Undine spricht

Sarah Blaßkiewitz studied film (cinematography) at Beuth University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and, at the same time, worked in the directing and cinematography departments on film productions. From 2016 to 2017, she attended Thomas Heise’s film class at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Her first feature film, Ivie wie Ivie, premiered in 2021 at the Munich Film Festival and was awarded the rating “Besonders wertvoll” (particularly valuable). Among other honours, it was named Best Film at the Festival of German Film and received the 2021 Gilde Film Prize from arthouse cinemas. 

Heike Geißler, born in Riesa in 1977, is an author and works in the fields of art and theatre. Her most recent publications include the novel Die Woche (2022), the essay collections Verzweiflungen and Arbeiten (both 2025) and the novel Michaela Kohlhaas (2026). She has recently been awarded, amongst others, the Klopstock Prize for New Literature, the Bavarian Book Prize and the Heinrich Böll Prize from the City of Cologne.

Annette Schuhmann, born in East Berlin in 1960, studied history and political science at the Freie Universität Berlin after completing an apprenticeship as a mainframe computer operator. She obtained a PhD in contemporary history and is an editor at the zeitgeschichte|online portal at the Leibniz Centre for Contemporary History.
 
Carolin Würfel, born in Leipzig, is a historian and works as a journalist, writer and screenwriter. She lives in Berlin and Istanbul and writes about East Germany, life between political systems, and how women’s life stories can retell history. Her most recent work is the novel Zuhause ist das Wetter unzuverlässig, which was nominated for the lit.COLOGNE Debut Prize.