Team
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 2022 she has been 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
Andrea Smolka – Financial management
Born and raised in Wolfsburg and relocated to Braunschweig in the noughties, she now approaches the topic of film from a more non-cultural angle: After years of self-employment in online retail and several subsequent jobs in administration and accounting, the trained office administrator has been entrusted with the art of numbers at the film festival since April 2024. She enjoys living out her passion for moving images, and her other passions to this day are the media she grew up with: video games and books.
Email: smolka@filmfest-braunschweig.de
tel.: +49 (0)531 702 202 30
Marc Beinling – Technical Coordination & Program Support
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 the BIFF was only logical to support and shape the film landscape around the Lion City.
Theresa Grysczok – Assistance in program
Theresa has been living and working in Kassel since 2010, where she studied animation at the Kunsthochschule. She makes her own films and exhibitions & occasionally leads film or puppet making workshops. In 2015, together with six filmmakers, she founded a collective called "Sticky Frames" - with the aim of presenting artistic animated films. Their film events, which take place in bars, galleries or art house cinemas, focus on collegiality, networking and reaching a broad audience, including those from outside the festival. Before coming to the BIFF in Brauschweig, she worked for two film festivals for many years as a program coordinator, in copy scheduling and as a projectionist.
Nele Evers – FSJ Culture
Graduated from the Ricarda Huch School in Braunschweig in 2023. After a few weeks of traveling through Europe, Nele Evers is doing her Voluntary Social Year of Culture at Filmfest Braunschweig from summer 2023 to 2024.
email: fsj@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.