[[ image ]] Biography Annika Birgel Portrait

Annika Birgel is a German director, screenwriter, and producer based in Berlin. Starting her career as an assistant director, she worked closely alongside renowned filmmakers including Pablo Larraín (Spencer) and Cate Shortland (Berlin Syndrome) as well as in the directorial and casting departments for feature films produced by Komplizen Film, X-Filme Creative Pool, Netflix Germany and UFA Fiction, amongst others.

In 2024, Birgel’s short film PORZELLAN premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, in the Generation Kplus competition. 
Her award-winning films have also screened at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes (Directors’ Fortnight, Cannes), the Toronto International Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, and International Short Film Festival Oberhausen.

In 2023, Birgel was selected to attend the impACT Lab at the 76th Cannes Film Festival. Her feature film, REPLICA, is currently being developed at the Résidence of the Festival de Cannes.

[[ image ]] Biography Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard Portrait

Rudolf Fitzgerald Leonard is an Australian director, writer, and producer based in Berlin.
He is a graduate of theVictorian College of the Arts School of Film & Television in Melbourne, where he studied directing. 

In 2022, Fitzgerald Leonard’s short film BEBEN (TREMOR) premiered in Cannes at the Quinzaine des Cinéastes (Directors’ Fortnight). 
His award-winning films have also screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and Locarno Film Festival.

Fitzgerald Leonard is an alum of several talent development programmes, including theLocarno Filmmakers Academyand theTIFF Filmmaker Lab. He is currently developing his debut feature film, REPLICA, at the Résidence of the Festival de Cannes.