About us

During her studies at the HFF Munich, Janine Jackowski co-founded Komplizen Film with Maren Ade in 1999. Over the past 25 years, Janine Jackowski produced over 60 films and series, of which many have been selected and awarded at international film festivals.
These include TONI ERDMANN by Maren Ade in 2016, which celebrated its premiere in the Cannes Competition, won 5 European Awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe, César, BAFTA and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. WESTERN by Valeska Grisebach, premiered in the section Un Certain Regard in Cannes 2017 and A FANTASTIC WOMAN by Sebastián Lelio, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018. SYNONYMS by Nadav Lapid won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2019, SKYLINES, created by Dennis Schanz, premiered as a Netflix Original Series in 2019. SPENCER by Pablo Larrain celebrated its premiere at the Venice Competition 2021 and won Kirsten Stewart an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. She co-produced CORSAGE by Marie Kreutzer and ABOUT DY GRASSES by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, both premiered at Cannes. Lately she produced Pablo Larraìns MARIA (Competition Venice Film Festival 2024) and co-produced Joachim Triers SENTIMENTAL VALUE, which premiered at Cannes´competition and is this year’s Norwegian entry for the Oscars.

Janine Jackowski is a member of the ACE Network, EPC, the German, British and European Film Academies and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Komplizen Film is a co-founding member of The Creatives, a federation of 10 international independent production companies.

Born in Perugia, Italy, Jonas Dornbach is a film producer and the CEO and partner at Komplizen Film and Komplizen Serien in Berlin. Dornbach began his career by founding and managing his own company, Kinoherz, from 2002 to 2009. He graduated from the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) in 2006 with the feature film "Auf Nummer Sicher?" directed by David Dietl, which won the 2008 Studio Hamburg Prize for Best Feature Film.
Since joining Komplizen Film in 2010, Dornbach has produced several internationally acclaimed films. Among many other films, he produced "Tabu" by Miguel Gomes. This co-production won the Alfred Bauer Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize in the Berlinale Competition 2012, "Toni Erdmann" by Maren Ade, which celebrated its premiere in the Cannes Competition 2016, won 5 European and 6 German Film Awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe, César, BAFTA and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, "Western" by Valeska Grisebach, which premiered in the section Un Certain Regard in Cannes 2017, "A Fantastic Woman" by Sebastián Lelio. This co-production won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018, “Synonyms” by Nadav Lapid a co-production which won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale 2019, “Skylines” created by Dennis Schanz a Netflix Original Series 2019, “Spencer” by Pablo Larrain that premiered in Venice Competition 2021. He co-produced “Eureka” by Lisandro Alonso and “About Dry Grasses” By Nuri Bilge Ceylan, both of which premiered at Cannes 2023. In 2024, he worked again with Pablo Larrain on “Maria”.

Jonas Dornbach is a member of the ACE Network, the German, British and European Film Academies, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Maren Ade studied production at the HFF Munich in 1998, before studying feature film direction. In 1999, she co-founded Komplizen Film with Janine Jackowski, with whom she co-produced her graduation film "The Forest for the Trees" in 2003. The film received the Special Jury Award of the Sundance Film Festival 2005 and was nominated for the German Film Award the same year. The film was shown at numerous international festivals.
Her second feature film "Everyone Else" had its premiere in Competition at the Berlinale 2009 and was awarded the Silver Bear for Best Film and the Silver Bear for Best Actress for Birgit Minichmayr. "Everyone Else" had cinematic runs in over 18 countries and received three nominations for the German Film Award. Her third feature film "Toni Erdmann" celebrated its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival 2016. Since then, the film has won awards at numerous international festivals. "Toni Erdmann" won the International Critics' Award and FIPRESCI Grand Prix, the European and German Film Awards and was nominated for a Golden Globe, César, BAFTA and Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It was sold in over 100 countries worldwide.
Maren Ade not only produces her own films, but also works as a producer for other productions.

Born 1983 near Hamburg/Germany. David made an apprenticeship as media clerk at Studio Hamburg Production. From 2008 to 2013 followed the film production studies at Berlin Film school dffb, including the production of many shorts, for example SUCCESS by Micah Magee and BERLIN TROIKA by Andrej Gontcharov. Alongside he worked as producer in advertisements just as line producer and production manager for several productions, for example at the German shooting days of SLEEPING SICKNESS by Uli Köhler and the latest feature film WESTERN by Valeska Grisebach, which was shot in Bulgaria.

He is producer of DUST ON OUR HEARTS by Hanna Doose, that won in 2012 The First Steps Award just as the Directing, Production and Audience Award at Munich Film Festival. WHISPERS BEHIND THE WALL by Grzegorz Muskala is his graduate film at the dffb, that received a nomination for the Grimme Prize and a nomination for the No Fear Award for his work as producer. He is one producer of Sebastian Schipper's VICTORIA and the joint work on the silver bear and German film award winner was the start of the partnership with Sebastian at Missing Link Films, where he acted as producer and managing partner. After the joint follow-up project, the German-Franco co-production ROADS, he joined Komplizen Film.

Since 2016 David has been a member of the Producers Network ACE (Atelier du Cinéma Européen).

Janina Schafft studied European Media Studies in Potsdam and Film Studies in Paris from 2001 to 2006. After completing her studies, she initially worked as a production assistant, then as an assistant to the producers at Flying Moon Filmproduktion, and took part in the Berlinale Talent Campus in 2010.
From 2011 to 2015, she organised various events for the German Film Academy, including the First Steps Award. She then worked as a freelance production coordinator and joined Komplizen Film in 2018, where she oversaw productions in the production management department, from financing to final accounting. Since 2023, she has represented Komplizen Film as managing director together with Jonas Dornbach.

Janine Hahmann studied Media Studies and Film and began her professional career as a producer working in documentary and commercial productions. She gained early international experience and worked for several years as a line producer in Argentina and Spain.

After returning to Germany, she worked as a freelance production manager on numerous German and international film productions and increasingly took on responsibilities in line producing and production management from 2019 onwards. Since 2023, she has been a permanent member of Komplizen Film, working as an in-house line producer.

Janine Hahmann is a certified Green Consultant.

More information will follow

Jolanka Höhn was born in Berlin-Mitte in 1979. As a trained hotel manager, she worked in London, UK, for two years. From 2004 onwards, she gained her first experience in the film industry in various departments (costumes, production, continuity). Between 2004 and 2017, she worked for a few months each year in accounting for the European Film Market (Berlinale). In 2006, she shot her first short documentary, "Ungebrochen", which won the Wiesbaden Special Prize at the Exground Film Festival in 2009.
From 2008 to 2016, she studied production at the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). As part of her studies, she worked as production manager on Till Kleinert's horror thriller "Der Samurai" and as producer on Franziska Krentzien's rbb movie "Rauch", among others. She completed her studies with the documentary "Schultersieg" by Anna Koch and Julia Lemke, which won the award for best documentary film at the Hof Film Festival in 2016 and the awards for best director and best cinematography at Achtung Berlin! in 2017.
Since 2017, Jolanka has been working in production controlling, initially as an assistant on films such as "Gundermann" by Andreas Dresen and "Exil" by Visar Morina.
In 2019, she began working as a freelance production controller for, among others, the documentary "Republic of Silence" by Diana El Jeiroudi, the experimental feature film "Afterwater" by Dane Komljen, the German part of the miniseries "Lisey's Story" by Pablo Larraín, as well as the feature films "Le Prince" by Lisa Bierwirth and "Himbeeren mit Senf" by Ruth Olshan.
Jolanka joined the Komplizen Film team in April 2022 as a controller.

Jessica studied international business administration in Berlin and Seoul. She then lived in Beijing for several years, where she worked in East Asian cultural tourism, specialising in travel to North Korea. In the course of this, she supported the realisation of several art and documentary film projects in Pyongyang. In 2017, she moved to Austria to study for a master's degree in East Asian Economy and Society at the University of Vienna.
From 2019, she worked in Germany as a freelance production assistant on national and international TV and film productions. After a stint in project coordination at a large German acting agency, Jessica has been working at Komplizen Film as a line production coordinator since 2022.

Olivia Sieranski was born in November 1992 and grew up in the northern Harz region. She studied media design at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, where she gained her first experience in film production in 2017. Olivia is an alumna of the 20/21 class of Atelier-Ludwigsburg Paris at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg & La Fémis, Paris. Since then, she has worked on various international film productions as an assistant, coordinator and producer.
She joined Komplizen Film in April 2023 and now supports us as a line production coordinator.

Christine Duttlinger arbeitet als Junior Producerin von Janine Jackowski und Jonas Dornbach bei Komplizen Film. Davor hat sie Filmproduktion an der Filmakademie Baden – Württemberg studiert, nachdem sie an der Universität Hildesheim ihren Bachelor im Fach Szenische Künste (Theater, Medien, Kreatives Schreiben) abgeschlossen hat. Im Urlaubsjahr ihres Studiums war sie 3 Monate als Praktikantin bei SKY in der Redaktion von Frank Jastfelder angestellt, sowie bei Komplizen Film.
Ihr Drittjahres Film MASEL TOV COCKTAIL hat diverse Preise gewonnen wie zum Beispiel den CIVIS Award, den Publikumspreis auf dem Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis und den Grimme Preis. Ihr letzter kurzer Dokumentarfilm Seepferdchen hatte Premiere auf der DOK Leipzig und wurde anschließend auf der IDFA in Amsterdam aufgeführt. Seepferdchen konnte nicht nur den Goldenen Spatz gewinnen, sondern auch die Short Competition des Hot Springs Documentary Festival und des Atlanta Film Festivals, sowie den renommierten David L. Wolper Student Award der IDA Awards. Ihr Diplomfilm NICHT DIE 80er (Regie Marleen Valien) hatte dieses Jahr Premiere auf dem Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis.
Vor ihrem Studium hat sie für größere Produktionsfirmen wie zum Beispiel zero one film und den SWR gearbeitet. Außerdem war sie am Stadttheater Freiburg als Regieassistentin angestellt und war viele Jahre als freie Autorin für das Jugendmagazin der Badischen Zeitung tätig.

Emil Klattenhoff wurde 1996 geboren und wuchs in Essen auf. Er studiert Dokumentarfilm Regie an HFF München. Neben seinem Studium arbeitete er als Regieassistent bei Filmen von Andreas Dresen, Volker Schlöndorff und Nicolette Krebitz, war Teilnehmer des Workshops „Eine Einstellung zur Arbeit“ von Farocki und Ehmann und ist Redaktionsmitglied des REVÜ-Filmmagazins. Sein letzter Kurzfilm GUTEN TAG feierte Premiere auf dem Filmfestival Max Ophüls Preis.

Tara Afsah was born in Berlin Kreuzberg in 1990. Since graduating from Berlin University of the Arts with a degree in media theory, film and audiovisual communication, she has been working as a filmmaker in the film and theatre sector. In March 2020, she co-founded the intersectional feminist event series ‘Cinema+Context’, which was most recently shown at Berlin's Volksbühne theatre. Since September 2020, Tara has been working for Komplizen Film in the development of cinema and series projects.

Duygu Masalcı studied philosophy and media and communication sciences at the University of Hamburg and Ewha Womans University in Seoul. She holds an interdisciplinary master’s degree in design and computation from the Technical University of Berlin and the Berlin University of the Arts, and was part of Thomas Arslan’s film class.
She has worked as an editor and director for formats produced by the Federal Agency for Civic Education, funk and ARD, as well as a producer in advertising and documentary film.
Duygu Masalci grew up in the Ruhr area as a second-generation German-Turkish woman.
She has been with Komplizen Film since April 2025.

Caro Stiller studied cultural work and arts management with a focus on theatre management in Potsdam and Brno. At the same time, they worked at Hebbel am Ufer and Schaubühne Berlin in the visitor service and organised events on the subject of SRHR with a collective. They then worked in the field of cultural youth education for the EU in Granada and as an educational consultant in Berlin.
Since 2024, Caro has been supporting Komplizen as Office Manager in the organisation and administration of the office.

Andrea Göpfert studied business administration. After working in various positions, she decided to become self-employed in 2009 and has since been working as a film manager for various national and international film projects. She has been an important part of Komplizen Film since 2011 as the company's chief accountant.

Lisa Hürtgen was born in Düsseldorf in 1995. She studied directing at the DFFB. Her short film SCHWIMMSTUNDE premiered at Short Tigers in Cannes. During her studies, she worked as an assistant director on Eva Trobisch's feature film ETWAS GANZ BESONDERES and as an assistant director for Sonja Heiss. She has been with Komplizen Film since January 2025.