Esther Niemeier lives and works as a writer and director in Berlin. She studied Film & Video at the University of the Arts London and then completed a Masters in Latin American Studies at the University of London. Esther's Bachelor of Arts graduation film, the short documentary WALZ, screened at numerous festivals and was broadcast on television across Europe. After nine years in London, she came to Berlin via Buenos Aires. At the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF she studied Documentary Film Directing, which she successfully completed with the animated documentary TRACING ADDAI. TRACING ADDAI has since screened at over 80 festivals, won 20 awards (including Clermont-Ferrand, Docaviv, ZINEBI Bilbao, Tampere Film Festival) and was nominated for the Student Academy Award 2018 as well as 2 First Steps Awards and an Emmy® Award. She is currently working on her first feature-length documentary. 

Filmography (selection)

2018 Director, Tracing Addai, GER I 30'

2017 Producer, Natura Urbana - The Brachen of Berlin, Documentary GB/GER I 72'

2016 Co-director, Simulant, short film GER I 07'

2007 Director, Walz, short documentary GB I 12'

Therese Koppe lives and works as a freelance director for documentary formats in Berlin. In 2019, she completed her Master's degree in Documentary Film Directing at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF with her feature-length documentary A QUIET RESISTANCE (GER, 74'). The film premiered in the German Competition of DOK Leipzig and received a Special Mention from VER.DI Price. A QUIET RESISTANCE won the audience award at the 43rd Duisburg Film Week and further screenings followed, including Kassel DOKfest, International Women's Film Festival 2020, Gay Lesbian Film Festival Hamburg, Florence Queer Film Festival. A QUIET RESISTANCE is distributed in Germany by Edition Salzgeber.

Therese is a scholarship holder of the Berlin Artist Fund Film/ Video 2022 and has been part of the selection committee for the Duisburg Film Week since April 2022.

With her debut documentary HAUNTING HEIMAT, she is a participant in the dok.art programme of the Script Writing Lab München 2022/2023 and received the Grenzgänger research grant in 2019. In addition to her work as a director, Therese teaches documentary theory and practice as a lecturer, most recently at London Southbank University (2018-2019) and in the film education programme Cinema en Curs (2019/2020).

Filmography (selection)

2019 Director & Producer, A Quiet Resistance, Documentary, GER I 74'

2018 Director, Mr and Mrs Dettmann, Short Documentary, GER I 05'

2013 Director & Producer, All Points North, Documentary, UK I 25'