Hamze Bytyci, born in 1982 in Prizren/Kosovo, lives and works in Berlin. In 1989, his family came to Germany. Already at the age of eight, he makes his first steps as an activist at Christmas 1990 in the church asylum in Tübingen, when his family was fighting against their own deportation. In 2005, he graduates from drama school in Freiburg and founds the organization Amaro Drom (Our Way). After a one-year engagement in Zurich, he moves to Berlin in 2006, where he performs and directs at Ballhaus Naunynstraße, Maxim Gorki Theater, and smaller theaters. Since 2007 Bytyci has worked as a foundation consultant, as an independent theater and media educator at various Berlin schools, and as an intercultural family helper for LebensWelt. In 2012, he founded the association RomaTrial e.V., where, among other things, he manages the online radio station Radio Corel and organizes international film summer schools under the label Balkan Onions. In 2012, he developed his own interactive performance format, Hilton 437, in which he explores social and political issues. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Berlin state executive committee of DIE LINKE. In October 2017, he organized for the first time the AKE DIKHEA? Festival of Romani Film. In April 2018 he was co-curator of the 1st Roma Biennale, the first self-organized biennial by and with Roma artists from all over Europe at the Maxim Gorki Theater.

Photo © Jennifer Tuffour

Born in 1987 in Halle (Saale). Studied media art at the Academy of Art in Munich. First experiences in directing theater, short and experimental films.

Her first feature-length documentary WASTELAND – SO THAT NO ONE BECOMES AWARE OF IT premiered at the Berlinale (Generation), was subsequently screened at numerous festivals and won, among others, the Open Eyes Youth Jury Award at the 8th edition of the Nuremberg Film Festival of Human Rights.

Furthermore, she was a jury member of the Generation International Jury of the 66th Berlinale and was represented twice as Berlinale Talent in recent years, most recently in the Script Station with her feature film script ALMA.

Brigid O’Shea has lived and worked in Germany and Europe since 2005. She started her career at the Berlin International Film Festival, where she worked for various departments including Berlinale Talents, Berlinale Co-Production Market and the EFM. She was the coordinator of the DOK Industry Programme from 2010 and was appointed head of DOK Industry in late 2014. She left this post in 2021 to establish the Documentary Association of Europe, to usher in a new generation of professionals and advocate on a pan-European level for documentary filmmakers. She has previously freelanced for many documentary institutions in Europe and also for production companies. She tutors across the globe on international co-financing and pitching as well as festival strategies and cultural management. She moderates and curates discussions and programmes on non-fiction filmmaking as an internationally-respected consultant with a wide and diverse network. Currently she serves on the advisory boards of B2B Doc and DMZ Docs.

Photo © Susann Jehnichen