Selection Jury
Tanino Bellanca
Media representative for the city of Ludwigsburg, department for sustainable urban development, Tanino Bellanca is a freelance film producer and creative producer. Having studied political sciences and business studies at the University of Mannheim and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, from 1996 to 2000 he went on to study film production at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Since May 2000, Tanino has worked as a freelance producer and creative producer for bellanca film & consulting in Ludwigsburg. Since 2000, in his role as media representative for the city of Ludwigsburg, he has also been responsible for the city’s development as a media location.
Stella Diettrich
A project coordinator at Slow Food Deutschland, Stella Dietrich works on an intercultural educational project focusing on a sustainable food system. She studied environmental sciences as well as biodiversity and environmental education, while engaging in various radio, film and media projects on the side.
Martina Dobrusky
Designer Martina Dubrusky’s degree specialising in photography and media laid the foundation for a broad range of interests and fields of work, including stints in theatre, working as a freelance photographer and art director, and involvement in various aspects of culture and event management. At NaturVision she spent four years in charge of organising the Bavarian Forest Film Days. In 2016, Martina joined the team of the Neues Maxim cinema in Munich, where her remit includes the Cinema For Future series.
Benjamin Eckert
Benjamin Eckert has been studying ecology and environmental planning in Berlin since 2018 and works alongside his studies as a freelance photographer and filmmaker. In 2018 he joined the team at Jugendnetzwerk Abenteuer Schwarzwald des Freundeskreis Nationalpark Schwarzwald e.V., which aims to get young people interested in the beauty of nature through photography and film and to develop long-term, sustainable and impactful projects. Benjamin was already a member of the Youth Jury of the NaturVision Film Festival in 2019 and 2020.
Andreas Fuchs
Film musician/sound designer Andreas Fuchs is a project supervisor for the film music department of the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. As well as his many years’ experience in sound design for the gaming industry, he has worked as a film musician in Hollywood and nowadays composes music for TV documentaries and commercials.
Heinz von Matthey
Heinz von Matthey is a film producer, writer and director. Following his studies in Switzerland, he worked as a cameraman, writer and director for Lazi Film Stuttgart, and then as a producer for Studio/S Stuttgart. In 1987 he set up the company Matthey Film in Waiblingen, specialising in TV documentaries and corporate films with a focus on biology, ecology and ethnography. Heinz has produced numerous award-winning documentaries and science features, notably for ZDF and ZDF Enterprises, WDR and ARTE.
Claudia Schwab
Claudia Schwab has worked as an editor for regional broadcaster Südwestrundfunk in Baden-Baden since 1999, where she developed and produced various wildlife formats for children. Since 2012 she has been responsible for SWR’s in-house and co-productions in the realm of "Animals and Nature". Claudia is also in charge of SWR’s documentaries for the series Come and See My World!.
Axel Weiss
Qualified biologist, editor and presenter, Axel Weiss works for regional broadcaster Südwestrundfunk on the tri-media environmental desk and, despite dealing daily with minor and major environmental disasters, has managed to retain his sense of humour. Having travelled extensively in the (endangered) natural world, he continues to write passionately for SWR and ARD.
Short Film Selection Jury
Eve Heber
worked for several years as a camerawoman for a freelance production company in Stuttgart, where she filmed formats for SWR and ZDF, among others. In 2013 she changed her career direction and took a Bachelor’s degree in biology followed by a Masters in biodiversity and environmental education. She has worked for NaturVision since 2020, where she is responsible for environmental education.
Dr. Kay Hoffmann
is a film publicist and historian. From 2012-2018 he was Festival Co-Director of NaturVision and Chair of the supporters’ association Förderverein NaturVision e.V. He also works as a tutor at the House of Documentary Film Stuttgart and project manager of the DFG research project on the history of the documentary film in Germany after 1945. He organises conferences and film and TV festivals (Berlinale, Blühende Phantasie, INPUT ’98) and has published numerous books and written regular articles for film magazines.
Victor Schwarz
has a Masters in film and TV production from the Konrad Wolf Film University, Babelsberg. Since 2020 he has worked as a creative/managerial game producer and author at Pixelgame Studios and is in the process of setting up a company for trailer music and sound post-production.
Wiebke Winter
studied art history and theatre, media and film studies at the universities of Erlangen, Utrecht and Jena. Since 2012 she has been involved in the cellu l’art Short Film Festival in Jena, which she directed in 2014/15. After university, she worked in the field of cultural education and in 2018 was responsible for organising the NaturVision Film Festival and was on the selection panel. Since September 2018 she has been project manager in the specialist human rights and equality department of the city of Nuremberg. In 2019 she was a member of the short film jury for the NaturVision Film Festival.
Main Jury
Goggo Gensch
Director, writer and curator Goggo Gensch set up a production company in 1985 and made films as a director (incl. with the band Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung) and producer (incl. ZDF TV play Tot oder lebendig). His work included a 90-minute portrait of Samuel Beckett, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature (Beckett – Lippen schweigen), and the documentaries 30 Jahre danach ... Stuttgart im deutschen Herbst . From 2001 to 2017, Goggo was chief editor for the series Schätze der Welt – Erbe der Menschheit, and from 2017 to 2019 was in charge of the SWR Doku Festival and the German Documentary Film Award. His film "Stuttgart, ich hänge an dir" is a competition entry in the film festival Filmschau Baden-Württemberg 2020.
Ann-Christin Hornberger
Ann-Christin Hornberger has worked for ZDF in Mainz since 1992. As one of the first people to work for cultural TV network ARTE, she has looked after numerous different broadcasting formats over the years. In 2012 she won the German TV Grimme Award in the category "Information and Culture" for her editing on Sibylle Bergemann – Mein Leben.
Peter Kuntner
As a freelance exhibition designer, dramatic adviser and scenographer, Peter Kuntner is interested in all forms of production. With the company fischteich, he also produces radio plays, videos and multimedia applications for the exhibition world. He volunteers on the administrative board of Limmat publishers in Zurich and on the board of trustees of Galegge, a non-profit organic farm in Switzerland. For the past 16 years, Peter has organised the annual Aarau Nature Film Days. He lives in the country with his family, chickens and a large orchard.
Lena Leohardt
Lena Leohardt studied directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg and Ryerson University in Toronto (Canada) and has since been working as a freelance director and film writer. Her films have won multiple awards, including the German TV Grimme Award for Hundesoldaten.
Jens Westphalen
A qualified biologist, freelance cameraman and producer of wildlife and nature films, Jens Westphalen has been involved in conservation since his schooldays, already working before and during his studies as a nature photographer on various continents. In 1993 he set up Zorillafilm with friend and colleague Thoralf Grospitz and realised his childhood dream of becoming a wildlife filmmaker. Since then, Jens spends around half the year filming all over the world and, along with his camera work, also handles the concepts, scripts and narration for the films.
Damaris Wurster
Visual artist, freelance editor and writer Damaris Wurster studied at the Merz Akademie and the State Academy of Fine Arts in Stuttgart. Her work focuses on environmental pollution and dystopian visions of the future. With two fellow artists, she set up the art magazine/exhibition project Lowland, which promotes the networking of artists from different disciplines.
Udo Zimmermann
After graduating in German studies, sociology and geography, Udo Zimmermann spent many years as an editor for broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. As editor and writer of numerous wildlife and species conservation programs, he produced films all over the world, before heading the Wildlife and Nature desk until his retirement. Today, Udo advises writers, festivals and nature film organisations that support the new generation of nature filmmaking talent.
Music Jury
Martina Eisenreich
Having studied composing and film music in Munich and Ludwigsburg, Martina Eisenreich composes for international film productions, but also symphonic works for the concert hall. Alongside this, she tours Europe with her own ensembles and teaches film music at the University of Television and Film Munich. In 2018, she was the first woman to win the German Film Music Award in the category "Best Music in a Film". Martina was nominated twice in the "Best Music" category at the German Television Awards 2020 for her music for Zeit der Wölfe and for the comedy Endlich Witwer. In 2020 she was also the first woman to win the DAfF TV Award for Best Music for her score for crime series Spreewaldkrimi.
Raymond Gress
Composer and sound designer Raymond Gress studied sound and vision engineering and piano at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Düsseldorf. After setting up his own sound studio Tonstudio Gress, he worked as a sound engineer and composer for numerous companies. Since 2008, he has been working as managing director, composer and sound designer for Tonstudio Gress in Stuttgart.
Matthias Raue
Prof. Matthias Raue is a freelance composer and professor at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg teaching film music and sound design. He studied at Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and under Isang Yun at Berlin University of the Arts, and has written music for some 150 film and TV productions (including the theme music and songs for Löwenzahn).
Short Film Main Jury
Sigrid Gairing
occupied various roles at the Baden-Württemberg Media and Film Society (MFG), the production company "filmvergnuegen", Film & Medienfestival gGmbH and the Film Commission Region Stuttgart between 2001 and 2007. Since 2007 she has been responsible for licence management and assessing the productions at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg.
Dr. Oliver Langewitz
is a culture manager, sociologist and filmmaker. He has published numerous sociological publications and teaches as a lecturer at various universities, including Karlsruhe’s Institute of Technology (KIT), University of Education and University of Music. Oliver is also the founder of the Filmboard Karlsruhe and has produced and directed many award-winning and internationally acclaimed short and long films.
Giovanna Thiery
is co-director of the Stuttgart Film Winter – Festival for Expanded Media. The international festival is considered one of the most important platforms for short film, experimental film and media art in Germany. She is a founding member of the AG Kurzfilm – German Short Film Association and the cinema project Neues Kommunales Kino Stuttgart e.V.