Time’s Up? - Female Filmmakers in Hollywood 

Movements like “Women and Film,” “Women and Hollywood,” “Time’s up” and “Me Too” have gained increasing attention during the last years and yet, it is not the norm for female filmmakers to be represented at major award ceremonies.  
After receiving bad press for shutting women out of the best director category for the last six years, the Golden Globes received a lot of praise for nominating not one, but three female directors this year.  
With the Academy Awards approaching, we invited three female directors from Germany to take stock and talk about their experiences in the European and American film business.   
With panelists Anja Marquardt (“The Girlfriend Experience” Season 3, Villa Aurora Filmmaker-in-residence 2016), Nora Fingscheidt (“System Crasher”/German Oscar® Entry International Feature Film 2020, MFG Star 2020) and Julia von Heinz (“And Tomorrow The Entire World” /German Oscar® Entry International Feature Film 2021), the discussion will be moderated by Sydney Levine, International Consultant and Director of the Women in Cinema Conference of the Dhaka International Film Festival.  

With Welcoming Remarks by Consul General of Germany Stefan Schneider

Writer & Director

Anja Marquardt

Anja Marquardt is a film and television writer/director with a focus on global stories. Born and raised in Berlin when it was still a divided city, she has also lived in Spain, France, and New York City. She is currently wrapping season 3 of the anthology series “The Girlfriend Experience” for Starz, executive produced by Steven Soderbergh. Marquardt wrote and directed all ten episodes and is the season 3 creator. Her first feature film was the acclaimed “She's Lost Control”, starring Brooke Bloom (Marriage Story) and Marc Menchaca (Ozark), and executive produced by Oren Moverman. The film had its World Premiere at Berlin International Film Festival where it won the CICAE Award, and also screened at SXSW and New Directors/New Films. The film garnered two Independent Spirit Award nominations in 2015 for Best First Screenplay and Best First Feature. “She's Lost Control” was distributed by Visit Films in North America and internationally, followed by a release on Netflix in 2016. An alumna of Berlin University of the Arts and NYU’s Graduate Film Program, Marquardt currently resides in Venice, California.

Writer & Director

Nora Fingscheidt

Nora Fingscheidt was born in Braunschweig in 1983. From 2003 on, she got involved in setting up the self-organized film school filmArche in Berlin. At the same time, she completed training as an acting coach. From 2008 to 2017, Nora Fingscheidt studied fictional directing at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg. Nora Fingscheidt graduated with the award-winning documentary “Ohne diese Welt“ (Without this World). Her film “System Crasher“ premiered at the 2019 Berlin Film Festival to rave reviews. The film was awarded the Silver Bear (Alfred Bauer Prize) and was chosen to represent Germany in the International Feature Film category at the Oscars® 2020. In 2020, Nora shot a thriller for Netflix with Sandra Bullock in the lead. The feature, currently known as the “Untitled Graham King Project”, is scheduled to be released this fall.

Writer & Director

Julia von Heinz

Julia von Heinz is a critically and commercially acclaimed director and screenwriter. Her films are known for their realism and emotionally complex characters. Von Heinz presented her work at numerous festivals, among them the Berlin International Film Festival.
She has won the German Film Award for Best Young Adult Film with her debut feature “Nothing Else Matters” in 2007, and the German Television Award for Best Director with her biopic “Katharina Luther” in 2017. Her most recent film “And Tomorrow The Entire World” premiered in Competition at Venice Film Festival 2020 and was selected to present Germany at The 93rd Academy Awards in the International Feature Film Category. Von Heinz is currently developing an adaption of Lily Brett's international best-selling novel “Too Many Men” which is set to star Lena Dunham and Mandy Patinkin.

International Consultant & Educator

Sydney Levine

With 45+ years experience in the film industry, Sydney Levine interviews and writes about filmmakers and the industry.She began her career as the first woman in international distribution in 1975 when she was hired by 20th Century Fox International.In 1988, Levine created FilmFinders, the industry’s first database which eventually was acquired by IMDb in 2007. She left to establish SydneysBuzz, a blog about the international film business in 2009 which was part of IndieWire’s Blog Network.She has taught international film business at Chapman, University of Television and Film Munich, UCLA, Taipei Film Academy, The New School of Social Research, Deutsche Welle Akademie, Cannes Producers Workshop, and Berlinale Talents. She frequently moderates panels and seminars. She lives in Los Angeles and Berlin, travels extensively on the international film circuit and speaks English, French, German and Spanish.