Katharina Pethke:

Katharina Pethke studied German language and literature, art history and visual communication in Hamburg before moving to the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, where she graduated with distinction. Her films In dir muss brennen (2009), Louisa (2011) and Jedermann (2016) as well as her project plans have won numerous prizes, awards, artist-in-residencies and scholarships (including the Golden Dove in the German competition at DOK Leipzig 2011 and the Golden Lola at the German Short Film Award 2011 for Louisa, as well as three FBW awards for Anophthalmus, Louisa and Jedermann). From 2012 to 2019, Katharina Pethke was a professor of film fundamentals at the Hamburg University of Fine Arts. The film Dazwischen Elsa (2019), produced for ZDF ∕ 3sat, was nominated for the 2020 Grimme Award. Jedermann und Ich (2021) celebrated its world premiere at DOK Leipzig 2021 in the German Competition and Pethke's latest film Uncanny Me (2022) celebrated its international premiere at IDFA 2022 (Luminous Section). Katharina Pethke is currently realizing her first feature-length cinema documentary with the working title Reproduktion (Fünferfilm).

Philipp Hochmair:

Philipp Hochmair discovered his passion for literature, film and theater as a teenager and studied acting at the renowned Max Reinhardt Seminar in Vienna, in the master class of Golden Globe winner Klaus Maria Brandauer, as well as at the National Academy of Dramatic Arts CNSAD in Paris. His theater engagements, including the most important classical roles, have taken him to the most renowned theaters in Europe such as the Schauspielhaus Zurich, the Théatre VIDY in Lausanne, as a longstanding ensemble member at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg and the Burgtheater in Vienna, where he was accepted into the honorary gallery. In 2018, he stepped in at short notice for the title role of Jedermann at the Salzburg Festival and was rightly celebrated by audiences and critics alike. To this day, he regularly performs his own solo program of modern interpretations such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Jedermann and ballads by Schiller, accompanied by his rock band Die Elektrohand Gottes, at theater festivals and on the most important stages in Germany and abroad. In addition to his theater career, he has enjoyed success in the cinema since 2001 in Oliver Hirschbiegl's highly acclaimed Das Experiment and on television with Die Manns - Ein Jahrhundertroman by Heinrich Breloer. Further engagements in the cinema followed, including in Winterreise by Hans Steinbichler, Ich war noch niemals in New York by Philipp Stölzl and Glück gehabt by Peter Payer, to name but a few. For his sensitive and intense portrayal of the male lead in Kater by Händl Klaus, he received the Actor Award at the Diagonale - Festival of Austrian Film in Graz in 2017. Hochmair celebrated his international cinema debut in the production Candelaria by J.H. Hinestroza, which was shot in Cuba in 2016. Philipp Hochmair has been an integral part of German and Austrian television since the great success of the series Vorstadtweiber (2015 - 2021), in which he played a cynical homosexual politician for 6 seasons. In the 3rd season of the highly acclaimed ARD series Charité (2021), he took on the role of the Austrian forensic doctor Professor Prokop and once again proved his acting versatility. He was given his own format in 2018 with the crime series Blind ermittelt (Blind Investigated), in which he supports the Vienna police as an astute, blind special investigator. He won the Austrian Television Award ROMY for this role in 2019. In the ZDF historical film The Wannsee Conference (2022), Philipp Hochmair shines in the role of SS Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, the head of the Wannsee Conference. For his outstanding acting performance, he received his second ROMY in the cinema/TV film category in April 2022 and was awarded the Grimme Prize in April 2023. In summer 2024, he will appear on stage in the role of JEDERMANN at the Salzburg Festival. Hochmair speaks four languages - French and Spanish in addition to German and English. He lives in Berlin.