Team

Dr. Maxa Zoller is the Artistic Director of IFFF Dortmund+Köln, one of the world’s oldest and largest women film festivals. Maxa received her Ph. D. from Birkbeck College, where she studied wtih Ian Christie and Laura Mulvey. Her interest in the interrelationship between art and cinema has marked her academic career; she taught art and film history and theory at the American University in Cairo, Goldsmiths College and Sotheby’s Institute of Art, London, amongst others. It has also informed her curatorial work for Tate Modern, no.w.here, Art Basel and the EYE Filmmuseum in Amsterdam, where she co-curated a major solo exhibition of Anthony McCall in 2014. Her understanding of »expanded cinema« also informs her work as director of the IFFF Dortmund+Köln, where she initiated artist residencies and book publications.

In her writings for MIT, IB Tauris, JRP-Ringier and Hatje Verlag she covers topics ranging from post-colonial and post-socialist identity discourse and feminism to her academic expertise; the history of Western avant-garde and experimental film, its contexts of exhibition and its historiography. Her writings and interviews can be viewed here: independent.academia.edu/MaxaZoller

Christina Essenberger, M. A., is the Managing Director of Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln. During her studies of Literature and Art History at Bielefeld University she was active in the local independent art scene where she was to become the first DJane in a youth culture centre. She also worked at the Lichtwerk Cinema where she programmed classic Hollywood cinema of the 1930s and ’40s and films by female directors as well as arthouse and experimental film. For many years she was a board member of the Filmhaus Bielefeld e. V. Christina became the manager of several international dance and theatre festivals at the Theaterlabor Bielefeld before moving on to IFFF Dortmund+Köln  in 2007.

Christian Liemke is responsible for IFFF Dortmund+Köln film bookings and is on the festival’s organisational team. A film and cinema fan since childhood, he ran a successful blog about film, DVDs and Blu-ray discs for 12 years. After moving from OWL to Dortmund, in 2011 he got to know the film festival for the first time while attending, and later got a taste of the work behind the scenes during an internship while studying. He has been on the permanent staff at IFFF as our film booker since 2017.
He is also on the curator team for the Dortmunder Tresen-Filmfestival.

Conny Beißler studied film and cinematography at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts. After graduating she began training young artists, and since 2009 has taught cinematography and lighting at various universities in Germany and internationally. She produces documentary and stage projects, music videos as well as web and online formats. Since 2013 she has worked at IFFF Dortmund+Köln in various capacities.

Maxi Braun (MA) studied Russian culture, history and media, specialising in film, at the Ruhr University Bochum.
Since graduating in 2013, she has worked mainly as a journalist. In 2016 she also started as a freelancer for various media, primarily in the areas of film, series, feminism and society. In 2018 she worked on the press team for IFFF Dortmund+Köln for the first time. She also gives talks on feminist topics.
Website: www.rodeozebra.eu

Vivien Kristin Buchhorn is a curator, film scholar and art historian. She studied in Zurich, Copenhagen and Berlin, and is now based in both Zurich and Berlin.
From 2015 to 2019 she was a key architect of the film programmes at the Berlin Critics’ Week – held to coincide with the Berlinale – which brought a new focus to debates on cinema. She also worked at the Zeughauskino Berlin, in 2016 organising the first major retrospective on Sohrab Shahid Saless. Her research on Saless has progressed in the meantime and will be evident in film restorations in 2022 as well as a publication produced in collaboration with the Goethe-Institut.
Since 2019, she has been working alongside Merle Kröger and Volker Pantenburg on the situation relating to the television archives in Germany. Symposia held in tandem with arsenal Berlin sought to strengthen calls for the release of television archive material and to foster debate with broadcasters.
Vivien Kristin Buchhorn also works as a dramaturgical consultant, teaches at the Institute of Time-Based Media (IZM) at Berlin University of the Arts, and is a doctoral candidate at ETH Zurich and the Collegium Helveticum. Through the Cooperation Research Lab programme entitled »Epistemologies of Aesthetic Practices«, she explores the perspectives of a new artistic historiography.
She joined Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln as a curator in 2021: looking for new forms and formats in experimental and documentary film, she has a special interest in cinema that takes bold aesthetic as well as transnational positions.

Claudia Butterly is a translator for English with a legal background and, additionally, she holds a qualification as an intercultural language mediator. Her passion for interpreting brought her to IFFF Dortmund+Köln, where she joined the team of translators. When working on multilingual film productions, her French and Spanish language skills also come in handy.

Lilian-Astrid Geese, conference interpreter (aiic) and translator for English, French and Spanish in Berlin, has worked for many years as freelancer for arts and culture, theaters, centers of literature, museums, galleries and publishing houses in Germany and abroad. She is a consultant interpreter for festivals and competitions, including IFFF Dortmund+Köln, Berlin Biennale, documenta, and Europan. More and pics at www.comunicada.de

Natascha Frankenberg is a film and media scholar. She works in the cultural film education field, as a curator for film festivals and lecturer at various universities. Her PhD dissertation examined the subject of temporality at the nexus of film and queer studies, focusing on documentary work in queer cinema.

Gained an MA in theatre, film and television, media and communication studies, and economics from the Ruhr University Bochum, while working as a dramaturge at the Komödie Düsseldorf theatre. Since 1999 has been a freelance film curator, press officer and journalist for IFFF Dortmund+Köln, Maren Kroymann, KROYMANN/Radio Bremen, Kinofest Lünen, dokumentarfilminitiative (the documentary film forum in North Rhine-Westphalia), FIDENA, Gütesiegel Kultur, bobiennale, Deutsche Kinemathek museum for film and television, Kino@Gefängnis, the International Filmfest Emden-Norderney, Bundesverband Kommunale Kinos (German association for municipal cinemas), nachtfrequenz, German Short Film Awards, Flying Broom Ankara, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, German Film Week Kabul, the Goethe-Instituts in Ankara and Kabul. Publications for: filmdienst, the catholic German online portal for cinema and film; the NZZ newspaper; Der Freitag a weekly newspaper; German broadcaster WDR, among others.

Katharina Gismann studied cultural management in the master’s program and focused on the medium of film and the festival sector early on. Her first formative entry into the film festival world finally took place right here, at the IFFF Dortmund+Köln. While she remained connected to the festival, further stations followed, such as the Berlinale and the Film Festival Cologne. Already in her student days, she was also interested in the question of how to inspire people for visiting cultural events and how to attract attention. She finally wrote her thesis on the marketing strategies of film festivals to attract visitors, based on her previous work experience. Since 2023 she is part of the festival team and takes care of the marketing of the IFFF Dortmund+Köln.

A media educator and cultural specialist, Thomas has been passionate about quality media for children for many years. He is an ardent advocate of media content that is produced to inspire children, that opens up new horizons for them and that dares to explore new territory. Driven by this philosophy, he works in many media sectors and for a wide range of institutions. For seven years he headed the German Youth Film Award and the Bundes.Festival.Film. event at the Deutsches Kinder- und Jugendfilmzentrum (German Children’s and Youth Film Centre). He previously worked as an author and editorial assistant for WDR children’s radio. In his blog, “Mama lauter!”, he promotes children’s music. His podcast “Wieso? Weshalb? Warum?”, roughly translatable as “Why? How? What for?”, aims to stimulate his listeners’ interest in children’s media offerings away from the mainstream. And Thomas is putting the same energy and commitment into organising the Programme for Kids and Young Adults for next year’s 40th IFFF Dortmund+Köln.

Jennifer studied Art History & Voice (BA) at Juniata College, USA, Cultural Studies & Feminist Art Theory (MA) at the University of Leeds, UK and Classical Voice (Diplom) at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. She has worked in the (film) cultural sector since 1998, curating the Cologne Short Film Festival since 2009 (competition and special programmes), EMAF Osnabrück (competition 2011), feminale (programme and co-direction 2000 to 2005), and collaborating on film and lecture series, workshops and retrospectives on Albert & David Maysles (with a master class), Lynn Hershman Leeson, Maya Deren, Lech Kowalski, Tony Buba, Jennet Thomas, Nelly Kaplan, »Groupies in Film«, among others. She has managed projects for the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, goEast Film Festival, Creative Europe MEDIA, and has been a jury member at the One World Festival Prague, Sarajevo Film Festival, Seoul International Women’s Film Festival. Since 2013, she has worked in public relations for international arthouse documentary and feature films. She is head of press communications at KERN DES GANZEN Agency für Filmkommunikation in Cologne, and lectures at the institutes for media and cultural studies at the Universities of Düsseldorf and Cologne.

Born in Dortmund, she spent much of her past on the move. She studied politics and media in Bochum, Scandinavian studies in Gothenburg and film production and cinematography in Lisbon. In 2018, she completed her media studies degree with the thesis »Diversity in NRW film funding – an assessment against the backdrop of a digitalising film industry«. At the same time, she was accepted by Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts onto its Film & Sound programme and has since finally been able to make films in Dortmund. 2017-2018 she was in charge of the doxs! school section at doxs! – the documentary film festival for children and young people.
Since 2017 she has been closely involved with Internationales Frauenfilmfestival Dortmund+Köln, firstly through her collaboration on its School Film Programme and, since 2019, she has coordinated the management of IFFF Dortmund+Köln’s guest contributors.

Lena studied “Romance Languages, Literatures and Media” at the University of Mannheim which is also how she discovered her passion for film. She is now on the “Film and Audiovisual Media” Master’s programme at Ruhr University Bochum, and has just returned from two semesters abroad, during which she made her first short film. She has participated in the Go Movie Film Festival Mannheim, on the Girlsjury panel and as a film-maker, and works on other film projects as well. This year she is supporting the IFFF Dortmund+Köln team as a guest management intern and is looking forward to an exciting festival and meeting new people.

Tobias Lelgemann is a film student specialising in documentary film. He has been on the team since 2020 and goes through the films submitted to the festival with a fine-tooth comb for any kind of errors. His quest for finding the needle in the haystack is only complete when the films are running perfectly on computer and cinema screens. He’s the very first person allowed to watch our exciting programme in the cinema and then give it the go ahead – a privileged job if ever there was one!
His second remit is video editing. Videos for our PR work stem from his editing suite before we share them with the world across our social media channels.

Grew up in the Ruhr. Spent a year in the cinemas of Paris and discovered her love for film. Studied film, television and theatre, Romance languages & literature and social psychology at the Ruhr University in Bochum. Worked on the Ruhr University’s student-run International Video Festival, and subsequently has worked for various film festivals (incl. the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, the Dok & Videofest Kassel) as well as a freelance curator and translator.

Pavlos Gkegkas is studying Applied Literary and Cultural Studies at TU Dortmund University with sociology and philosophy as subsidiary subjects. As part of his studies, he is working as an intern at this year’s IFFF Dortmund+Köln. He has always been a lover of film and has already worked in the cultural sector in various ways.

Born in England, I fell in love with sport and languages at an early age. I studied French and German at Nottingham University, completing my degree later with the Open University. I have lived near Montpellier, in Sheffield and Bedford, worked in Paris and London, and landed in Cologne in 2006. In Paris, when not teaching, I was mostly to be found in art cinemas or reading ›Sight and Sound‹. In Cologne I was firstly an English Trainer for various companies. I switched to translation full time in 2010. Along with my colleague Sue Pickett, I co-translate the IFFF Dortmund+Köln festival catalogue every year.

Named after Marlon Brando, Marlon’s interest in films can be pretty much traced to the moment he was born. He studied media and philosophy at the Ruhr University in Bochum. His love for films was sparked by a placement in 2017 at doxs! documentary festival for children and young people, where he has since worked regularly as a freelancer (on the programme committee, as an usher, marketing & hosting). Since 2018 has worked as an assistant for the European Work in Progress Cologne during the festival. In 2019 Marlon joined IFFF Dortmund+Köln as a trainee in the media and PR department. Among other things, he assists with the pre-selection process for the films of the Films for Kids and Young Adults programme, provides social media support, website updating, film scheduling and communication with universities.

Film and film culture have always been part of Sarahs life. IFFF Dortmund+Köln allows her to combine her fascination for the moving image with her passion for event management.
In 2022, Sarah joined IFFF Dortmund+Köln as an intern. This year she takes over the management of the organization for the first time. In addition to her work at IFFF Dortmund+Köln, Sarah is studying for a Master’s degree in Cultural Poetics of Literature and Media at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster.

Silke Johanna Räbiger, a high school teacher in a previous life, moved in the 1980s from her native northern Germany over to the far west of the country, landing in Dortmund. Alongside working for a film distributor, she joined the Women’s Film Festival in Dortmund from 1986, becoming the festival’s director in 1992. From 2007 to 2018 she was the artistic director of Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln.

And perhaps with some of that fabled North German spirit of seeing the job all the way through still in her veins, she has kept hold of the wheel for the ‘Film: World Views’ programme in Dortmund – and in Cologne where it’s still in the making – which she herself created. The film programme is especially aimed at women with a migration background and their families, but of course is open to all fans of quality film-making.

Born in England but based in Cologne for many years, Sue Pickett took a degree in German Area Studies with a minor in Film Studies at the University of East Anglia, UK and Philipps-Universität Marburg. She has worked as a freelance translator for over 30 years, and specialises in the areas of media, culture and education. She has translated for IFFF Dortmund+Köln since 2015.
www.suepickett.de

Nicole Rebmann studied social pedagogy at Cologne University of Applied Sciences, Comparative Social Studies at Maastricht University of Applied Sciences and at the University of North London, and did further education in cultural management in Cologne which led her to work at film festivals.

She worked with the Feminale from 2006 in various organisational and programming capacities, she also continued to work for Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln (Focus and Panorama sections). Since 2022 she coordinates the competition for women DoPs. Alongside her work as a curator and as a programme and guest services coordinator for various film festivals (Stuttgarter Filmwinter, Berlinale) and member of the selection committee of KFFK Short Film Festival Cologne, she is the office manager of WDR AKTIV.

Studied theatre, film and television as well as Romance and German literature (gaining an MA) at the Ruhr University Bochum, the Sorbonne in Paris and the University of Glasgow. Since 1996, she has worked as a freelance film curator. She devises programmes, workshops, talks and ideas for various festivals and symposia in film and theatre, since 1996 mainly for femme totale / Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln.
She works in film and theatre as dramaturge, researcher, production manager and organiser. She hosts events, does press relations work, manages projects for the Nacht der Jugenkultur (youth culture event in North Rhine-Westphalia), and publishes work on radio and in print media. She also sits on international jury panels, including in Tel Aviv, Yerivan, Innsbruck, Prishtina, Seoul, Bozen, Taipei, Lessinia. As a regular member of the Transnationales Ensemble labsa in Dortmund, she has spent recent years looking more closely at the issue of attributions of identity. She has completed collaborative film projects and workshops, including I speak so you don’t speak for me. In 2018, she curated the film programme About Germany in order to reflect on how certain forms of exclusion and racism have built up in the realms of politics and media. This also includes looking into the past in order to frame the phenomenon of migration historically. In this context, a new perspective of East-West German history also emerged. Selected current programmes: Kultur@Gefängnis since 2015 in Germany’s Ruhr region | About Germany (IFFF 2018) | Wahnsinn. Widerstand.Wut – Ein fiebrig-feministisches Filmprogramm in drei Akten (Schillertage Mannheim2019 film festival) | In This Together (Women Make Waves Film Festival, Taipei)

Nicole is passionate about using quality media resources to encourage children and young people to find creative ways of breaking away from old stereotypes and setting new benchmarks. Having grown up in Lower Saxony surrounded by cows and a remarkably flat panorama, Nicole has landed at IFFF through her degree studies in social work (HAWK) and physics/art (HBK/TU Braunschweig). Her day-to-day work with children and young people, and with people suffering disabilities, has involved her in numerous cultural educational projects, including the “Justamente!” festival or “SORGE” in Braunschweig. These experiences have made her especially interested in the topics of self-empowerment, gender and society. These themes, and also her love of technology, also feed into her own pedagogical and artistic approach, in which she collaborates with other multipliers in constantly looking for new interdisciplinary (film) formats. She is delighted to be on board supporting the Programme for Kids and Young Adults at the 40th IFFF.

Miriam Adina Mary Scott completed her degree in film/television specialising in cinematography at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts in 2014. During her studies she spent several years working in cinema and as an assistant in various departments in TV, advertising and cinema productions.
After graduating, she carried out youth film projects and film workshops, also working as technical advisor for a daily newspaper.
Miriam is co-founder of the Filmclub Lünen e. V., and has been theatre management assistant for marketing and events at Cineworld Lünen since 2017. She is also responsible here for the cinema’s on-site organisational planning and implementation of Kinofest Plus. Since 2020, she has also been working as a freelance film-maker once again.
Miriam first came on board at IFFF Dortmund+Köln when she was still at school. Ever since she has been a loyal servant to the festival and assumed the position of Technical Director in 2020.

Marieke Steinhoff is a freelance film curator for Internationales Frauen Film Fest Dortmund+Köln. She completed her studies in theatre, film and television, German and ethnology at the University of Cologne and in Rome, Italy. While studying, she wrote on a freelance basis for the German film magazine Schnitt, where she later became chief editor. She also became organisational head of Filmplus, the forum for film editing and montage art in Cologne, for two years. Since 2013 she has been working for the ifs internationale filmschule köln, including coordinating the teaching of film and media studies. She’s also involved in the »ifs-Begegnung« film and event series, as well as the film history series Filmgeschichten at the Filmforum NRW in Cologne’s Museum Ludwig. In her curatorial work, Marieke looks at aspects of film heritage and canonisation, archives and diversity as well as young German film.

I came to IFFF Dortmund+Köln through my owner Sarah. I always get lots of cuddles in the office and the long corridor is great for playing and running around. As an office dog, I feel right at home here.