September 2020 Writers
Sandra Nedeleff
Sandra was trained as an actress at the conservatory of Vienna. After her first theatre experience at the famous Burg Theatre in Vienna and then in some theatres in Germany she worked mostly as an actress for film and television. International coaches like Susan Batson, Ivana Chubbuk, Keith Johnstone and Mark Travis deepened her knowledge about acting and directing.,,As a filmmaker she started with two 3 minute films that got her funding for a “proper” short film: “Goodbye Daddy” went on festivals worldwide and was nominated for numerous awards. Sandra could personally receive a “Golden Egg Award” at RIFF Reykjavik and a “Best director award” at the Kingbonn Short Film Festival in China.,,Right now she is working on a children´s picture book as well as on her debut as a feature film director. She is looking forward to further developing her project with the working title “Down Hunting — or: You could not know this before?” within the spirit of Elba and the Nostos group.
Paula Redlefsen
Paula Redlefsen began her career by studying acting at HB Studios in NYC for three years. Relocating to Berlin, she mainly played in English language productions, both on stage and for film. She worked on film sets of national TV movie productions and international cinema productions in different positions, such as dialogue coach, casting director and assistant director. She started making her own short films and practiced the basics of filmmaking from script development to editing on her own films. Realizing the core quality of a film is really shaped and expressed in the script, she studied screenwriting, first in a year long screenwriting program with Wolfgang Pfeiffer at Ars Nova, followed by script development with Dr. Frauke Schmickl at Masterschool Drehbuch, accompanied by film-history seminars at HFF Potsdam Babelsberg. In order to connect and encourage spec-script writers, she founded the online platform www.scriptdock.de. Her favorite genre: Comedy, drama — and everything in between.
Laura Hermanides
Laura Hermanides graduated in 2012 from the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam. She works mainly as a writer/director on her own independent films; documentary and fiction. In addition she collaborates as a cinematographer with other directors and edits her own projects every now and then.
Timo von Gunten
Timo von Gunten has established himself as an autodidactic filmmaker. In 2005 he established his own production company label, BMC Films. In 2017, his short film LA FEMME ET LE TGV has been nominated for an Academy Award®. Since then, Timo works as a writer and director on feature films. He carries a master degree in screenwriting from the university of arts in Zürich (ZHDK).
Oliver Warren
He currently splits his time between NYC and his home in the UK with his partner of 12 years, but regularly travels around the world through his work as a fashion film director (a fantastic gig that shows him the world and heavily influences his writing).
Oliver trained as a documentary filmmaker in the 00’s, but he has been writing original pilots and feature screenplays since 2012 – two of which, have JOHN MELFI (EP, Sex & The City, House of Cards, The Morning Show) attached – John believes: “Oliver is a tenacious and talented writer with a real flair for the craft of ensemble.”
He wrote and directed the award-winning short film, CUSP, in 2015. His latest feature script, the dark gay romance, THREE DATES WITH BEN recently won Toronto’s LGBT Film Festival’s 2020 Feature Screenplay Competition and through the same script, he attended the Sidewalk Stowe Story Lab this summer, and has been in the process of developing this for screen with an aim to direct in 2021. Oliver was recently invited onto the ISA Development Slate. For more details of his work, please visit oliverwarren.com.
Giacun Caduff
Giacun Caduff AKA Jacques à Bâle belongs to those filmmakers who learned their craft in the USA. After completing his studies at the California State University in Long Beach, he interned with John Malkovich and learned how Hollywood films are made. Afterwards he got his Masters at UCLA where his short film “Etienne” was his Thesis project. The Award winning Hamster short movie was shown at over 30 International festivals to this day. In 2006 he created “box[ur]shorts Film Festival” a Platform which showcases short films in video jukeboxes. Giacun Caduff is a co-founder of the “Gässli Film Festival”, the “Movie Camps” and the “Cinema Drive-in”. His feature film “20 rules for Sylvie” hit the Swiss theaters in 2014. In 2016 his short film “La femme et le TGV” which was directed by Timo von Gunten Premiered at the Locarno Film Festival. The short film was nominated for an Oscar.
Afterwards Caduff became the founder of the Filmhaus Basel, which also serves as a residency for filmmakers. Some of his current works in development are a tragic comedy called “Ghosting” the fantasy story “Alice from Switzerland” and well as a political drama.
Kevin De La Isla
Kevin is a professional and passionate screenwriter and filmmaker with experience in film & television production, advertising and distribution. He has learned first hand from shadowing established directors on set such as: Andrew Dominik, Jim Sheridan, Ken Girotti, Julian Jarrold & Agnes Merlet and has had directing master-classes with Mike Leigh, Luis Mandoki and Mark Romanek. He has over 20,000 hours of film and broadcast editing experience & was mentored in film editing by Emma E. Hickox. He is fluent in English and Spanish languages and his background also spreads to creative development, on-air promotion, event panel moderating and speaker alike. He is an experienced team leader with limitless ambition and a drive to taking the creative lead whilst inspiring others, listening and collaborating to achieve the best possible result for the project at hand. He is a multi award-winning writer, director, producer and editor with over 19years in the business and a proven track record in conception, production and delivery of content. He has successfully created and managed crowd-funding campaigns for feature films. Extremely motivated creative who is passionate about the whole process, enthused by exigent projects and briefs and constantly full of ideas. He studied Media Production in Coláiste Dhulaigh and ‘Film as a Fine-Art’ & languages at the University of Wolverhampton. He has written and directed several award winning short films including, ‘A Kings Tradition’, ‘Lesson 101, The Wacky Diary of a Pick-Up Artist’ and ‘Hope’. He has also worked as a camera operator, A.P., Promos Producer and editor for TV3, Setanta Sports, Ned Kelly Pictures and RTÉ. He has directed several TV commercials, music videos & concerts for The Walls, HamsandwicH, Julie Feeney and The Laundry Shop. He directed the sold-out run of “Stoker”(2009) at the New Theatre, Dublin. In 2010 and 2011 he won the Irish leg of Empire magazine’s ‘Done in 60 Seconds’ competition with versions of “The Departed” and “Shadow of the Vampire”, which he wrote and directed. He was a finalist in Ford’s ‘8 minutes in Cobh, Co. Cork’ short film competition with: “Hope”. In 2012 he directed and edited 3 short films for the European Women’s Lobby about Family Reunification. In 2013 he spent 5 weeks in Africa writing, co-producing, directing and editing a 4-part TV-documentary series commissioned by EWTN on the life of the Pallottines. This series aired globally on November-2015. He co-wrote, produced, directed and edited his multi award-winning debut feature film “The Hit Producer”, a crowd-funded film, which opened in Irish cinemas on October 2015 and had an extended release on January 2016 through Omniplex. It was part of Aer-Lingus inflight entertainment and had a nationwide theatrical distribution in Mexico through Cinemex in September – October 2018 and is currently being distributed in VOD through Amazon Prime in over 100 countries. In 2017 he won the Kinsale Gold Shark Award for directing the RTÉ/Filmbase short Film “ACORN”, which is currently being distributed by NITV. Most recently he wrote, co-directed and edited the Drama-documentary “Violet Gibson, The Irish Woman Who Shot Mussolini” starring Olwen Foueré and premiered at the Dublin international Film Festival in March 2020. He is now writing and developing his next fiction feature film.
Jasmeen Anjali Siddiqui
Jasmeen Anjali Siddiqui is a baby-faced, Lisbon-based writer attempting to make sense of the world by dreaming up many smaller ones. She has published short stories, academic essays, and poetry, and her short film ‘Slide’ screened at the Forest City Film Festival and placed second at the Western Smartphone Film Festival. She currently works as a journalist while furiously typing out screenplays and a novel in her free time. Moving between various forms of expression—from writing to singing to muddled thoughts and especially fruitless rants—she seeks to find and tell stories that illuminate the fantastic, terrible, magical, hilarious, and high-stakes worlds of our normal little lives.
Danielle Stratton
Danielle was raised among the cacti and creosote in the dusty desert of Tucson. She is deeply inspired by her unique upbringing in Arizona, as well as an undying fascination with complicated relationships. Danielle holds an MFA from UCLA’s prestigious School of Theater, Film and Television. While working toward her graduate degree, she taught introductory sections in Screenwriting, Art and Technique of Filmmaking, and Nordic Cinema. Danielle’s screen and teleplays have placed or been finalists in several contests including the Austin Film Festival, Page Awards, and Cinestory among others. Her family crime drama, PARADISE VALLEY, was recently named as a Top 50 Pilot of 2019 in the industry esteemed Launch Pad Pilot Competition. The short film that she wrote and directed, GOODNIGHT NOT GOODBYE, about a couple in the throes of divorce after the tragic death of their young daughter, is currently in post production with plans to make the rounds in next year’s festival circuit. Danielle lives in West Hollywood and considers herself a proud Angeleno – on a sunny day you’ll find her alongside other “painfully LA” hikers atop Runyon Canyon with her rescue pup, Oliver.
Anne Leigh Cooper
Anne Leigh Cooper is a dutch filmmaker and activist based in NYC. Anne made her debut short film “Where there is no Light” in 2008, based on the true story of her sister, who was sex trafficked. She continued on writing and making films with empowering messages such as “Anti woman” (2013) Jennifer wants to press charges against her rapist but can’t. Living in Maryland, where once consent is given, it cannot be taken away. “Stockholm Syndrome” (2014) In captivity since 5 years old, Ilona struggles with her reality and “A caged Innocence” (2014) Spinning out of control, a same sex couple is having no luck adopting. In 2014 Anne Leigh Cooper produced her first film “Snowflake” which received 17 wins and 11 nominations from festivals around the world. Following with features “Dick and Jack” (2015) A story about the unique relationships between father and sons “Benji the Dove” (2017) A tender tale of four boys who are rapidly coming to terms with school, bullies, friendship and loyalty and documentary “Feminism in Nicaragua” (2017) a side by side accounts of the feminists before and after the sandinista war. In 2018 Anne produced a documentary in co-production with Canal + about two African American men wrongfully accused of murder “Innocence” and “The Forgotten People of Kashmir” an undercover documentary about the human rights violations happening in the disputed state. In 2020 Anne Leigh Cooper produced narrative feature “On a dark night in Moulton County”, Reality shows “Swiped” focused on empowering women spanning three generations to bond together and find love with a dating app, and “Cooking with Strangers”. Anne also directed the horror short film “Anna”, where a woman receives a mysterious package. Anne Leigh Cooper is in development for her debut feature narrative. Based on a true story “The Monster That Stayed” slated for 2021, During a politically charged moment in history, a woman navigates the red tape involved in reporting a rape. In addition to her filmmaking career, she is a public speaker with talks around the world including at the United Nations, where she delivered a speech on eradicating Human Trafficking. She works for ICV as the Executive Director of the Give Freedom Fund, where she locats and allocates funds to small to medium sized initiatives combating human trafficking around the world. Anne Leigh Cooper’s desire is to combine activism and media to make it mainstream while educating the world.
Sean
Sean is a writer and plumber from Edinburgh in Scotland. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years on the move with his Scottish and Irish Parents growing up in the likes of Cyprus, Germany, Wales, and England (His dad was in the army and not a bank robber) With a keen interest in both reading and writing, Sean was diagnosed with the travel and writing bugs very early on in life. Now, writing, traveling, reading, working out, cinema, and Scottish football (Supporting the mighty Hibernian FC for his sins) are his main passions in life. His main inspiration for writing today comes from living in such a beautiful, charming and hauntingly, Gothic city, such as Edinburgh. An awe-inspiring wee place that has given him so much amazing inspiration to write the more time he spends there.
Sean’ Screenwriting accolades to date –
Finalist at the 2018 Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting competition for his recently optioned road trip screenplay ‘The Old Man and The Princess’. Finalist of the Inroads Screenwriting Fellowship 2020 for his dark Horror/Thriller screenplay – Ugly Beautiful.. Finalist at the 2019 Filmatic TV Pilot Awards 2020 for his screenplay ‘Cold Heart’. One of ten selected writers for the 2020 Nostos Screenwriting Retreat Scholarship 2020 for his latest Sci-Fi screenplay – Sagarmatha.
Anne Thieme
Anne Thieme was born in 1982 in the German Democratic Republic. She studied acting in Vienna and film directing and screenwriting at Universidad del Cine Buenos Aires and at Escola Superior de Teatro e Cinema in Lisbon and is concluding her Masters in Film Directing with a focus on fictional film at the Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, where she was granted a DAAD Scholarship. Since 2001 she has worked on many film productions, both in front of and behind the camera, mainly in Europe and Latin America. She has written, directed and produced several short films that have been shown internationally at many festivals. She has also directed social media content for Netflix and documentaries. Her latest short film, INTERSTATE 8 (USA/Germany), premiered at the Warsaw Film Festival and has been selected to be a GERMAN FILMS NEXT GENERATION SHORT TIGER 2020 with a showcase at the online Marché du Film – Festival du Cannes. INTERSTATE 8 is currently nominated for the FIRST STEPS AWARD 2020. At the moment, Anne is working as a screenwriter for two feature films and a series, all original projects.