(c) Luca Hoppe
Panel discussion with Horst Herz, Rainer Komers, Filippa Bauer & Pia Hellenthal | Moderation: Katharina Schröder
Participation is free of charge. However, cinema tickets must be purchased in advance at the box office.
Since its foundation in 1981, the Filmwerkstatt Münster has been closely associated with authored documentary film. It celebrates its 45th anniversary in 2026. Autor:innendokumentarfilm stands for a personal signature and a clear artistic approach and continues to characterise the workshop’s self-image to this day.
With the Masterschool Documentary Film (1999), developed by Horst Herz and Klaus Wildenhahn with the significant involvement of Winfried Bettmer, this focus was firmly established. Filmmakers such as Rainer Komers shaped this approach and were also closely associated with the Duisburg Film Week. The discussion will look at these connections and the significance of auteur documentaries for film culture in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Filippa Bauer (*1985 in Freiburg) lives and works as a freelance filmmaker and audio film author in Cologne. Her graduation film “Freiräume” at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne premiered at the Berlinale in 2015 and was honoured with the NRW Young Artists Award. In 2019, she received the working grant for artistic documentary and feature film from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia for the development of the documentary film “Die Statik der Träume”. The film premiered at the Hof International Film Festival in 2024, was shown in collaboration with the distribution company “Dokomotive Plattform” at thematically appropriate locations throughout Germany and can currently be seen in the arte media library.
Rainer Komers
Born in Guben in 1944. Studied film at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, master student. Film projects in Alaska, India, Japan, Yemen, California, Latvia and Montana. Last award: ARTE Documentary Film Prize for “Barstow, California” (2018); last exhibition: Zeughauskino Berlin (2025); last publication: “Außen Fuji Tag”, Alexander Verlag Berlin (2022). Director, camera, word art, poetry. Lives in Berlin and Mülheim an der Ruhr.
Latest films (selection)
2025 Yes, we are Sinti
2022 Miyama, Kyoto Prefecture
2018 Barstow, California
2017 Course messages
2014 Daugava Delta
2014 Ruhr Record
2009 Milltown, Montana
2007 Ma’rib
2006 Kobe
2004 Nome Road System
2004 NH 2
Horst Herz:
70s: apprenticeship as a photographer, S8 experimental films, 35mm commercials, cinema maker
From 80: Film studies with Adolf Winkelmann and Claudia v Alemann, founding of Horst Herz Filmproduktion, board member of AG-DOK/Filmbüro, curator of exhibitions/film series.
Member and studio at the Künstlerhaus Do, 50 years Verdi member / committee member festivals/film funding /documentary workshops organisation and management, including master school documentary film since 1998 /
Network foundation: NAD/Dokunet / CoProd a.o. with ZDF-Kleines Fernsehspiel/SWR/WDR/NDR/RTL/Appalshop USA/ TVLodz/PL
Cinema documentaries including: “No Future”, “Streifzug”, “Reise nach Südwest”, “Die Zukunft hat keinen Namen”, “Auschwitz-Oswiecim”, “Phoenix-fliegt”, “Das Meer – die Sehnsucht”,
“Meine Mutter- Heimatlos”, “Nur Mut – von Psychokrisen + Seelentänzen” / Funding: Filmstiftung, Filmbüro, NordMedia, FiFö SH/MeckPomm/Saarland, Goethe Institut /
Festivals a.o.: DokLeipzig, Max Ophüls, Rotterdam, Berlinale, Int. Oberhausen, Hof, DokFiWo Duisburg/ TV films/ short films/ image films/ video art/ exhibitions
MODERATION: KATHARINA SCHRÖDER is a cultural worker. She studied social, media and film studies in Bochum, Gothenburg, Paris and Amsterdam. After completing her Master’s degree, she worked for various film festivals, including the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, where she was most recently responsible for the International Competition and a member of the selection committee. From 2020 to 2025, she headed the blicke filmfestival des ruhrgebiets as part of a team. In 2023, she was a member of the Westfalen Connection jury at the Münster Film Festival, and since 2026 she has been a member of the selection committee of the Duisburg Film Week. She is currently a consultant on the planning staff at the Stuttgart Moving Image Center (SMIC), where she is responsible for the programme of the future centre. She also works as a moderator and curator.
The event is sponsored by the Kulturamt Münster.
