These are the FACE TO FACE WITH GERMAN FILMS talents 2026:
Joscha Bongard was born in Wolfsburg in 1994 and grew up in Kassel. After completing his high school diploma and training as an electronic technician for devices and systems, he worked in Cologne for the YouTube network TubeOne (now We Are Era). He then worked as a production assistant at Iconoclast Germany in Berlin and began studying directing at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in 2017. In 2019 he received a scholarship from the academy and directed a short film at La Fémis in Paris; in 2022 he completed a masterclass at UCLA Extension. His short film JUNG FRAGIL premiered in Riga in 2020 and was broadcast on German television. In addition to narrative films, he has directed commercials for brands including Mercedes, Bose and Amazon Prime. His documentary debut PORNFLUENCER premiered at DOK.fest Munich in 2022, was released theatrically nationwide and was nominated for the German Documentary Film Award 2023. His feature debut BABYSTAR celebrated its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and screened at further international festivals.
Enzo Hermann Brumm was born in Meaux, France, in 1996 and grew up in Hamburg. He began his career as an international model, working on the runways of Paris, Milan, London and New York for designers including Versace, Rick Owens, Bottega Veneta and Louis Vuitton. In 2018 he quit modeling to focus entirely on acting and studied at the Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna until 2022. During his studies he appeared in numerous classical and contemporary stage productions, including at the Burgtheater Vienna. After an initial engagement at Theater Regensburg, he increasingly shifted his focus to film. In 2023 he starred alongside Moritz Bleibtreu in the Amazon Prime series VIKTOR BRINGT’S and received the New Faces Award for Best Young Actor in 2025. In 2024 he took on a leading role in SILENT FRIEND by Ildikó Enyedi, which premiered in Venice in 2025 and won multiple awards. Enzo Brumm will next be seen in Sönke Wortmann’s DIE ÄLTERN.
Lydia Geißler was born in Leipzig in 1985 and now lives in Neu-Ulm, Bavaria. In 1989 her family fled the GDR, an experience that strongly shaped her later career. Her interest in visual transformation and creative processes behind the camera developed early. After completing her hairdressing apprenticeship as the top of her class, she trained as a state-certified makeup artist for film and television in 2011, graduating with top marks. Since then she has worked in makeup and special effects, focusing on character design and cinematic aesthetics. Her feature film debut was EIN GESCHENK DER GÖTTER (2014), followed by projects including LUFT (2019) and WER OHNE SCHULD IST (2024). Her most recent work includes MISTY – THE ERROLL GARNER STORY, CYBERPUNK ROMANCE and the historical drama KARLA (all 2025), for which she developed period-accurate makeup concepts and aging effects. For Geißler, makeup is an essential element of visual storytelling.
Lotta Kilian is a cinematographer, born in Hamburg and based in Berlin. She studied cinematography at the Film University KONRAD WOLF. Her focus is on feature films and high-end TV series, and she also has extensive experience in documentary filmmaking. She is particularly drawn to emotionally and psychologically complex projects that are also politically and socially relevant. For her cinematography on the feature film LUISE by Matthias Luthardt, she received a nomination for the German Film Award in 2024 and a Camerimage nomination in 2023. Early in her career, she won the German Camera Award (2012) and the Kodak Filmschool Award (2011). Her work has screened at numerous international festivals, including the Berlinale. She frequently collaborates with Faraz Shariat (DRUCK, PROSECUTION, Berlinale 2026) and Leonie Krippendorff (LOVING HER, GEPELLTE HAUT, 2026). Kilian is a co-founder of CINEMATOGRAPHINNEN – Women*Cinematographers Network and a member of the German Film Academy, the European Film Academy and the German Society of Cinematographers.
Bayan Layla, born and raised in Syria, began studying architecture at the University of Hama before gaining her first stage experience in Leipzig in 2015. She has performed at theaters including Staatsschauspiel Dresden, Volksbühne Berlin and Theater an der Ruhr. In 2019 she began studying acting at the August Everding Theatre Academy and graduated in 2023 with a scholarship from the German National Academic Foundation. While still a student, she had her first engagement at the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe. She celebrated her breakthrough with the title role in the debut film ELAHA (2023, directed by Milena Aboyan). For this role she received numerous awards, including the New Faces Award, the First Steps – Götz George Young Talent Award and the Bavarian Film Award. The film screened at the Berlinale and in Locarno, and Layla was nominated for Best Actress at the German Film Awards (Lola). Further film and television projects followed. In 2026 she will appear in WOVON SOLLEN WIR TRÄUMEN, HYGGE and DREI KAMERADINNEN, and will also take on a leading role in an international production.
Anna Roller was born in Munich in 1993. Early on she discovered filmmaking as a way to combine her interests in music, photography and writing. During her directing studies at the University of Television and Film Munich, she made five short films. PAN and THE LAST CHILDREN IN PARADISE screened at more than 60 international festivals, including Palm Springs, Max Ophüls and Camerimage. Her short film BRAT won the German Short Film Award (Lola) in 2021. In 2019 she was selected for the Future Frames program in Karlovy Vary and took part in several talent initiatives. Her feature debut DEAD GIRLS DANCING premiered in 2023 at the Tribeca Film Festival and Munich Film Festival and earned her the New Faces Award. Her second feature ALLEGRO PASTELL, based on the novel by Leif Rand, will premiere at the Berlinale and be released in cinemas in 2026.
Isa Willinger is a documentary film director. Her debut HI, AI. LOVE STORIES FROM THE FUTURE (2019) was nominated for the German Film Awards and won, among others, the Max Ophüls Award for Best Documentary. Her second theatrical documentary PLASTIC FANTASTIC, about the climate crisis, plastic production, lobbyism and environmental racism, received numerous awards including the German Documentary Film Award (Audience Award) and attracted more than 20,000 cinema viewers. Her third feature-length documentary NO MERCY (2025) brings together renowned women directors to discuss film language and gendered perspectives and screened successfully at international festivals, including DOC.NYC. She is currently preparing the documentary THE RED LINE (working title) on artificial intelligence. Willinger studied directing at the University of Television and Film Munich as well as American Studies, Slavic Studies and Sociology, including a Fulbright scholarship in New York. She is also the author of a book on Kira Muratova.
