Dortmunder Ehrenpreis Dokumentarfilm 2013

Claas Danielsen was born 1966 in Hamburg. He studied documentary film direction at the Munich University of Television & Film and made seven films, of which several won awards at international festivals as well as being shown on various TV channels in Europe. As head of studies between 1999 and 2004, he helped set up the European training initiative for documentary film-makers known then as the Discovery Campus and today as the Documentary Campus. Since 2004, he has been Artistic & Managing Director of the Leipzig International Festival for Documentary and Animated Films. He has been a board member at the German Documentary Association (AG DOK) and at the European Documentary Network (EDN). He has regularly served on juries at international film festivals and on funding committees, and he also acts as an advisor at the European Film Academy.

Birgit Kohler is a co-director of Arsenal – Institut für Film und Videokunst in Berlin, a programme curator and a film scholar. She is member of the selection committee for the Forum of the Berlin International Film Festival. Her work as a curator usually entails projects in the field of contemporary documentary film oeuvre – including that of Chantal Akerman, Catherine Breillat, Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, Claire Denis, Miguel Gomes, Heddy Honigmann, Brillante Mendoza, Elfi Mikesch, Agnès Varda and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. She is the founder and co-editor of the internet magazine nach dem film (after the film) and the editor of the series Performing Documentary, the Kinothek journal Jean Eustache and 1968 // 2008 – 40 Jahre Mai 68 und der Film. In addition: lectureships, (most recently »Curatorship in Theory and Practice«), guest talks and other publications.

Silke Johanna Räbiger was born 1953 in Heide / Holstein. She studied German, politics, history and education in Göttingen und Hamburg. After completing her final examinations, she worked in film distribution and as head of a project aimed at promoting education in the field of arts and culture for children. From 1986, she worked for the Dortmund Women’s Film Festival – initially on a voluntary basis. In 1992, she was appointed its director and, since 2007, she has been Director of the Dortmund | Cologne International Women’s Film Festival. From 2009 to 2011, she supervised the start-up of the arthouse cinema in the Dortmunder U Arts & Creativity Centre. She is a member of the German Films & Media Classification Board (i) and, since 2009, has had a place on the selection committee for the Max Ophüls Prize Film Festival, Saarbrücken.