JURY

Tobias Müller was born in Sigmaringen in 1979. After graduating from secondary school, he began teaching at a private high school in Detroit and later worked for a public TV station there. Internships at a radio station and a documentary film company in Munich followed. He then studied film direction at the German Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and the Cuban Escuela International de Cine y TV and worked for the youth TV programme “DasDing”. In 2007, he was awarded a scholarship by the Markelstiftung foundation. Apart from several short films, he made the documentary “Bánffy Castle” in 2005, which was subsidised with a Caligari Prize and awarded the German Human Rights Film Prize and the Discovering Eye Award at Chicago Film Festival. “Mein Erlöser lebt”, his graduation film, was nominated for the First Steps Award in 2009. In 2012, Tobias Müller received a Nipkow scholarship, in 2013 his cinema documentary SAUACKER premiered at the 34^th Max Ophüls film festival. This film won him the main prize at the 2014 Provinziale. In 2015, Tobias held a scholarship at Villa Massimo in Rome. He is currently working on a documentary about young Europeans who are seeking their fortune in China.

Kristian Müller studied law in Münster and Berlin but gave it up right after graduating. He has now been working in public relations for 15 years, specialising in film, culture and media. He started at Zoom Medienfabrik, a PR firm focused on theatrical releases, and was head of Studio Babelsberg’s press office from 2000 to 2002. He then became head of corporate communications at UFA, Germany’s market-leading film and TV producer. In June 2013 he quit his job there and teamed up with Kathrin Steinbrenner to establish their own firm, SteinbrennerMüller Kommunikation. He lives with his wife and child in Berlin.

Mario Schneider was born in Neindorf in 1970. He studied music, philosophy, art history and music composition, graduating as a film music composer in 2000. Since then, he has worked as a director, producer, writer and film music composer. In 2004, he founded 42film GmbH, a film production company based in Halle (Saale). His 98-minute documentary Mansfeld opened the 10th Filmfest Eberswalde in 2013 and was the first film to be shown in the competition programme there.

Born in Chemnitz (then Karl-Marx-Stadt) in 1962, Claus Löser has been creating lyrics, music and films since 1980. He did film studies in Potsdam-Babelsberg from 1990 to 1995, graduating with a diploma. Since 1990 he has been programme designer for the “BrotfabrikKino” cinema in Berlin, since 1992 a freelancing film critic for papers such as taz, Berliner Zeitung and film-dienst. In 1996 he founded the “ex.oriente.lux” archive of East German experimental film from the 1976-1989 period. In the same year he published his book “Gegenbilder – Filmische Subversion in der DDR” (Alternative Pictures – Subversive Film in the GDR). 2009 saw his documentary “Behauptung des Raums – Wege unabhängiger Ausstellungskultur in der DDR” (Standing Their Ground – Ways of Independent Exhibition Culture in the GDR). He received a PhD and published his book “Strategien der Verweigerung” (Strategies of Refusal) in 2011. Claus Löser is a member of the BKM jury for promoting scriptwriting and film production, of the DEFA foundation board and that of the Verband der deutschen Filmkritik (Association of German Film Critics). He works as a writer, filmmaker, curator and visiting lecturer in Berlin.

Yakie is an independent Israeli film director, born in Jerusalem in 1978. He was raised in Nigeria, and returns to Africa frequently for various film projects. Yakie studied at Bezalel Academy of Arts in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and received his B.Des Degree in Visual Communications majoring in the Broadcast Division. He did his Master’s Degree in the Film and Television Department at the Tel Aviv University and graduated with an excellence diploma. Yakie directed award-winning documentaries, shorts and fiction films. His films were screened at prestigious film festivals around the world, and broadcast on Israeli and international television. Social values and human issues have a significant part in his films and work. He is currently based in Jerusalem.

Born 1986 in Rüdersdorf near Berlin, Sebastian grew up in Buckow (Märkische Schweiz). After finishing secondary school, he studied Communication Design at Berliner Technische Kunstschule. From 2009 to 2011, he completed a master’s programme at Avonbiehl Studio for Photography and Video led by mentor James Higginson, an American fine-art photographer. He has been committed to political issues of society since 2009, expressing his viewpoints by means of staged fine-art photography, film, writing and scientific-cultural projects. In 2012, he founded SOMMERREICH | Art Direction Studios, a firm dedicated to staged photography, film and design. Sebastian is a member of the freelancing photographers’ and filmmakers’ trade association (BFF) and also works as a freelance graphics and fashion designer.