Everything begins with a good story.
Anna Ditges is a screenplay writer, director and producer. Whether commissioned work or her own production, she furnishes them with experience and her artistic signature. Her films turn to the obvious, the everyday, as well as the ostensibly foreign. They connect the personal with the social and open up the view into our core and onto the big wide world. Anna Ditges is also active as a dramaturgical consultant in the creation of treatments and scripts as well as in editing.
“Film-makers like Anna Ditges are the chroniclers of our time; they show us the life of today that is perhaps already history tomorrow.” 3sat
For me, making films is like stopping time. Examining a life under a microscope. Observing a strange world up close. Empathizing. I can say in real life: Stop! Look here – a life, which could be yours.
Book
Anna Ditges writes screenplays to convey on film her personal experiences and observations which she can only capture fictionally. The first step to a good story is always solid research.
Karin is in her mid-60s, single and a bit special. She looks for sex dates online, smokes and drinks to her heart's content, keeps her dog in the freezer and terrorises her daughter with dissolute phone calls at all hours of the day and night. Life is too short to grow up anyway. But the fact that now, out of the blue, she is also to become a grandmother is just what Karin needs ….
Based on a novel by Carole Fives | Comedy series with Iris Berben | 2022 | Production Moovie GmbH, Sarah Kirkegaard | in development
SCREENPLAY
The Duck
That which promises electoral victory for an aspiring Green mayoress, spells the end for an unemployed postman. The parallel stories reveal unsettling insights into the opposing realities of life for two people, whose worlds diverge dangerously far from each other. The film The Duck tells of a broken German society that nevertheless wishes to be united.
Feature film | black comedy | 2021-2022 | in development
SCREENPLAY
To Poland with Marek
On a trip to Poland, a German-Polish couple suffers a relationship crisis, failing to see that the dispute arises out of culturally conditioned misunderstandings. To Poland with Marek is a humorous and stirring road movie through Silesia via Gdansk and into Masuria which tells of young German-Polish love that threatens to be broken apart by the typical small and intercultural differences.
Feature film | romantic road movie | 2021-2022 | in development
SCREENPLAY | DIRECTION
Under my skin – the fluid light of the divinity
The deeply devout Sister Sofia works to help refugees and the needy in the Tannenbusch ghetto in Bonn. When she meets the Sufi musician Haias, Sofia falls in love with the strange man. Her life, mission and faith start to waver.
Jupp is a fifth-generation farmer who lives with his wife Trudi on the ancient dairy farm in the Eifel region. Trudi has a secret: she regularly has the progress of her Alzheimer’s illness tested by Lukas, the country doctor. Under no circumstance does she wish to be a burden to the children and confronts Jupp with her wish to self-determine her death. Jupp is opposed to this: he will care for her. Full stop. But then everything turns out differently than Jupp expected. After an attack of pain which he assumes is sciatica, Jupp is referred to hospital by Lukas. There, Jupp receives the deadly diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. It is too late for chemotherapy. Jupp is in shock. No one is allowed to find out, least of all Trudi!
“The decision of the individual to put an end to his life [...] is [...] an act of autonomous self-determination to be respected by the state and society.” (Ruling of the Federal Constitutional Court from 26 February 2020 § 217 German Penal Code)
A mint-green 1970s kitchen. Oil sizzles in the pan. A crucifix on the wall. JUPP sits at the head of the table. GERTRUD puts three fried eggs on Jupp’s plate. Jupp sits up straight. He eats with gusto. Gertrud places a new packet of painkillers on the tablet. He immediately swallows a tablet. She puts a new brown pill box of sleeping tablets in the medicine cabinet. Jupp sees and is irritated. He looks at Gertrud inquiringly. She evades him. He pushes the salad to the side and wipes his mouth.
JUPP
But you sleep well.
Gertrud says nothing. Jupp also leaves his fried eggs.
GERTRUD
You don’t know that.
Jupp slams his fist so hard on the table that is rattles.
JUPP
I take care of you!
Gertrud turns away and looks out the window. The chickens cross the yard towards the coop, pecking. (Jupp and Trudi)
As a child, I would pretend to be asleep, and eavesdropped on the adults’ conversations. Aided by their tales, I allowed myself to be catapulted into my dreamworld. The underlying feeling back then was of loneliness. To banish this feeling, I thought up all sorts of funny, scary and nonsense stuff, so I was never bored.
“It is a stroke of luck that Anna Ditges trusts in the power of her images and captures scenes with an inquisitive gaze that do not need words.” Süddeutsche Zeitung
Direction
As a film-maker, Anna Ditges is fascinated by human destinies. Cinematically condensed, these point beyond themselves: the exemplary becomes visible. The form – whether fictional or documentary, dramatic or humorous – orientates itself to the content. – Anna Ditges also directs series and commissioned productions.
DIRECTION
Einstein Castle
Anna Ditges loves working with and directing children, and thanks the cast and crew for the wonderful shoot. Anna Ditges directed the four episodes 1045-1048 (first broadcast in 2023) of the renowned MDR television series. Einstein Castle is a German children's and youth series that tells the story of the lives of students who live at the boarding school of the same name in which the 12 to 17-year-olds experience the ups and downs of everyday life, for example quarrels with their parents, their first love, problems with friends and teachers. With over 1,000 episodes, Einstein Castle is the longest-running children's and youth series on German television. The series was first broadcast on KiKA on 4 September 1998.
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BOOK | DIRECTION | CAMERA | SOUND | MONTAGE | PRODUCTION
Who owns the city - Citizens in action
In her cinema documentary film Who owns the city - Citizens in action, the film-maker Anna Ditges tells of an existential dispute between people with very different, often incompatible life environments and values. In the tension field between commitment, self-interest and meaningfulness, she explores the question of how democracy can function in everyday life and how much political responsibility of one’s own homeland means for each individual.
“A documentary about a democratic process which demands all parties to learn to compromise could hardly be more enjoyable and insightful.” vorwaerts.de
The Cologne district of Ehrenfeld is changing: creative workshops and small designer stores are reviving once bleak corners, Germany’s largest mosque awaits its opening, brownfield sites such as the industrial area of the Helios site are being repurposed. How do the young people see their neighbourhood? What do they expect and hope for? In the media project My Ehrenfeld – Our Future, they turned their ideas into short films. Guided by the Cologne film-maker Anna Ditges and other film professionals, six groups of Ehrenfeld’s young people aged between 14 and 18 have generated six short films – from the idea to planning, production preparation, shooting and editing to the six finished mini films.
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“Much of the film’s considerable charm comes from the maker’s idea of including even the most beautiful glitches and the most irritating bickering during the workshops, the stalling and the stuttering, scooters driving through the frame and overly loud birdsong during the shoot – and lots of discussions.” Kölnische Rundschau
BOOK | DIRECTION | MONTAGE | PRODUCTION
Ora et labora – The Pöppelmann Enterprise
Mid-market enterprises are classed as a guarantor of stability and future. The companies themselves, however, are not traded on the stock exchange, are not present in the media and keep their business practices within their small circle of insiders.
Ora et labora – The Pöppelmann Enterprise portraits one of Germany’s many mid-market companies. Simultaneously representative and personal, the film tells the story of the Pöppelmann enterprise, marked by successes and setbacks: of the tireless commitment of the founding family during the ‘economic miracle’ years and their faith in god that still determines everyday life in the company today.
Holy water on plastic injection moulding machines, panaceas from god’s pharmacy, fasting cures, and the Lord’s Prayer for the executives … Ora et labora – The Pöppelmann Enterprise is an unusual documentary film about an unusual family business. In vivid images and conversations, Anna Ditges reveals insights into the everyday life and self-perception of the people who have committed themselves to the Catholic Pöppelmann enterprise. And it is clear: the founding family has paid a high price for the success of the company.
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“Ora et labora never comes across as ingratiating […] Instead, that wonder of the first encounter permeates the film.” Konstantin Adamopoulos, art journalist
BOOK | DIRECTION | CAMERA | SOUND | MONTAGE | PRODUCTION
I want you - Meeting Hide Domin
I want you - Meeting Hide Domin is a personal and direct documentary film about the life and work of the poetess Hilde Domin – shot by a film-maker almost 70 years her junior: Anna Ditges and her camera accompanied the Grande Dame of German post-war literature during the last two years of her long and eventful life.
A young film-maker discovers Hilde Domin’s lyric poetry and decides to get in touch with the celebrated poetess. In doing so, she encounters an alert, highly unconventional 95-year-old in her apartment full of books, roses and memories – with a life story that mirrors the last century. Hilde Domin, born in 1909, talks openly about her turbulent life: of her childhood in Cologne, of 22 long years spent in exile, her return to Germany and her late career as a writer. For the first time, she speaks in front of the camera about Erwin, the great love of her life, and about her loneliness in old age. Themes, that the film-maker’s unique view captures in expressive images. Anna Ditges, born in 1978, regularly visited Hilde Domin and accompanied the elderly lady in daily life, on her travels and through her memories – for almost two years until the death of Hilde Domin in February 2006. I want you is an intimate and moving film which, in its concentration on the essential, is as precise and straightforward as Hilde Domin’s poetry.
“The film is the last important document about the poetess. One comes out of the cinema completely captivated and heads straight for the nearest bookshop.” Berliner Zeitung
BOOK | DIRECTION | CAMERA | SOUND
My Story – Six contemporary witnesses of the Second World War
The writer Annemie was impressed by the Nazi propaganda of her childhood and is still ashamed today of how thoughtlessly and naïvely she believed what was mediated. Günter was a victim of “Aryan” discrimination when his mother married a Jewish tax official and developed an antipathy to National Socialism while living with his stepfather. Ewald was a miner in heart and soul, but the mines have closed, and he has been retired since 1985. Christa lost her parents in the war, spent five years of her young life in a labour camp and still suffers today from the traumas of her youth. At the age of 18, Roman was deported to a labour camp from what is now Poland, and subsequently dragged to a concentration camp. Alfons was drafted into the war at the same age and describes experiences such as the Battle of Monte Cassino as the saddest, bitterest, and most senseless thing that ever happened to him.
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“With six, 15-minute witness interviews from the series My Story, Anna Ditges draws a moving picture of the terrors of the Second World War. Out of the fragments emerges a shared quintessence: an appeal for peace.” Sarah Kirkegaard
BOOK | DIRECTION | MONTAGE
I am German just like you – A German-Russian family picture
“There is much beauty for my eyes here in Germany”, says Lilia, who left her soul and career behind in Russia. Together with her family, she tries to rediscover in Germany the old homeland she always dreamed of. Two generations between the fronts of the war and three after – the wheel of history continues to turn. The documentary film I am German just like you navigates through the past and present of four women, tells of dreams and everyday life of an extended family whose otherness accompanies them through their various stations in life to present-day Germany.
I am German just like you is Anna Ditges’ final thesis film. It was broadcast in 2003 on WDR. The supervising professors were Horst Königstein and Dietrich Leder. Rita Schwarze was the dramaturgical advisor.
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“With her final thesis film, among others, at the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln, the young colleague has documented the narrative power she is capable of realising in this remarkable debut.” Prof. Dr. Horst Königstein
BOOK | DIRECTION | MONTAGE
The dream of the five-storey house – Four women in Honduras
The documentary film The dream of the five-storey house – Four women in Honduras
illuminates women from four different generations, thematising their daily life, their problems, and their dreams. The Mosquitia, the nature reserve where the Tawahka settled, stretches across Honduras and Nicaragua. Officially, it stands under state protection. Nevertheless, the indigenous population is becoming ever more dependent on large landowners and travelling traders. The resulting flux in their traditional way of life leads to a shift in values and standards. The dream of the five-storey house shows how differently the old and young women of Río Patuca deal with the change in their society and how contrarily they value the social and infrastructural change.
“In this project, one can see Anna Ditges’ talent for observation – here of a foreign way of living – as well as her production energy in carrying out such a project in a foreign country with few resources.” Prof. Dietrich Leder, KHM Köln
I like it when films open up a personal approach to cultural, social and political questions. I wish to speak to people with my films and touch something inside them.
Production
The goal of punktfilm Anna Ditges is to create content-relevant and artistically independent films and series for streaming services, television and cinema. At the centre stand cultural, social and political themes which are told personally and authentically by means of individual fates.
When I began shooting my film about Hilde Domin, my budget was practically zero. I therefore decided to do my own camera work and founded my own production company, punktfilm Anna Ditges. I bought an old Opel Kadett for a thousand euros and regularly drove up the Graimbergweg in Heidelberg with the engine smoking. A friend had told me that I could fill the coolant tank with tap water if necessary … Hilde and I went for many happy drives in the white, rusty Opel, which served me faithfully for five years, despite poor care. When I had to accompany it to the scrap yard, I started to cry - even though I had found it so ugly in the beginning. It was the time gone by that Hilde and I had spent in it, and the freedom it had given us, that made me love it.
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Shut your eyes and imagine you are by the sea. The wind is blowing and ruffles your hair. Can you feel the sand under your bare feet? Hear the roar of the waves? They come and go, constantly. Everything roars, the blood in our veins, the current in a river, and time.
Coaching
As a filmmaker I have been involved with many different ways of working, in all of the main departments and along the entire range of production stages of feature and documentary film productions. I am familiar with difficult projects, with long development phases and lean periods as well as with stressful times and extreme pressure.
Up until two weeks before the birth of my daughter, I worked as a cinematographer and director; four months later, I was back in the editing room with my commissioning editors, and soon after that I was back on set, leading film teams of up to 40 people. Sometimes in harmony, sometimes in tense moments.
If we want to make sure that our daily work won't wear us down, it's important to find meaning in what we do and to listen to our inner voice when it comes to choosing our partners, projects, and challenges.
Often it is not even so important what we do, but how we do it, how we deal with our fears, mistakes or embarrassments, with ourselves and with others. Being able to laugh at ourselves, for example, can be very liberating and helpful. Sometimes we can no longer do this when we can't see the wood for the trees, and then we need support from someone with experience who can look at our confused situation from the outside. I am someone like that.
„Anna helped me a lot to find my story. Through her exercises and tasks, I was able to overcome my writing hurdle and simply let the ideas and fragments of my story come and develop them further. Anna was super patient and flexible! Because I was not an easy case :) I always left the sessions very happy and inspired and wanted to continue. I particularly like Anna's feeling for the details in the stories, her close attention and listening, her openness and her sense of humour.“ Verena Maas, director and producer
Would you like to make a career change, build on your strengths, appear more confident, motivate your team and define new, specific goals? In that case, a coaching session with me could be just the thing for you. Would you like an expert, empathetic look at your script and constructive feedback on your project? I offer business coaching, process-accompanying sparring and dramaturgical project consulting.
The sessions take place via Zoom and, when required, in my office. It is important to me that the dialogue always takes place on a level footing. In a free 20-minute introductory meeting, we can find out together which type of coaching or consulting approach will be most suitable for you and your situation. I offer coaching and consulting in the following languages: German, English, Polish, Spanish.
„Anna has the rare talent of getting to the heart of a project by asking specific questions. A few hours of her empathetic counselling brought me more than weeks of pondering - so I already know who I will turn to for my next project!“ Niki Drozdowski, author and director
Writing retreat and the sea
With good, fresh food, long walks on the beach and time to write, creativity almost comes by itself. With tried and tested writing techniques and my individual dramaturgical advice, you will make concrete progress on your screenplay/book/project. You will also receive constructive feedback from your colleagues in our daily group discussions.
Apart from that, you will have the opportunity to: start the day with a morning meditation together, take a dip in the Baltic Sea, climb a lighthouse, trudge through the forest, lie in a hammock, admire the sunset, lay tarot cards, sit by the fire, taste my fruit-infused Polish schnapps, marvel at the stars before going to bed.
We are up to six writers, we trust each other and share personal experiences in a protected space. Everyone has their own cosy room (one of them is a spacious double room) in the traditional Pomeranian wooden house Wild Rose Lubiatowo., which I designed.
In a positive, collegial atmosphere, old blockages can dissolve and new ideas will emerge. An unforgettable week awaits you and your favourite project. – Want to sea for yourself?
„I came to Anna Ditges with a viable basis for an experimental feature film script. She managed to empathise with the characters and the story both intellectually and emotionally, almost physically, in a very short space of time. From then on, my idea was supported by an emphatic companion who knew her way around storytelling and was curious about my individual style and narrative form. Anna managed to refine my idea, to work out what was authentic and exemplary and to get to the heart of the story through her dramaturgical considerations.“ Tobias Deppner, author and editor
It simply gives me great pleasure to be, for others, the kind of sparring partner at eye level that I wish I had had - or that I sometimes also did find - at many a key moment in my own career. And I am grateful for the people who stand by my side when I need inspiration, a sympathetic ear and trustworthy advice.
In 2023, four episodes of the award-winning youth series Schloss Einstein are broadcast, directed by Anna Ditges and produced by Saxonia Media, MDR.
2021–2022 Anna Ditges develops The woman on the phone, a mini-series with Iris Berben, production Moovie GmbH, producer Sarah Kirkegaard, as screenplay writer.
2020-2021 Anna Ditges develops her feature film debut Under my skin – the fluid light of the divinity in the context of the mentoring programme Into the Wild. In addition, she hones her directing and performance management skills under Mark Travis in Los Angeles and takes part in his Director’s Lab, a sixteen-week international study programme for selected directors*
2018-2019 Anna Ditges completes the one-year Drehbuchwerkstatt München at the Hochschule für Film und Fernsehen.
2002-2017 Anna Ditges creates documentaries as an author-producer. I Want You – Meeting Hilde Domin is her multi-award-winning cinematic debut from 2008 which she directs and is also the cinematographer, editor and producer. The documentary film is shown at numerous international film festivals and is viewed by over 33,000 visitors in German arthouse cinemas. In 2015, the second cinema documentary film follows: Who owns the city – Citizens in action is also successful at international festivals, generating a great deal of social debate on the subject of democracy and codetermination.
2009 Anna Ditges receives a stipendiary for a two-month screenplay study course at the New York Film Academy.
