This year the festival is looking forward to about 70 filmmakers, experts and artists from all over the world who will present their work in Dortmund and Cologne. Here we give you an overview of who you can meet on site.

In the International Debut Feature Film Competition, this is our jury, which is made up of Tsitsi Dangarembga, Christine A. Maier and Ula Stöckl . All three have their own events at the festival. But there are also many filmmakers and crew members on site whose films are nominated for the competition: directors Kit Zauhar (Actual People), Milica Tomović (Celts), Ainhoa Rodríguez (Mighty Flash), Alina Grigore (Blue Moon), Queena Li (Bipolar) comes with her editor Tian Zhuangzhuang, France’s acting star Noémi Merlant presents her directorial debut Mi iubita mon amour in Cologne and brings her actors Sanda Codreanu and Gimi Covaci (also co-writer).

In the National Competition of Women Directors of Photography you can meet the already announced winners which are Roxana Reiss (Award Winner Feature Film, Fence), Constanze Schmitt (Award Winner Documentary Film, Mayor, Shepherd, Widow, Dragon) and Antonia Kilian (Honorable Mention, The Other Side of the River). The workshop discussion with Christine A. Maier will be moderated by cinematographer Sophie Maintigneux. The jurors Isabelle Casez and Sabine Panossian will be present at the award ceremony.

In our Focus: The Connection II: Films that Heal  we look forward to Super8 filmmaker Dagie Brundert Dagie Brundert (The Highest Mirror on Earth), directors Sylvaine Dampierre (Words of Negroes), Sophie Hilpert (Strahlend grüne Wiese) mit ihrer Schauspielerin Lisa Dieling, Maja Nagel (winterlieb), gemeinsam mit Filmassistentin Klara Nagel und Eva Busch (Kuratorin atelier automatique), Ines Johnson-Spain und die Astrologin Monika Heer.

At The Film All-Nighter, directors Juliane Jaschnow and Stefanie Schröder, FRIEDERIKE / NEOZOON, Alissa Larkamp and Claudia Richarz will present their films, with silent film accompaniment by musician Gunda Gottschalk.

Actresses Javeh Asefdjah (Nico), Ji Su Kang-Gatto (Vlog #8998 I Korean Karottenkuchen & Our Makeup Routine) and Vika Kirchenbauer (The Capacity for Adequate Anger)will be on the road for their films in the program desired! film lust & queer.

Many filmmakers are also in Cologne for our films in the Panorama: For our opening film Kevin, we are expecting director Joana Oliveira, producer Luana Melgaço, camera assistant Tiago Miranda and sound designer Gustavo Fioravante from Brazil, in addition to the titular protagonist Kevin Adweko. Also: Diana El Jeiroudi (Republic of Silence), Katrin Memmer (Benedikt) and Franziska von Stenglin (Dust of Modern Life).

The guests at our panel discussion Facing Virtual Realities are Jana Cisar (producer), Marcus Lobbes (director), Linnea Semmerling (cultural scientist, Stifung imai) and Tytti Rantanen (Program Coordinator AV-arkki). The latter will also present the short film program Parts of the Whole: AV-arkki.

On the occasion of various Specials you can still look forward to: Madeleine Bernstorff (author, director), Johanna-Yasirra Kluhs (dramaturg, curator) & Lilly Grote for the book presentation Was wir filmten – Filme von ostdeutschen Regisseurinnen nach 1990, curator Borjana Gaković (IFFF revisited), Christine Kiauk and Herbert Schwering (producers, Spot on NRW introduces: COIN FILM), Petra Seeger (Vatersland), Sonja Hoffmann (moderator Spot on, NRW!), Hanna Mielikova (curator, moderator My Mother, a War and Me, Sandra Schäfer (Westerwald: A Visitation) and Luka Lara Steffen (award winner SHOOT! KHM & IFFF Dortmund+Köln Young Artists Award for female artists of the KHM).

Last but not least, we are also honored by various directors in the Programme for Kids and Young Adults: Miriam Goeze (Hayat Jumps), Riccarda Cordula Schemann (ECHT) with her producer Christine Hartmann, Juliette Klinke (In the Silence of an Abyssal Sea) and Natascha Zink (GRRRL). The jury of the European Children’s Film Association (ECFA), Margret Albers (Project Manager at Förderverein Deutscher Kinderfilm e.V., President ECFA) and Gert Hermans (Organization JE.F Festival Antwerp, Editor-in-Chief of ECFA Journal) are also expected to attend the award ceremony.