Who's Who
Karina Gauerhof - Festival Director | Program Director
Born in 1991 in the idyllic Zabergäu (Baden-Württemberg), Karina moved to Braunschweig in 2011. During her studies in Media Studies and English at the Braunschweig University of Fine Arts and the Technical University of Braunschweig, she dedicates herself to the program organization of the university cinema "Studio für Filmkunst e.V.", among other things. From 2014 to 2017, she holds a leading position on the board of the open-air cinema "Sommerkino Braunschweig e.V.". After an internship at the Braunschweig International Film Festival in 2014, Karina was responsible for the guest management of the festival in 2015 and 2016. From February 2017 to April 2019, she worked as a program assistant and assistant to the festival director. From May 2019, she took over the program coordination in a senior position. Since August 2020, Karina Gauerhof is one of the festival directors and head of the program.
Since March 2022 she is part of the jury of Nordmedia's talent development program "mediatalents".
Email: gauerhof@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel: +49 (0)531 702 202 - 11
Anke Hagenbüchner-Sobiech - Festival Management | Head of Festival Organization
She grew up in Nordhausen/Thuringia and moved to Ilmenau to study computer science. But after a few internships, she realized that her heart belonged to the cinema. So she changed career paths and worked in various multiplex cinemas (Nordhausen, Garbsen) before landing as theater manager at UNIVERSUM-Filmtheater in Braunschweig in 2012. The next step was then the move to BIFF in August 2021, where she has been the head of the festival organization ever since.
email: hagenbuechner@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel: +49 (0)531 702 202 - 20
Daniela Heinicke - Team Assistance
Born in 1983 in South Brandenburg, she moved to Braunschweig after graduating from high school to study sociology and media studies. Already during her studies, she worked at the UNIVERSUM film theater. After graduating with a master's degree, she continued to work at UNIVERSUM, managing the ABSPANN cinema bistro here and freelancing for various educational institutions. In 2016, she joined the Filmfest Association and has since been active in HEIMSPIEL and SOUND ON SCREEN. Since May 2021 she is team assistant in the Orga team.
Email: heinicke@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel: +49 (0)531 702 202 - 21
Maria Dettmer - Program Assistance
born 1996 in Lower Saxony. She discovered her fascination for film festivals during her bachelor studies in English and Media Studies in Rostock. This was followed by stations in Berlin, Lyon, Marseille and Hildesheim, where she is currently in the final stages of her master's degree in cultural mediation with a focus on media and popular culture. In her master's thesis she is working on Mental Health Film Festivals and their potentials to destigmatize mental illness. She supports this year's edition of the festival as an assistant in the program office.
Marc Beinling - Internship Program
Born in 1996 in Gifhorn, he is studying Media Studies and German Studies with a focus on Film Studies at the Hochschule für Bildenden Künste and the TU Braunschweig. Since his first semester he is a member of the student collective Daumenkino at the HBK, which also curates the Cinemathek series at the Universum Filmtheater with its media focus. Since this year Marc is also a member of the Braunschweig Summer Cinema. As a permanent guest of the festival since 2016, visits to the Berlinale, Leipzig Film Art Fair, Nippon Connection and the Fantasy Filmfest, the internship in the program of this year's BIFF is only logical to support and shape the film landscape around the Lion City.
Kristine Affelt - Financial Management
Born in Celle, she studied German and political science in Hanover, where she has lived since the early 1990s, except for a two-year intermezzo in Schwerin. During a visit to the Nordic Film Days Lübeck, she discovered her love for the festival business and worked there in various areas from 2006 to 2014. After a short interlude in the advertising industry and a longer one in the water sports industry, she has now returned to festival operations: since March 2023, she has been putting her late love of numbers, tables and databases to work for BIFF.
email: affelt(at)filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel.: +49 (0)531 702 202 - 30
Angelika Hoffmann - Finance and Accounting Assistant
email: buchhaltung@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel: +49 (0)531 702 202 - 30
Deniz K. Soğukpınar - Technical Coordination
After graduating from the Ludwig-Erhard-Schule in Salzgitter in 2019, he supported the Städtische Musikschule Braunschweig in technical and creative matters during his FSJ Kultur. After that, he moved to the university city of Göttingen for a year. Since 2021, he has been working and living in the Lion City of Braunschweig. After having worked as a projectionist at the 35th BIFF before, he supports the festival team as technical coordinator since April 2022.
Email: sogukpinar@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel. +49 (0)531 702 202 - 40
Amelie Buerhop -Coordination for Press and public relations
Was born in Hanover in 1999. After her school years in the Pied Piper town of Hameln, she moved to Braunschweig to study art and German language and literature at the Technical University and University of Fine Arts. She studied with video artist Corinna Schnitt and participated in group exhibitions and screenings throughout Germany, including two video works at BIFF. Since 2019, she has been volunteering with "Das Andere Kino Lehrte e.V." After an internship at the Museum für Photographie Braunschweig and one in the cinema editorial department of Arte GEIE in Strasbourg, she is assisting with the festival's press and public relations this year.
You have questions about our press relations or the journal? Amelie can be reached at the following contact details:
buerhop(at)filmfest-braunschweig.de
The Film Festival Association
Together with the film festival team, the association organizes the largest public festival in northern Germany every year. Up to forty members of the association work year-round on a voluntary basis for film culture in Braunschweig. This is unique in Germany. Catalog texts with their own handwriting, personal guest services and individual introductions to film screenings give the festival its unique position in the European festival landscape. As members of the association, we have been committed to the festival for many years and have matured with it. In order to be able to continue to represent the Braunschweig audience in its entirety in the association, we look forward to motivated new blood.