENDE ZÄHLT ZÄHLT screened in the Perspektive Deutsches Kino section of the Berlinale in 2007 and was honoured with the German Film Award in Gold for Best Children's and Youth Film. For her next project, the documentary STANDESGEMÄSS (2008) about aristocratic single women, she received the Bavarian Television Award for Young Talent in 2009. Her feature film ICH BIN DANN MAL WEG (2015), based on the bestseller by Hape Kerkeling, attracted 2 million viewers in German cinemas. Her feature film UND MORGEN DIE GANZEN WELT celebrated its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2020 and received a nomination for the German Film Prize, among many other awards.
This was followed in 2021 by the documentary ISOLATION and the acclaimed series ELDORADO KADEWE. Her international debut TREASURE with Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry premiered at the Berlinale 2024. Julia von Heinz has taught at numerous universities and completed her doctorate at the HU Berlin and the Film University Babelsberg on the topic: ‘The influence of public television on German cinema from 1950-2010.’
Since 2018, she has been a partner in the production company Seven Elephants, which she founded together with directors David Wnendt and Erik Schmitt and producer Fabian Gasmia.

• Prof. Karin Jurschick | Film and Television Documentary

  

  Prof. Karin Jurschick

  Foto: 2017/ HFF München

   

  - Born 17 October 1959 in Essen. Studied Theatre, Film and Television Studies, German Studies and History at the University of Cologne.
  - Co-founder of the International Women's Film Festival Feminale in 1984, co-organiser and programme maker for 14 years.
  - From 1990 cultural editor of Stadtrevue Cologne. Co-editor of ‘Blaue Wunder. New films and videos by women 1984-1994’.
  - From 1995 freelance radio and television author, numerous television programmes for WDR Cologne, among others. In addition, articles in film magazines, lectures and courses, e.g. at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, the International Film School Cologne, the University of Bochum, the UDK Berlin and the University of Art and Design Linz.
  - Since 2000 he has directed and produced long documentary films. Awards include: FIPRESCI Award Berlinale Forum 2001, Arte Documentary Film Award 2003, Adolf Grimme Award 2004, nomination for the Adolf Grimme Awards 2006 and 2012.
  - From 2017 professor for documentary film at the HFF Munich.
  - Currently lives and works in Berlin and Munich.

• Prof. Nadia Kailouli | Television Journalism

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter 

   

  Nadia Kailouli is the host of the Grimme Prize-nominated podcast einsbiszwei about sexism, sexual assault and sexual violence against children and young people. She also presents the ARD lunchtime magazine programme and is a reporter for the NDR Kulturjournal. In 2020, she was honoured with the Grimme Prize, the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Prize, the DRK Media Prize and the NDR Sehstern for her report SeaWatch3. In the same year, the Grimme Online Award in the Information category also went to STRG_F by Funk - Nadia Kailouli has been a member of the STRG_F group of young reporters since the beginning of the format, who ‘report subjectively and closely on what moves them; it's about politics, cultures, movements and fascination for the new, the unknown.’

• Prof. Franz Kraus | Cinematography

  

   

  Prof. Franz Kraus, born in 1947, was appointed in September 2018 to the Supervisory Board of the ARRI Group in Munich, Germany, a globally active motion picture media technology company with around 1,500 employees worldwide. Previously, he had been a member of the Executive Board, responsible for research and development, since 2001. Franz Kraus joined ARRI in 1983 as Technical Director. Numerous management positions followed. Under his management, ARRI received nine awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for outstanding technical achievements, including the development of the ARRILASER film exposure system and the ALEXA digital camera system. In 2011, Franz Kraus was personally honored with an Academy Award of Merit, an Oscar statuette—the highest award in the film industry worldwide. In 2004, he was appointed Honorary Professor and Head of the Technology Department at the University of Television and Film (HFF) in Munich. Meanwhile, he has also been made Head of the Camera Department. In addition, Franz Kraus was appointed curator at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (ISS), the Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) and a member of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC). Before joining ARRI, Franz Kraus worked as an engineer at Rohde & Schwarz and HHI in Germany and as a guest scientist at Bell Laboratories in the USA. He studied communications engineering in Regensburg, Germany.

• Prof. Dr. Michaela Krützen | Media Science

  

  Curriculum vitae

  1964 born in Aachen
  1983 A-levels

  Academic career

  1983 - 1989 Studied Theatre, Film and Television Studies, German Studies and Library Science at the University of Cologne
  1985 - 1989 Scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation
  02/1989 Magister Artium at the University of Cologne: ‘Die schönste Frau auf der Leinwand: Der Fall Greta Garbo’ (published as ‘The Most Beautiful Woman on the Screen: The Fabrication of the Star Greta Garbo")
  1988 1st prize in the ZDF video competition ‘Fairy Tales’ with ‘A Spoon for Manfred’ (broadcast on ZDF in the programme ‘Manfreds Löffel und andere Märchen’); invitation from the Goethe Institute Osaka to Japan for a video project on the subject of ‘Dragons’
  1989 - 1994 Research assistant at the Institute for Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Cologne
  Summer 1991 Guest lecturer at the University of Ibaraki, in Mito (Japan)
  02/1994 Doctorate at the University of Cologne
  1994 - 2000 Research assistant at the Institute for Theatre, Film and Television Studies at the University of Cologne
  2001 Habilitation at the University of Cologne: ‘Film narratives. Narrative structures in feature films of classical Hollywood cinema’ (published as: “Dramaturgie des Films”)
  Since 10/2001 Chair of ‘Communication and Media Studies’ at the University of Television and Film, Munich
  2002 - 2013 Vice President of the University of Television and Film, Munich

• Prof. Corinna Mehner | Production and Media Business

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Corinna Mehner is the managing director of blue eyes Fiction, founded in 2003, and heads the development and production departments. She began working in the film industry in 1992 and gained valuable experience in the production and financing of film projects in various roles and while working with widely recognised creative and financial partners in Germany before founding her own company. With blue eyes Fiction, Corinna Mehner aims to realise high-quality projects for an international audience, focusing both on the development of high-budget mainstream films with potential for success in the German and global market, as well as the promotion and support of arthouse films. The company also develops high-quality television productions and series; since 2019, it has also focussed on the youth/young adult target group. With this vision, blue eyes fiction has become the market leader in the EU in the genre of CG/VFX-heavy family entertainment with high production value. Currently, the fantasy film WOODWALKERS, produced by Corinna Mehner and directed by HFF alumnus Damian John Harper, is about to be released in cinemas (24 October 2024).
  Corinna Mehner is a member of the board of the Producers‘ Association (cinema section), the general board of the Producers’ Alliance and the funding committee and administrative board of the German Federal Film Board (FFA).

• Prof. Martin Moszkowicz | Production und Media Business

  

  Prof. Martin Moszkowicz

  Foto: 2019

   

  Martin Moszkowicz is CEO of Constantin Film AG and is responsible for corporate management and strategy as well as the areas of film production, global sales, film acquisitions, marketing & press, corporate communications and legal affairs. On 6 March 2019, Martin Moszkowicz was appointed Honorary Professor at the HFF Munich.

  As a producer, executive producer and co-producer, Martin Moszkowicz has been responsible for numerous nationally and internationally successful feature films and television productions and has been involved in over 300 productions.

  His most recent projects include RESIDENT EVIL: THE FINAL CHAPTER (2017), FACK JU GÖHTE 1-3 (2013, 2015, 2017; producer of the first two parts was HFF alumna Tina Kringer), DIESES BESCHEUERTE HERZ (2017; producer was HFF alumna Viola Jäger), DER VORNAME (2018; directed by HFF alumnus Sönke Wortmann, directed by HFF alumnus Jo Heim), POLAR (2019), THE COLLINI CASE (2019; produced by HFF alumna Kerstin Schmidbauer), THE SILENCE (2019), THE PERFECT SECRET (2019), DRACHENREITER (2020; produced by HFF alumna Marina Voeth) and MONSTER HUNTER (2020).

• Prof. Michael Palm | Film Editing

  

  Prof. Michael Palm

  Foto: 2020 / HFF München

   

  Michael Palm was born in Linz, Austria, in 1965. He is a film editor/dramaturge and director/author of documentary, short and experimental films. He also works as a music and sound designer.
His films have been successful at international festivals, shown in cinemas, co-financed, purchased and broadcast by international TV stations, and have received numerous awards. His third feature-length documentary film Cinema Futures premiered at the 2016 Venice Film Festival. As an editor and sound designer, Michael Palm has designed over 20 short films and 25 feature films to date.

  Michael Palm studied philosophy, film and media studies at the Vienna Film Academy and the University of Vienna from 1985-93 (MA). He is the author of numerous lectures and publications on the theory, history and aesthetics of film and cinema, was a film critic (Der Standard, Falter) from 1990-94 and a lecturer at the Vienna Film Academy from 1998-2015; he currently teaches at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and at the University of Art and Design Linz. Since October 2019, he has shared the ‘Montage’ chair at the HFF with Beatrice Babin.

  Palm is a member of Verband Filmregie Österreich, dok.at - Interessensgemeinschaft Österreichischer Dokumentarfilm, AEA - Österreichischer Verband Film- und Videoschnitt and SYNEMA, Gesellschaft für Film und Medien.
  He lives and works in Vienna and Munich.

• Prof. Henning Patzner | Advertising

  

   

  Henning Patzner is a freelance creative director and trainer for creativity and innovation. Previously, he worked as a hired copywriter and creative director for Germany's most creative advertising agencies. Including Jung von Matt, Saatchi & Saatchi, Grabarz & Partner and Scholz & Friends. Most recently, he worked as Creative Director for the largest owner-managed advertising agency in Europe (Serviceplan Group).
  He has worked in the creative and innovation industry for almost 20 years. He is co-developer of many commercials, digital concepts and well-known marketing campaigns. As a creative, Henning Patzner has already overseen more than 75 top brands and won over 150 national and international creative prizes and awards. Including Cannes lions and a golden Effie.
  He is a member of the Art Directors Club Germany and author of the book "Creative Explosion" published by Campus Verlag.

• Prof. Christian Rein | Cinematography

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Christian Rein was born in 1970 and has been working as a cameraman since 2000. He and director Florian Gaag celebrated worldwide festival success with the sprayer drama WHOLETRAIN in 2009; Rein received the Adolf Grimme Award for his camera work. To date, Christian Rein has been the director of photography on numerous national and international and very diverse projects, including feature films and documentaries, commercials and music videos. He has repeatedly worked closely with HFF Munich alumni, including producers Max Wiedemann and Quirin Berg as well as directors Christian Ditter, Florian Gallenberger, Wim Wenders and Hans Steinbichler. Christian Rein was honoured with the German Camera Award in 2009 for Steinbichler's DIE ZWEITE FRAU. For over ten years, Christian Rein has also been giving lectures, web seminars and workshops at the HFBK Hamburg, the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf, the ifs Cologne and for the Hamburg Film Fund, among others.

• Prof. Bettina Reitz | President

  President

  

   

   

  Reitz, born in Frankfurt am Main, studied German language and literature, theatre, film and television studies and psychology in Frankfurt (Master's degree).

  From 1985, Bettina Reitz worked as a freelancer for Hessischer Rundfunk, among others, as an editor, assistant director of fictional films and as a producer, author and director of documentaries.
  From 1988 to 1990 she was an editor at Hessischer Rundfunk.

  In 1990, she moved to ZDF as a television and cinema editor, where she worked - most recently as deputy head of the editorial department - until 1997.

  In 1998 Bettina Reitz moved to Munich and took over the development and management of the First Movie programme for the Bavarian Film Centre.

  In 1999, Bettina Reitz was a founding member of the film and television production company teamWorx GmbH, where she worked as a producer.

  In January 2003, Bettina Reitz moved to Bayerischer Rundfunk and succeeded Gabriela Sperl as head of the feature film series programme department. From 2004 until April 2011, she was also a member of the ‘Vorabend im Ersten’ joint editorial team. In 2009, she received the Hans Abich Award for outstanding services to television film. She has been involved in many award-winning series, television films, documentaries and feature films, including the Oscar®-winning films ‘Das Leben der Anderen’, ‘Amour’ and ‘Citizenfour’ and the multi-award-winning series and cinema film ‘Türkisch für Anfänger’.

  Bettina Reitz has received numerous nominations and awards over the course of her career, including several German television awards.

  From May 2011 to May 2012, Reitz took over the management of Degeto Film GmbH. From June 2012 to September 2015, she was Director of Television at Bayerischer Rundfunk.

  Bettina Reitz was a regular guest lecturer at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and the HFF Munich for many years. She has been an honorary professor at HFF Munich since November 2012. In June 2015, she was elected President of HFF Munich by the University Council and appointed by Minister of State Dr Ludwig Spaenle in September 2015, before Bettina Reitz took office as the first full-time President of HFF Munich on 1 October 2015. In February 2019, she was unanimously confirmed by the University Council of HFF Munich for a second term of office of six years, which began in the winter semester 19/20.

  She is also a member of the German and European Film Academies and has been Vice President of the German Academy of Performing Arts since March 2016. She was a member of the Goethe Institute from 2016 to 2020. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of TUM and the Deutsches Museum. She has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film since December 2020. Reitz has held various supervisory board mandates, including for Telepool, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Studio Hamburg GmbH and currently on the board of Leonine Holding GmbH. She is also regularly appointed to important film and media juries, such as the Bavarian Film and Television Prize, Bernd Eichinger Prize, Culture Prize of the City of Munich, Bernd Burgemeister Prize and many more.

  In 2016, Bettina Reitz was honoured with the State Medal for special services to the Bavarian economy. In 2022, she received the Ellen Ammann Prize from the Catholic German Women's Association of Bavaria for the development and concept of the first comprehensive gender equality format at a film school, which honours the commitment to equal rights and equal opportunities for women in the church, politics, society and business. Bettina Reitz has been a recipient of the Bavarian Order of Merit since 2022.

• Prof. Kathrin Richter | Screenplay

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Kathrin Richter, born in Munich in 1961, studied documentary film directing at the HFF Munich. Her first feature film script, co-written with Ralf Hertwig, was made into a film by Rainer Kaufmann: EINER MEINER ÄLTESTEN FREUNDE (1994) received a Grimme Award nomination and the Max Ophüls Award. Richter and Kaufmann have also worked together successfully on other projects, including DIE APOTHEKERIN (1997), KALT IST DER ABENDHAUCH (2000) and DIE PUPPENSPIELER (2017). Kathrin Richter was nominated for the German Television Award for her screenplay HELEN, FRED UND TED, which she co-wrote with Gabriela Sperl. Her work, which ranges from cinema to television and across various genres, includes DAS BESTE KOMMT ERST, a series about a family of entrepreneurs, seven episodes of Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti series, which she wrote for German television. Richter is a member of the German Film Academy.

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• Prof. Tucké Royale | Guest Professor

  

  Tucké Royale

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Tucké Royale represents the narrative crossing of boundaries. He is an award-winning author of radio plays, screenplays, actor, filmmaker and producer. His interdisciplinary work experience includes theater/performances as well as music performances with his own band. He has taught at various universities and academies for many years. Through his involvement in the #actout campaign, he also represents the further development of inclusion and diversity goals at HFF. Like his colleagues, Royale works across departments and is organizationally assigned to the Department of Screenwriting (Head: Prof. Lea Schmidbauer and Kathrin Richter).

  Further information: https://ruakooperative.de/kuenstler/tucke+royale

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• Prof. Tac Romey | Serial Storytelling

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Author, Producer & Managing Director at Phantomfilm GmbH
  Romey was born on 23 September 1969 in West Virginia, USA, and has lived in Turkey, the USA, the Netherlands and Germany. He studied acting, directing and dramaturgy in the USA and graduated from the renowned Brown University in Rhode Island. He is a freelance author, producer and managing director of Phantomfilm GmbH. In the past, he has repeatedly been a guest lecturer for material development seminars or serial content at the HFF Munich. He also works regularly with students and alumni of HFF Munich in his Writer's Room for the web series DER LACK IST AB. DER LACK IST AB is Germany's most successful web series. The series is produced by the company Phantomfilm GmbH, which Tac Romey founded and manages together with Rob van Binsbergen.

• Prof. Marcus H. Rosenmüller | Feature Film and Television Feature

  

   

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Born in Tegernsee in 1973, he studied at the Film and Television Department of the University of Television and Film Munich from 1995 to 2002.

  His cinema film WER FRÜHER STIRBT, IST LÄNGER TOT, for which he also wrote the screenplay together with Christian Lerch, gave him his big breakthrough. The film was not only a success at the German box office, but also won numerous prestigious awards, including the Förderpreis Deutscher Film, the Deutscher Filmpreis in the categories of directing and screenplay and the Bayerischer Filmpreis in the category of Best Newcomer Director.

  The successful Tandern trilogy began in 2006. After BESTE ZEIT and BESTE GEGEND, the final instalment BESTE CHANCE was shot in Upper Bavaria and India in 2013.

  In the last 12 years, Rosenmüller has made 14 feature films, each of which attracted between 4 and 5 million viewers to cinemas.

  In addition to his passion for film, Marcus H. Rosenmüller is always drawn to the stage. Since 2007, he has been touring Germany with his composer Gerd Baumann, performing poetry together.

  In 2014, he was awarded the Ernst Hoferichter Prize, the City of Munich's prize for writers who combine ‘originality with cosmopolitanism and humour’ in their works. He also received the Bavarian Constitutional Medal in Silver in 2014. In 2015, he was presented with the Poetentaler by the Münchner Turmschreibern. From 2013 to 2017, he staged the Singspiel at the Nockherberg and in 2016 he directed the Rossini opera ‘Le Comte Ory’ at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich.

  Since October 2018, Marcus H. Rosenmüller has held a professorship in cinema and television film at the HFF Munich.

  His film TRAUTMANN won the Bavarian Film Award.

  In 2022, his film WILLKOMMEN IN SIEGHEILKIRCHEN won the Austrian Film Award as the film with the largest audience.

• Prof. Dr. Sylvia Rothe | AI

  

  Prof. Dr. Sylvia Rothe

  Foto: 2022 / Robert Pupeter 

  Dr. Sylvia Rothe - mathematician, software developer, filmmaker, AI professor
  Dr. Sylvia Rothe studied mathematics at the Humboldt University of Berlin, where she subsequently worked as a research assistant. She then worked as a software developer and in business development for Siemens and Fujitsu-Siemens, among others, while also realizing several film projects on the side. She also attended courses in film design and then turned this passion into a career in 2011. In the same year, she took part in the European Social Documentary training initiative for documentary filmmakers, which focuses on the possibilities of innovative storytelling methods. While working for a Munich-based film production company, Dr. Sylvia Rothe became increasingly involved with the topic of inclusive media and thus also came into contact with virtual reality. She realized various VR film projects and began her dissertation on this topic in 2017. As a doctoral student, she also supervised numerous student projects on virtual and augmented reality as well as AI and led corresponding internships. Her scientific work has been presented at various conferences (Best Paper Award TVX 2019) and published in scientific journals. In 2020, she completed her PhD on Cinematic Virtual Reality.
  For teaching, Dr. Sylvia Rothe plans to teach AI in a very practical way and to demonstrate its use in film production, among other things. Examples include searching through large amounts of film data, training camera drones and generating special film sequences using deepfake technologies. In the area of research, Rothe would like to use her first few months at HFF Munich primarily to enter into a discourse with the various departments and colleagues and work out together where AI can support processes in media production. She will then use this to narrow down the focus of her research. Dr. Sylvia Rothe believes that multimodal approaches are of particular interest to the film industry: “Much previous research has focused exclusively on a specific medium such as text, audio or images. In films, however, these are used in parallel and it is therefore also necessary to link the previous research results from different branches of AI.”

   

  - Scientific work in the field of cinematic virtual reality (Best Paper Award TVX 2019)
  - Conducting internships on AR/VR and AI
  - Supervision of bachelor and master theses on AR/VR and AI
  - Graduate mathematician
  - 18 years of experience in software development
  - 6 years freelance filmmaker (documentaries and multimedia projects)

  Education

  - PhD Media Informatics LMU Munich (3rd prize at the ARD/ZDF sponsorship award “Women + Media Technology” 2021)
  - ESoDoc 2011 (European Social Documentary)
  - Research degree in mathematics - Humboldt University of Berlin
  - Mathematics studies - Humboldt University of Berlin
  - Abitur at the special class for mathematics and physics at the Humboldt University of Berlin

  Professional career

  2017- 2022: Research Assistant/Doctoral Candidate, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Chair of Media Informatics and Human-Computer Interaction
  2015 - 2017: Multimedia projects, virtual reality/360° film projects
  2011 - 2017: Freelance documentary filmmaker
  2005 - 2010: Business development, Fujitsu-Siemens, Fujitsu
  1991 - 2005: Software development, Siemens-Nixdorf and Siemens
  1989 - 1991: Research assistant, Humboldt University of Berlin, Department of Mathematics

• Prof. Hans Christian Schmid | Guest Professor

• Prof. Lea Schmidbauer | Screenplay

  

  Lea Schmidbauer

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Lea Schmidbauer was born in Starnberg in 1971. After dropping out of her studies in American Studies, she began her directing studies at the HFF Munich, which she completed in 2004 with the short film REALITY CHECK. This was followed by GROUPIES BLEIBEN NICHT ZUM FRÜHSTÜCK (2010) and, from 2012, work on the OSTWIND films and accompanying young adult novels, all of which were huge successes with audiences. Schmidbauer not only wrote the novel and screenplay for OSTWIND - DER GROSSE ORKAN, the last installment for the time being, but also directed it. In 2022, the comedy JAGDSAISON premiered at the Munich Film Festival based on a screenplay co-written by Lea Schmidbauer, Aron Lehmann and Rosalie Thomass. Schmidbauer lives and works as a screenwriter and director in Munich and in a small village in Middle Franconia.

• Prof. Jürgen Schopper | VFX

  

  Jürgen Schopper

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Vita

  Prof. Jürgen Schopper (born 1968) studied painting, design and digital image design.
  He worked as a freelance computer animator and production designer for film and TV productions before joining 20th Century Fox in 1995 as a computer animation artist for “Independence Day”. The film won the Oscar® for Best Visual Effects in 1996.
  Back in Germany, Jürgen Schopper was contracted by ARRI Film & TV as Visual Effects Supervisor. He was subsequently given the newly created position of Creative Director for VFX. In this role, he primarily supervises feature film productions, but also TV movies, series and major events. He has received many other prizes and awards for his work.
  He is active as a speaker at universities, trade fairs and specialist congresses and writes articles for magazines and trade journals.
  In 2001, Jürgen Schopper was appointed professor at the Georg Simon Ohm Technical University in Nuremberg. He is head of the “FILM & ANIMATION” course at the Faculty of Design and initiated the “ohmrolle” film festival in Nuremberg's largest cinema, which has become a career stage for many students.

  A large number of his graduates are now working successfully in the field of visual effects worldwide.
  Since October 2019, Jürgen Schopper has been involved in the development of the new VFX specialization as part of a partial secondment from the TH Nuremberg to the HFF Munich.
  In May 2020, the State Ministry of Science and the Arts granted its approval for the establishment of the “Image Design with a Focus on Cinematography or with a Focus on Visual Effects” major based on the concept submitted by the university. The first students will start there in October 2020.
  From April 2021, Jürgen Schopper will take over the professorship of the VFX major at the Munich University of Television and Film (HFF).

  Prof. Jürgen Schopper is a member of the German Film Academy, in the Visual Effects section.

• Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter C. Slansky | Technology

  

   

  www.peter-slansky.de

  Academic background
  1982 - 1984 Studied mechanical engineering at the University of Duisburg up to the intermediate diploma
  Start of freelance photographic work
  1984 - 1985 Internships with several advertising photographers in Düsseldorf and in the research and development department of AGFA AG, Leverkusen
  1985 - 1991 Studied photographic engineering at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences, specializing in film and television production
  1991 Diploma: “Contribution to a technically and scientifically sound way of working with the video camera” under Prof. Dr. Franz Stollenwerk together with Detlef Möllering
  1985 - 1989 Projectionist at the Cologne arthouse cinema Metropolis
  1992 Traineeship with Lars von Trier, funded by the Filmstiftung NRW
  1992 - 1995 Postgraduate studies at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne in the field of television/film
  1995 Diploma in audiovisual media under Prof. Jeanine Meerapfel with the short film “The Frozen Moment”
  2013 Doctorate in engineering at the Faculty of Architecture at the Bauhaus University Weimar on the topic “The role of the user in university construction. User representation and user coordination using the example of film academies”

• Dr. Gabriela Sperl | Media Science

  

  Gabriela Sperl

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Gabriela Sperl completed her doctorate under Thomas Nipperdey and worked as an assistant at the LMU Munich.

  She worked for many years as a freelance dramaturge for Bayerischer Rundfunk. She supervised young talent in the script workshop in Berlin and Munich and lectured at the DFFB, Berlin. She sat on the advisory board of “Lindenstraße” for years and supervised films such as “Vater und Sohn- die Geschichte von e.o.plauen” by Bertram von Boxberg. She wrote and made documentaries such as “Das Dreikaiserjahr” in 1988. After working as a freelance dramaturge for several years, Gabriela Sperl headed the music and television drama program department at Bayerischer Rundfunk from 1998 to 2002. During this time, she produced numerous successful and award-winning cinema and TV productions. She also continued to show great commitment to the promotion of young talent. At the beginning of January 2003, Gabriela Sperl set up her own production and project development company as a producer and author. Together with teamWorx, she produced the award-winning historical event film “Stauffenberg” by Jo Baier. In 2006, the two-parter “Helen, Fred and Ted” (directed by Sherry Hormann) and “Nicht alle waren Mörder”, a film by Jo Baier (director and writer) based on the childhood memories of Michael Degen, were broadcast.

  Gabriela Sperl has also made a name for herself as a screenwriter for many years. With her successful and award-winning TV films such as “Ghettokids” (directed by Christian Wagner), “Bobby” (directed by Vivian Naefe) and “Wer Kollegen hat braucht keine Feinde” (directed by Martin Enlen), “Liebe und weitere Katastrophen” (directed by Bernd Fischerauer) and “Dr. Schwarz und Dr. Martin” (directed by Xaver Schwarzenberger and Bernd Fischerauer), the doctor of history has repeatedly succeeded in telling stories with a socio-political message.
  She produced and wrote the successful ARD two-parter “Die Flucht” (director: Kai Wessel) with Nico Hofmann for teamworx.

  At the beginning of 2006, Gabriela Sperl and producer Uwe Schott founded a joint production company. She produced “Das letzte Stück Himmel” (director and writer: Jo Baier), “Die zweite Frau” by Hans Steinbichler and, together with Uwe Schott, “Lulu und Jimi” (director: Oskar Roehler).
  In 2007/2008 she produced the successful ARD film “Mogadischu” (written by Philip Remy and Gabriela Sperl, directed by Roland Suso Richter).

  In 2009, she produced the film “In aller Stille” (script: Ariela Bogenberger, director: Rainer Kaufmann).
  At the end of 2009, she founded sperl productions and in 2010 produced the socially critical television film “Das dunkle Nest” (written by Andreas Dirr and directed by Christine Hartmann).
  In 2011, Gabriela Sperl produced the cinema comedy “Oma in Roma” (written by Gabriela Sperl and Jane Ainscough, directed by Tomy Wigand) and the debut cinema film “Die Brücke am Ibar” (written and directed by Michaela Kezele) as well as the two television comedies “Doppelgängerin” and “Hochzeiten” (directed by Niki Müllerschön).
  In 2012, she produced the TV film “Operation Zucker” (director: Rainer Kaufmann) and the cinema comedy “300 Worte deutsch” (director: Züli Aladag), among others
  In 2013, Gabriela Sperl produced “Die Spiegel Affäre” under the umbrella of W&B, together with Quirin Berg and Max Wiedemann.
  In 2014, the successful ZDF three-parter TANNBACH - Schicksal eines Dorfes was produced in the same constellation.
  In 2015, the NSU three-parter was filmed and broadcast in March and April 2016.
  Gabriela Sperl has won several Grimme Awards for her productions. She has received the Golden Camera, the Bambi, the CIVIS Media Award, the German Film Award, the German Television Award, the Baden-Baden Television Award, the Karl Buchrucker Award, the 3-Sat Audience Award, the Shanghai Festival Award, the DIVA Award and the Nymphe d'Or at the international television festival in Monte Carlo and the TV Award in Banff.

• Prof. Nicolas Wackerbarth | Feature Film and Television Feature

  

  Nicolas Wackerbarth

  Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  ...born in 1973, works as a filmmaker, author and lecturer. After studying film directing at the DFFB (Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin), he made several feature films, most recently CASTING (2017, Berlinale Forum, Filmkunstpreis Ludwigshafen, 3 Lola nominations), which was highly praised by critics and audiences alike. Like his other films HALBSCHATTEN (2013, Berlinale Forum), UNTEN MITTE KINN (2011, Filmfest München) and HALBE STUNDEN (short film, 2007, Festival de Cannes), he has been shown at international festivals around the world. Nicolas Wackerbarth has taught for many years at leading art and film schools (HFF Munich, HFBK Hamburg, Filmakademie Bade-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, New School of Cinema St. Petersburg, DFFB Berlin) and most recently was a guest professor in the Narrative Film class at the UdK (University of the Arts) in Berlin. He publishes texts on film (e.g. cargo, Revolver, Cinema Scope) and regularly organizes film talks (REVOLVER LIVE!) at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, as well as film series (e.g. Korean Film Archive, Gropius Bau). Before becoming a director, Nicolas Wackerbarth trained as an actor at the Bavarian Theater Academy August Everding in Munich. He then appeared on stage at the Schauspielhaus Frankfurt and the Städtische Bühnen Köln (1997-2000 ensemble member). Nicolas Wackerbarth has been co-editor of the film magazine REVOLVER since 2004 and a member of the European Film Academy since 2018.

• Prof. Doron Wisotzky | Screenplay

  

  Doron Wisotzky was born in Frankfurt am Main in 1980. After graduating from high school in his hometown of Bad Nauheim and training as a media salesman, he began studying at the University of Television and Film Munich in 2004. He majored in directing and screenwriting and made the award-winning short films “Kopfsache” and “Kosher” before graduating in 2012. During his studies, he worked as an assistant director on the Tatort episode “Der oide Depp” and on the WDR television film “Die letzten dreißig Jahre”.

  In 2009, he met Matthias Schweighöfer, who was looking for a writer after founding his production company Pantaleon Films. Schweighöfer and Wisotzky hit it off straight away and their first joint project, Matthias Schweighöfer's directorial debut “What a Man”, became a hit with audiences in 2011. “Schlussmacher”, which was released in cinemas in 2013, even surpassed the success of ‘What a Man’ and won the German Film Award in the audience category.

  The comedy “Halbe Brüder”, directed by Christian Alvart, for which Wisotzky wrote the screenplay, was released in cinemas in April 2015. Wisotzky is also working on his directorial debut, which he will realize together with Olga Film and Constantin Film. Further screenplays and directing projects are in development.

  Wisotzky has been teaching at the HFF Munich since 2013 and has been head of the screenwriting department there since 2014.

• Prof. Peter Zeitlinger | Cinematography

   

  

  Peter Zeitlinger / Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

   

  Curriculum vitae

  Born in Prague in 1960. Studied Film & Television at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and graduated in Cinematography and Editing. Screenplay workshops with Robert Mac Kee and Syd Field. Years of intensive collaboration with Werner Herzog. Numerous awards, including:

  2012 Romy for Best Cinematography in “Verfolgt - der kleine Zeuge”
  2011 German Camera Award for “Persecuted - The Little Witness”
  2011 Best Cinematography in “Hated” at the Williamsburg International Film Festival NY
  2010 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography in “Bad Lieutenant, Port of Call New Orleans”
  2009 Oscar nomination Best non fiction feature film for “Encounters at the End of the World”
  2009 Cinema Eye Award for Best Cinematography in “Encounters at the End of the World”
  2007 Romy for Best Cinematography in “Dream Hotel Africa”

• Prof. Matthias Zentner | Guest Professor

Matthias Zentner

Foto: HFF München / Robert Pupeter

 

Matthias Zentner as Creative Director stands for the visual borderline experience. He was born in Munich, but lives and works all over the world as an artist, designer and director. Early on, he traveled the world as an award-winning advertising director and photographer, developed himself artistically in a variety of ways and became a globally sought-after director in the fields of design, advertising and experimental film. He represents the further development of visual arts. Like his colleagues, Zentner works across departments and is organizationally assigned to the Department of Image Design/VFX (Head: Prof. Jürgen Schopper).

Further information: https://vimeo.com/matthiaszentner