FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS: The 2023 talents

FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS – THE FILMMAKERS presents this year's selection of impressive talents from the German film industry at the Berlinale. 

German Films, the national information and advisory centre for the promotion of German films abroad, will be presenting outstanding talents from the German film landscape to the international film industry for the eighth time during the Berlinale. This year will see the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS – THE FILMMAKERS campaign, which covers all film professions, showcasing seven filmmakers who have all made a lasting impact on the German film industry with their creative and artistic work. They are following in the footsteps of such respected filmmakers as Burhan Qurbani, Saskia Rosendahl, Alexander Fehling, Julia Jentsch, Jonas Nay, Sandra Hüller, Jannis Niewöhner or Sara Fazilat.

The seven FACES of 2023 are drawn from a wide variety of filmmaking professions, combine different personal backgrounds and professional careers and thus represent the diversity of German cinema. The creative scope of this year's selection by German Films stretches from the screenwriter Sönke Andresen (ORPHEA IN LOVE), actor Welket Bungué (CRIMES OF THE FUTURE), and composer Dascha Dauenhauer (BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ), through the director, actor and writer Alison Kuhn (THE CASE YOU), writer and director Reza Memari (RICHARD THE STORK) to director, actor and writer Lukas Nathrath (ONE LAST EVENING) and actor Lena Urzendowsky (FRANKY FIVE STAR).

"The focus of this year's FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS campaign is on multi-faceted talents representing the German film industry with the aim of a sustainable and diverse future. We are proud to be able to present seven talented filmmakers as ambassadors of our campaign this year. With their different biographies and professional backgrounds, they have the potential to cross borders and represent the creativity of film internationally," German Films’ Managing Director Simone Baumann declares.

Please meet the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS talents 2023:

Sönke Andresen works as a screenwriter for feature films as well as television and the stage. In 2013, he began his collaboration with the director Axel Ranisch on the internationally multi-award winning film I FEEL LIKE DISCO, and they have worked together on other projects, including the 2019 Grimme Award winner FAMILIE LOTZMANN AUF DEN BARRIKADEN. 2023 will see Andresen's screenplay based on Isabel Bodan's novel THE PEACOCK and his collaboration on the opera film ORPHEA IN LOVE both being released in the cinemas. 

Welket Bungué had his breakthrough in 2016 in Ivo Ferreira's LETTERS FROM WAR and appeared in Marcel Caetano's BODY ELECTRIC and Burhan Qurbani's BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ, which had its world premiere in the Berlinale Competition in 2019. Bungué is a member of the Portuguese, German and European Film Academies and has also been working as a director, producer, and screenwriter since 2016. His film production company KUSSA is based in Paris. 

Dascha Dauenhauer is an extraordinary musical talent, who had the premiere of her orchestral piece SINFONIETTA at the Philharmonie in Berlin at the age of fifteen. Since then, Dauenhauer has concentrated on composing film scores and has already won numerous prizes. Among others, she received the European Film Award for her score of BERLIN ALEXANDERPLATZ in 2020. Most recently, she wrote the score for the highly anticipated series THE SWARM and for Guy Nattive's film GOLDA with Helen Mirren in the lead. Both projects will have their premieres during the 2023 edition of the Berlinale.

Alison Kuhn is a multi-talent and, as a director, actor and writer, constantly addresses the issue of power structures in our society. She has been praised by critics for her ability to show the abuse of power and the sexual exploitation of women and communicate this in a unique way in her films. Alison Kuhn was invited to numerous international film festivals in 2020 with THE CASE YOU and received the German Documentary Film Award for Arts & Culture. Her short fiction film FLUFFY TALES was nominated for the German Short Film Award and screened in Cannes as part of the Next Generation Short Tiger programme in 2022. Alison Kuhn is currently preparing two feature films and shooting a mini-series that will be broadcast later this year.  

Reza Memari made a name for himself as a writer and director, his film RICHARD THE STORK was commercially successful around the globe and received critical acclaim. Animation is a passion for the co-founder of the production company Telescope Animation, since he sees this genre as being the medium for diverse stories that can captivate and inspire everyone. At Telescope, Memari has developed a new approach to transmedia production allowing him to create animated feature films, series, AR/VR experiences and games that are interwoven cross-media story universes. Memari's latest large scale project, THE LAST WHALE SINGER, is about a humpback whale who must save the oceans with his mystical song. 

Director, actor and writer Lukas Nathrath has already been invited to the Next Generation Short Tiger programme in Cannes in 2018 with his first short film MORALE. And his second short film, KIPPA, also attracted international attention, screening at 50 film festivals and being awarded the Young CIVIS Media Prize, among others. His most recent film, ONE LAST EVENING, won the main prize of the First Look programme at the Locarno Film Festival, and will be screened at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam and the German Filmfestival Max Ophüls Prize. Nathrath, who has also appeared as an actor in many formats since 2003, is currently developing new projects for the cinema, including a tragicomic thriller. 

Although only 22, Lena Urzendowsky can already look back on an impressive career. She played the lead role in COCOON by Leonie Krippendorff and received the Iris Award, among others, for this performance. She has appeared in feature films as well as international series. Urzendowsky starred in the internationally acclaimed Netflix series productions DARK and HOW TO SELL DRUGS ONLINE (FAST) as well as the thriller series THE DEFEATED. One of her latest leading roles was in FRANKY FIVE STAR by Birgit Möller, which will premiere at this year’s Filmfestival Max Ophüls Prize. Most recently, Lena Urzendowsky appeared in front of the camera for such productions as the Amazon Prime series LUDEN and Andreas Dresen's FROM HILDE, WITH LOVE. 

We are pleased that we will be able to present this year’s seven FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS talents in person as part of a panel event organized by German Films during the Berlinale on 19 February, 2023. All the 2023 FACES will be available for interviews on site in Berlin. We will publish further information about the event in the coming weeks.

Further press materials:

Press Kit click here.
Photo selection click here. 

All current information about the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS – THE FILMMAKERS campaign can be found here. 

If you are interested in the panel event and an interview with the talents of this year’s FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS campaign during the Berlinale or if you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the PR agency in charge, LILIE2A PR, Jutta Heyn & Petra Schwuchow.

Press contact:
LILIE2A PR
Jutta Heyn & Petra Schwuchow
Lilienthalstraße 2a    
10965 Berlin
Email: info@lilie2a-pr.de
Phone: + 49 (0)30 / 403 611 37 - 2 / - 3

Contact German Films:
Eva-Maria Pellikan, Head of Communications & Marketing, Liasion TV & Series
Carmen Böhm, Head of Public Relations