Guests

  • Maren Ade

    Maren Ade studied production at the HFF Munich in 1998, before studying feature film direction. In 1999, she co-founded Komplizen Film with Janine Jackowski, with whom she co-produced her graduation film “The Forest for the Trees” in 2003. The film received the Special Jury Award of the Sundance Film Festival 2005 and was nominated for the German Film Award the same year. The film was shown at numerous international festivals.
    Her second feature film “Everyone Else” had its premiere in Competition at the Berlinale 2009 and was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr. “Everyone Else” had cinematic runs in over 18 countries and received three nominations for the German Film Award. Her third feature film “Toni Erdmann” celebrated its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2016. Since then, the film has won awards at numerous international festivals. “Toni Erdmann” won the International Critics’ Award and FIPRESCI Grand Prix, the European and German Film Awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe, César, BAFTA and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It was sold in over 100 countries worldwide.
    Maren Ade not only produces her own films, but also works as a producer for other productions.

    → Maren Ade’s profile on “Komplizen Film”
    → “Komplizen Film” website

    Portrait of producer Maren Ade

  • Lionel Baier

    Lionel Baier (* 13 December 1975 in Lausanne) is a Swiss filmmaker and lecturer at the Lausanne Film Academy. He grew up in a Protestant pastoral family in Lausanne and studied Film Science, French and Italian at the Lausanne University from 1995 to 1999. Since 2002, Lionel Baier is Chairman of the Film Department of the École cantonale d’art in Lausanne (ECAL). He is one of the co-founders of the Bande à part Films. Furthermore he is Vice-Chairman of the “Swiss Film Archive” and a member of the Board of Trustees of the “Vision du Réel International Film Festival” in Nyon.
    In 2000 he made his first film “Celui au pasteur (ma vision personelle des choses)” a documentary about his father, a pastor. His second film “The Parade” documents on the first GayPride in the Catholic canton of Valais. Both movies were well received and made him nationally and internationally renowned. From 2003 he increasingly devoted himself to the feature film. His first work “Stupid Boy” was selected at the International Film Festival in Cannes in the category “Tous les cinéma du monde” to represent Swiss cinema. “Another Man” – his third feature film was chosen for the international competition at the Locarno Film Festival. Other feature films like “Stealth”, “Another Man” and “Low Cost” (shot with a mobile phone) attracted national and international attention at various festivals.

    → Lionel Baier on IMDb

    Portrait of Swiss director Lionel Baier

  • Markus Imboden

    He is a freelance film director and screenwriter since 1986. He studied German literature/linguistics and history at the University of Zurich from 1981–86. 
    He was first engaged as assistant producer at Theater an der Winkelwiese, Schauspielhaus Zürich, Schauspiel Köln. From 2008–2018 he was Professor at the Zurich University of the Arts, Master of Arts in Film, Directing Fiction. From 2012–2018 he was assigned as head of programme for the Master Film studies at the ZHdK.

    → Markus Imboden’s website (only in German)
    → Markus Imboden on IMDb with full filmography

    Portrait of director Markus Imboden

  • Cihan Inan

    Cihan Inan is a Turkish-Swiss film and theatre director, screenwriter and dramaturge.
    While studying philosophy, German language and literature in Bern, he worked as a cinema projectionist and wrote film and theatre critics. In 1999 he worked  as an intern at the Theater Freiburg (D), where he successfully staged his first theatre piece. As a result he got offered a full contract as house director. In the following years he worked in the theatre of Graz, Bern and Zurich. In 2011 he shortly was employed as chief dramaturge at Theater Neumarkt in Zurich. Since 2017/18 he is in charge as acting director at the Konzert Theater Bern.
    His first film “Pelotudo” (screenplay/direction), based on a Nick Cave novel, was lost under dramatic circumstances in 2003. His next film “180°” was released in 2010 and won international and national awards. In 2018 “Zone rouge” (script/director) was released and shown at the cinema. His most current work is called “Leopard”.
    He lives in Berlin and Bern.

    → Cihan Inan on IMDb

    Portrait of Cihan Inan

  • Tobias Ineichen

    In 1990 Tobias Ineichen completed his film studies at HEAD in Geneva. He first made several internationally awarded short films and documentaries as well as TV commercials and TV series. In 2002 he made his first feature-length film: the TV thriller “Dilemma”. He subsequently directed numerous feature films and crime scene episodes in Germany and Switzerland, including the award-winning Munich crime scene “Tatort – Schneetreiben” (2005) as well as the award-winning television films “Sonjas Rückkehr” (2006) and “Jimmie” (2007). Among his more recent TV projects are four episodes of the Lucerne “Tatort”. In 2012 he directed his first feature film for cinema: “Clara and the Secret of the Bears”. He lives in Zurich and Paris.

    → Tobias Ineichen on IMDb

    Portrait of Swiss director Tobias Ineichen

  • Andrea Štaka

    Andrea Štaka studied film at Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Her previous films “Hotel Belgrad” and “Yugodivas” have brought her great recognition at festivals such as Locarno and Sundance and have won several awards. Her first feature film “Fraulein” won the Golden Leopard at the Locarno Film Festival and the Heart of Sarajevo. “Cure – The life of another” won the Max Ophüls Prize among others. She is a member of the European Film Academy.

    Portrait of Andrea Štaka