The Team
(Updated: June 2026)
Festival Director
Marion Klomfaß
Head of Film Program
Florian Höhr
Head of Nippon Culture Program
Vic Atanasov
Head of Festival Management
Chiara Böck
Festival Management
Vic Atanasov, Chiara Böck, Vincent Ehlers, Jacob Herzum, Bastian Hoang, Florian Höhr, Marion Klomfaß, Neco Oestreich, Colin Pachl, André Popescu, Marie-Claire Richardson, Marina Schilke, Viktoria Steinigk, Caecilie von Teichman
Festival Office
Chiara Böck (head of team), Jacob Herzum (head of team), Elisabeth Fehrenz (intern), Emma Potocnik (intern)
Film Program
Florian Höhr (head of team), Amira Hajredini, Maximilian Himpsl, Marion Klomfaß, Alexander Knoth, Sebastian Krehl, Mayu Sugaya, Pavao Vlajcic
Short Film Program
Alexander Knoth (head of team), Vic Atanasov, Henrik Diels, Isabelle Mathes, Cathy Munroe Hotes (Nippon Animation Shorts Competition), Niko Schmidt
Film Program Preselection
Pavao Vlajcic (head of team), Vic Atanasov, Esra Bohlender, Henrik Diels, Noah Franc, Marc Göbel, Jacob Herzum, Kenta Hidaka, Philipp Kalugin, Renate Noack, Dennis Puljic, Niko Schmidt, Michael Stahl, Tobias Walter, Abby Zhang
Nippon Culture Program
Vic Atanasov (head of team), Sabrina Dethloff, Vincent Ehlers, Elisa Faulmann, Jennifer Fettig, Paula Grützmacher, Mina Huber, Jenny Medow, Kentaro Nakajima, Neco Oestreich, Marie-Claire Richardson, Deborah Späth, Viktoria Steinigk, Tobias Walter
Press & Public Relations
Marina Schilke (head of team, Social Media), David Schuster (assistant, STEP funding), Hannah Dietz (intern), Alice Erdel (intern), Karim Ahsan, Pia Barth, Amira Hajredini, David Kepler, Anika Manthey, Winfried Peters, Edgar Rommel, Hannah Strittmatter
Editorial
Dennis Vetter (head of team), David Schuster (assistant, STEP funding), Vic Atanasov, Florian Höhr, Marion Klomfaß, Mircea Ogrin, Marie-Claire Richardson, Mayu Sugaya, Caecilie von Teichman, Natalie Veith, Konstantin Voith und weitere
Texts
Vic Atanasov, Karin Fleck, Amira Hajredini, Florian Höhr, David Kepler, Sebastian Krehl, Marion Klomfaß, Mircea Ogrin, Niko Schmidt, David Schuster, Marie Urban, Natalie Veith, Pavao Vlajcic, Konstantin Voith and other
Translations
Esra Bohlender (en), David Booth (en), Joshua Chandler (en), Noah Franc (en), Maximilian Himpsl (jp), Melanie Laukemann (jp), Kentaro Nakajima (jp), Ikuru Otomo (jp), Nami Sano (jp), Dana Soltau (jp), Mayu Sugaya (jp), Natalie Veith (en) and other
Interpreters
Maria Deutsch (head of team), Jan Berger, Jasmin Dose, Yuki Iwamoto, Kiyoshi Kanuma, Ursula Kroyer, Mari Matsumoto, Yuko Naito, Samira Rafiq und weitere
Guest Relations
Mayu Sugaya (head of team), Stella Tümmler (head of team), Gia Linh Cao Nguyen (intern), Grit Bergoint, Nicolo Dresp, Jacob Herzum, Melanie Laukemann, Takumi Nasu, Ikuru Otomo, Chika Shimakura
Volunteer Coordination
Lukas Raymann (head of team), Anahita Estiri, Niklas Haberkorn, Alexandra Holst, Philipp Kalugin, Renate Noack, Dennis Puljic
Transport Coordination
Caecilie von Teichman (head of team), Luca Bläsius, Olga Kyselova
Coordination Festival Photography
Eileen Burkard (head of team), Niko Schmidt (head of team), Marc Göbel, Isabelle Mathes, Nick Massing, Mircea Ogrin, Sandro Pascucci, Gary Siemund
Ticketing
Colin Pachl (head of team), Luana Lou Fuentes, Isa Günkel, Tanja Menn, Alexander Pankow, Dennis Puljic, Karen Salvado, Taimi Schalle, Laura Sommer, Sina Torno
Bar Management
Isabelle Heim (head of team), Tobias Walter (head of team), Ich Thuan Cong, Muse Duh, Hannah Kaut, Fabrizia De Luca, Josefina Trujillo, Zhiyu Otto
Catering
Natalia Reiswich (head of team), Thorsten Böhn, Katharina Buhl, Sophia Eibelshäuser, Mario Goltz, Maren Hoffmann, Yulia Katlubaeva, David Klostermann, Roland Klostermann, Susanne Ulrich, Madalina Vieriu
Merchandising
Sophia Allweyer (head of team), Celine Perrone (head of team), Pia Barth, Elisa Faulmann, Amira Hajredini, Mina Huber, Yun Jiang, Alisa Mano, Thanish Mohammad, Yan Tung Wong, Abby Zhang
Site Management & Interior
Lukas Brehm (head of team, Site Management), Marko Pirovolakis (head of team, Site Management), Bastian Hoang (head of team, Interior), Marie-Claire Richardson (head of team, Interior), Esra Bohlender, Nora May Geitz, Franziska Haferkorn, Joseph Knitt, Jens Labudda, Isabelle Mathes (signs), Nhat Thang Pham, Jeffrey Port, Julia Roth, Marie Schatanek, Deborah Späth, Michael Stahl, Pui Man To, Natalie Veith (signs)
Cinema and Event Technology
Christian Cyfus (head of team), André Popescu (head of team), Inga Baumgartner, Jan Bernich, Uddipta Raj Deka, Henrik Diels, Dustin Henrich, Hannah Kaut, Stijn de Koning, Denys Kuznietsov, Robert Lob, Nick Massing, Anton Mattuschat, Vincent Stoll, Raphael Shogo Wujanz
Office Technology
André Popescu
Film Coordination
Pascal Porada (head of team), Ali Zolghadriha (intern), Simon Winkel
Cinema and Theater Management
Martin Bregenzer, Josef Ditschler, Ferdinand Gutemann, Andreas Heidenreich, Lennart Losensky, Tewodros Meshesha, Meghann Munro, Leonie Schemel, Laura Sommer, Konstantin Voith, Alexandra Widder
Accounting
Hülya Tiril-Müller
Collaboration
Kirill Gettmann, Maleen Knies, Ziyu Luo, Hiroko Takahashi, Sarah Trinh, Emine Irem Dikici, Alex Bickel
Design & Campaign
Il-Ho Jung www.il-ho.com
Festival Trailer
Animation: Amin Weber
Music & sound mixing : Michael Laven
Postproduction: Thomas Maier
Website
Frontend-Development: wemove digital solutions
Content Management: Colin Pachl, David Schuster
Design & Concept: Il-Ho Jung — www.il-ho.com
Data Protection Officer
Colin Pachl
Board of Nippon Connection e.V.
Vincent Ehlers (chair), Vic Atanasov (vice chair), Marion Klomfaß (vice chair)