STRUCTURE & APPROACH_25
Summer.Film.Academy 2025 is designed as an open, collaborative space. There are no rigid hierarchies – everyone contributes, whether it’s with setup, tech, cooking or content. There’s no participation fee this year, and accommodation is upgraded – with shared responsibility at the core.
We’re joined by 4–5 inspiring guests who bring fresh impulses, but rest of the program grows from within the group. Workshops are shaped collectively: some are proposed and led by participants, others emerge from our extended network – we decide together what we want to explore and offer.
We don’t separate "team" and "participants" – everyone is part of the same collective process. That means: anyone who wants to pitch a film idea can do so during the first week. Depending on the capacities on site, we’ll realize around 4–6 projects. Which ones? That’s up to all of us – chosen in a relaxed, anonymous group vote.


Workshop Talk
w/ Katrin Rothe
We’re very happy to welcome Katrin Rothe – award-winning director, producer, and renowned for her innovative use of animation and narration in non-fiction films – for an exclusive artist talk and screening!
She’ll share behind-the-scenes insights into her interactive documentary DocuMe - Laura, Linda, Gera und ich on 3Sat, showing her new feature film about the inventor of the political photomontage John Heartfield, and talk about what it means to blend animation and non-fiction storytelling.
From Betongold (Grimme Award) to 1917 – The Real October and now Johnny & Me, Katrin Rothe’s work brings to life what the camera alone cannot show – with depth, wit, and a unique visual language.
As an experienced producer, she will also offer valuable insights on project development, film production, and how to work with animation in documentary formats.
Join us for an inspiring encounter with a visionary filmmaker.


Lecture & QandA
w/ Kristine Nrecaj
We’re happy to welcome Kristine Nrecaj, award-winning German filmmaker with Kosovo-Albanian roots. Her work focuses on socially relevant, often underrepresented narratives dealing with identity, gender, tradition, and healing.
At SFA25, she will present (excerpts of) her acclaimed documentary WO/MEN (co-directed with Birthe Templin) during the workshop, which tells the story of six women in Albania who chose to live as men – as so-called Burrneshas – in order to escape social constraints and gain full rights in a patriarchal system.
Kristine studied film at Freie Universität Berlin and has since worked as a director, screenwriter and producer. Her previous works include the documentary Kosovo, the short fiction film Of Dogs and Lions, and the Arte production The Sworn Virgin and the Girl.
In all her films, she challenges dominant social norms and creates space for powerful conversations around
female identity & resistance.
🔗 Learn more
Titel Thesen Temperamente
WO/MEN -
House with a Voice
(Trailer)


🔗 Learn more
Lecture & Screening w/ Rouzbeh Rashidi
Rouzbeh Rashidi (born in Tehran in 1980) is an Iranian-Irish experimental filmmaker who has been creating films since 2000, when he founded the Experimental Film Society (EFS) in Tehran. EFS is an autonomous initiative expressly established to produce cinema through rigorous experimentation.
In 2019, he also founded the EFS Film School, a philosophically grounded, artist-run initiative that embodies the idiosyncratic spirit of experimental filmmaking and champions the exploratory nature of personal, intuitive, lyrical, and poetic cinema.
Rashidi’s artistic vision fundamentally resists traditional modes of filmmaking, challenging conventional narrative structures and embracing a singular, radical approach to cinema. His works constitute a harmonious synthesis of visual and auditory elements, offering the viewer a deeply poetic and immersive experience. Eschewing conventional screenwriting, Rashidi ventures into the domain of experimentation, employing unconventional texts and cinematic strategies. For him, the creation of moving images is not merely a vehicle for storytelling but a profound journey of exploration, perception, and self-expression.
conditions
FRAMEWORK
DATE
LOCATION
LANGUAGE
INCLUDING
FEES
During the residency, participants can propose short film ideas related to topics like home, origin and transformation – inspired by our partners from the German Center
for Astrophysics (DZA), the Lausitz Festival and the Sorbian community.
In the first week, you’ll have the chance to pitch your idea to the group.
Together we’ll decide which projects to realise during the second week.
13 - 27 July 2025
english
_access to all workshops
_access to all events
_access to professional film equipment
_catering (three meals per day)
_comfortable accommodation
NONE