DOK.talent Pitch

Petra Felber studied in Paris, Kiel and Munich and is holding a Magister in new German literature, political science and psychology. She worked as academic and artistic assistant at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and was teaching and consulting at Hochschule für Fernsehen and Film München (HFF Munich). Since 2002 Petra Felber is commissioning editor at Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) responsible for documentaries and since 2013 she is head of documentaries at Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Grew up in Lucerne on the lake Vierwaldtstättersee. Training as a qualified nurse. Assistant director at the Schauspielhaus in Dortmund and at independent theatres in Zurich. Collaboration with Theaterspektakel Zurich, theater directing in Aarau. Change from theatre to film: Assistant director in advertising, guest semester of film studies in Paris, assistant to producer Robert Boner, first own productions of short films, production assistant at various companies, further education via Focal Seminars, attendance of the producer seminar EAVE, foundation of maximage with Cornelia Seitler.

After studying law & philosophy, Peter started as Sales & Marketing Director of a film magazine. He moved on to become Marketing & Acquisitions Director for renowned theatrical distributors in the Benelux, releasing over a 100 films like Mulholland Drive, Festen, The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. In 2004 Peter moved to Vienna to start Autlook Filmsales, creating one of the world’s leading sales agents for creative docs. In 2015 he created a consulting company - Jaeger Creative - focusing on Dramaturgy, innovative distribution, financing & marketing solutions for films & series. Peter is also a Lecturer at different film schools like Vienna Film Academy, a jury member of the Flemish & Vienna Film Fund and a Creative Europe expert.

1992 first job at ARTE in Strasbourg as part of the founding team; since 2000 commissioning editor at WDR within the culture department

JIP Film & Verleih is managed by Julia Peters and Jutta Feit. The expertise of the independent distribution company, founded in 2017, lies in the release of socially relevant feature films and documentaries that require special target group approaches and must be released with attention to detail and event-based. Distribution has released films such as GONDOLA; HIVE, GOD EXISTS, HER NAME IS PETRUNYA; CONGO CALLING, THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER, WHO OWNS MY VILLAGE and many more.

Ira Tondowski is an award winning producer, writer and director with 20 years dedicated to realizing good storytelling in film. She co-founded German based production company Tondowski Films and produced award wining and widely distributed documentaries, such as SONG FROM THE FOREST and BORN IN EVIN as well as the fiction film AVA. She co-wrote the Documentary Series THE QUEEN OF CRYPTO and directed for ZDF/3sat the middle –length documentary THE UNDIENIABLE BEAUTY OF BEING. Currently she is in final writing for her fiction debut A DARING STROKE OF LUCK and is writing a doc series for Netflix. Ira Tondowski works also as dramatical adviser and teaches script development and documentary filmmaking at International Filmschool in Colonge.

Esther van Messel, born 1965 in Vienna, is based in Zurich and holds a BfA from the Tel Aviv University. She headed Warner Bros. Israel and from 1992 produced feature films and documentaries in Zurich. Since 1998, she runs FIRST HAND FILMS for production, global sales and theatrical distribution. Today, First Hand Films have been seen by many hundred millions of people.

Marcus Vetter (born in 1967) graduated in Economics (1991) and Media Theory and Practice at the University of Tuebingen (1994). Since 1995 he has been working as a producer and documentary director for ARD/SWR. His films have received attention at national and international film festivals and won numerous prizes, among which are 3 Adolf Grimme Awards. Since 2017 he is working for SWR as commissioning editor for the documentary slot “Junger Dokumentarfilm”

Since 2012 Sven Wälti works as Head of coproductions for the Swiss Radio and Television Company SRG SSR based in Berne. He is in charge of the „Pacte de l’audiovisue “, the national coproduction agreement between the SRG SSR and the independent swiss producers. He is also member of the Programm conference of ARTE.

Jakob Zimmermann has been working as a commissioning editor at ZDF/Das kleine Fernsehenspiel since the beginning of 2021. Before that he worked as a reader for various fiction departments of ZDF, as a freelance screenwriter and as head of conception in a video production company. Jakob Zimmermann is an Alumni of the Drehbuchwerkstatt München. He studied theatre, film and media studies and American studies in Frankfurt am Main and Prague.

Gulseren Olcum, born in Berlin in 1985. She is an editor at ZDF. She has been working as a full-time correspondent for the Y-Kollektiv since 2016 to 2022. She completed her undergraduate degree in Near East Studies in Berlin and London and a master's degree in Journalism in Aarhus and Sydney. She took on the role as an editor for migazin.de and, with her team, she won the Grimme Online Award for her work. She went on to volunteer for the Bayerischen Rundfunk (Bavarian State Network) and has presented on radio, television and the web. She was the Juliane Bartel Media Award for her documentaries "Sugarbabes - Escort and rinsing (?) as a part-time job" and "Sexism in football". She also won the Spanish television award, Premios Ondas, for her documentary "Turks, decide!". Gulseren is also a fellow of the Mercator Foundation.