About

DIRECTOR

Zahra Banzi (she/her) is a Moroccan/American Dancer, Choreographer, filmmaker, teaching artist and curator. She received her BFA in Dance and Choreography from CALARTS in 2010, went on to co-found Subrosa Dance collective and made her way to Berlin in 2014. In Berlin, Zahra co-founded PAUL Studios Berlin and created works with the PAUL Kollektiv. She now works as a dance and Pilates teaching artist, co-owns Mijas a shop of things in Kreuzberg & co-directs Berlin Dance Film Festival.

DIRECTOR

Zee Hartmann’s career spans 20 years across three continents. Zee holds an MFA in Dance and an MA in Dramaturgy, speaks multiple languages, is a published writer, an award-winning choreographer, has toured internationally as a dancer and is now a co-director of the Berlin Dance Film Festival (their favourite project to date). Zee currently lives between Cape Town and Berlin and remains a passionate supporter of trans and intersectional feminist ideologies, both personally and professionally.

JUDGE

Whitney Cover is a Berlin-based, American performing artist, educator, scholar, and designer.
Whitney has performed internationally, taught in the university setting as well as in conservatories and for the general public and has been a somatic educator throughout her performing career. She holds a BA in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, an MA in Dance Performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance and an Ed.M in Arts in Education from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.  Her curatorial and faciliatation work focuses on making space for our intersectional identities within the performance fields and working towards more sustainable career paths for all.
Ever interested in exploring the suspension of ephemeral experiences, her personal work is continuing to evolve in the realm of film and performative artifacts and questioning what we leave behind.

Photo: Jennifer Magnuson,

Baby Viking Photography

JUDGE

Mmakgosi Kgabi (they/she, a.k.a. Ouma) is a multidisciplinary artist, actor, and founding member of Motherbox Organisation for Co-Operation in the Arts. Based in Berlin, they are part of the PSR Collective, curating at Heizhaus, Uferstudios. Holding an MA in Solo Dance and Authorship from HZT/UdK and HfS Ernst Busch, their research explores language as choreography. Kgabi’s practice spans acting, dramaturgy, voice artistry, physical theatre, improvisation, and DJing. They’ve trained with Causing a Scene (JHB), POAL (NYC), and CWBSA, and studied Economics and Theatre at Rhodes University. Their stage and screen work extends across South Africa and Europe, with collaborations including HAU Berlin and Tanz im August. They host Homegrown on refugeworldwide.com. Writings include Catch Me If You Can and M.E.T.S.I; a fisherman’s friend. Residencies: East African Soul Train (2023), Artist Village (2023), and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg Talent Lab (2022). More at www.mmakgosikgabi.com.

JUDGE

Dr. Hatice Öksüz graduated from the Radio, Television, and Cinema Department at Erciyes University in 2014. In 2019, she completed my master's degree at the Radio and Television Department at Marmara University. As of 2026, she received her PhD from the Radio, Television, and Cinema Department at Istanbul University. Prior to her academic career, she worked as a visual designer and video editor at various companies. Between 2020 and 2025, she worked as a research assistant at Istanbul Aydin University's Department of Visual Communication Design. Hatice currently works as a lecturer at Marmara University.

Hatice served as a jury member of the 2nd Berlin Dance Film Festival, an academic jury member at the 4th International Goldenhorn Film Festival, a jury member at the 4th Eichsfelder Film Festival, and a jury member at the 3rd CINEMO International Mobile Film Festival. She was also part of the social media team at the 14th Taunus Film Festival Oberursel. Hatice is currently serving as a jury member at the 1st International Film Fest Germany and the 5th Eichsfelder Film Festival.

“For me, cinema expresses that what we see on screen is not reality itself, but something belonging to the viewer's inner world.”

JUDGE

Lindsey Appolis is a dance photographer, cinematographer, and film director whose work centres on movement as a storytelling force. Inspired by dance cinema, Lindsey has spent years collaborating with dancers to translate physical expression into compelling visual narratives.

JUDGE

Benze C. Werner is a Cologne-based choreographer and dancer. Working 
with movement, live music, text, and installation, Benze focuses on 
creating immersive, physically tangible situations that serve as meeting points between performers and audience, aiming to leave the audience with memories and emotions they’ll carry forward. Their works explore themes of longing, desire, and love, often remixing personal stories and (artistic) research materials. Benze loves big emotions and sees live performances as spaces where people can cry, laugh, and be angry 
together.
They hold the CROSSOVER scholarship from KunstSalon Köln, the Sprungbrett Recherche scholarship from tanz nrw, and a Bachelor in Dance from ZZT Cologne. Among others, their work has been shown at tanzhaus nrw, Ringlokschuppen Ruhr, and Rote Fabrik Zürich. As a dancer, Benze has collaborated with artists such as Katharina Senzenberger, Rafaële 
Giovanola, Tim Behren, Jäckie Rydz, Pariya Bakshi, Amanda Piña, and 
Doris Uhlich.
One of the questions currently occupying Benze's mind: How to love in this fucked-up world?
https://benzecwerner.com/

JUDGE

Anna Banout (she/her) is a Syrian-Polish multidisciplinary speculative designer and artist whose practice often draws on intertwining design processes with cultural narratives and identity politics. At the core of her work lies an exploration of the complex relationships between people and objects — treating objects as tools for storytelling, she moves through spaces of both personal and collective experience. Her practice spans a range of materials and techniques, from traditional craft to digital media, from sculptural objects and installations to scenography.

She holds an MA in Design from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and postgraduate diplomas in Creative Coding and traditional basketry. Banout’s work has received international recognition; her project SYRIA 2087 won first prize in the International Diploma Selection 2017 during the Designblok Festival in Prague. In 2020, her first solo museum exhibition, Fossils of the Future, was presented at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe in Hamburg. Her works have been shown in solo and group exhibitions in galleries, museums, and cultural institutions — including the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Station Gallery in Beirut, and Radialsystem V in Berlin — as well as at major design festivals such as Gdynia Design Days, Łódź Design Festival, Ambiente Frankfurt, and Maison&Objet Paris. Banout is a recipient of grants from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, Feldfünf Berlin, and the Polish Institute in Berlin.