
Antonia Kilian
Antonia Kilian is a director, cinematographer and producer based between Kassel and Berlin. She
studied Visual Communication and Art and Media at the Berlin University of the Arts, and
Cinematography at the Film University Potsdam Babelsberg and at the ISA in Havana, Cuba.
She
works as a DOP for feature and documentary films. For her directorial debut THE OTHER SIDE OF
THE RIVER about Hala’s struggle for self-determination, she filmed for more then a year in the
Kurdish areas called “Rojava” in northeast Syria. She developed THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER
within ExOriente, IDFA Summerschool and Baltic Sea Forum. THE OTHER SIDE OF THE RIVER won
among 18 Awards at international filmfestivals the German Film Academy Award LOLA for Best
Documentary and the Grimme Award and was in the selection for the European Film Academy
Award 2021.
With her new production EXILE NEVER ENDS she particpiates in EURODOC 2022.
EXILE NEVER ENDS is funded by Hessenfilm in Co-Production with ZDF/Das Kleine Fernsehspiel.
Her production company Pink Shadow Films is based in Kassel/Germany and received the Talent
Package Funding for newcomers from Hessenfilm for the development of three new projects.

Ekrem Heydo
Ekrem Heydo was born in 1973 in Serekanie, Syria. For two years he studied medicine in Latakia. After moving to Germany in 1995, he began studying film (Camera and Editing) in Hannover. Heydo found his own style and began directing. Then he continued his education at the University of Dortmund and received a diploma.
Ekrem has directed many short films. His first film, "Halabja - Lost Children", has participated in many festivals and won many international awards, including Best Film and Best Director at the Gulf film festival Awards, and Best Documentary at the Yilmaz Guney Film Festival. The film also won a Special Jury Prize at the Dubai International Film Festival. In 2014, Heydo returned to his hometown of SerêKaniyê and began filming the documentary "My Paradise", which won awards at film festivals. "A bridge for Rojava" is his last documentary film.
