Four women running leading companies and organisations in the German film industry came together at Filmfest Hamburg for an event called ‘Inspiring Talk – Women at the Top’ to discuss topics such as how communication and diversity within their teams and achieving a work/life balance for all.
“There are a lot of issues that concern us and I realised I’m not alone, there are other women who think the same way,” said Malika Rabahallah, the new director of the Filmfest Hamburg, who was joined by Wiebke Andresen, managing director of the Hamburg-based production companies Nordfilm and Letterbox Filmproduktion, Tanja Meissner, new director of Berlinale Pro, and Verena von Stackelberg, co-founder of the Wolf Kino cinema in Berlin.
Andresen noted she had never worked with another woman in a leading management position until she joined Kerstin Ramcke as co-managing director of Nordfilm. “I had always worked with women in middle management positions but never ones at the top before then,” she revealed.
Rabahallah and von Stackelberg both agreed that although they had suffered with “imposter syndrome” at points in their careers they had benefited from the support of close colleagues.
“I had people like [former CEO of Hamburg’s film fund] Eva Hubert who always believed that I can do things when I wasn’t sure about that myself,” Rabahallah said.
“I was very lucky with the management [at distributor] DCM where they showed me what it means to trust one another and build up a company together,” added Andresen. “The same thing happened when I came to Hamburg with Michael Lehmann [at Studio Hamburg] who was there to support and empower me.”
The Berlinale’s Meissner said her mentors had been Celluloid Dreams’ Hengameh Panahi and Memento Films’ Emilie Georges.
“These were two self-made women who had set up their own companies with a very male management style which was more transactional,” she recalled. “They were strong mentors and this enablement was incredibly important.”
Von Stackelberg said she had always been indebted to the trust invested in her by UK cinema consultant Robert Kenny when she ahd worked with him at Curzon Cinemas, newly graduated from university. “He was the first one to give me this young woman without any previous experience the space and plenty of freedom to take decisions by myself,” von Stackelberg said.
Rabahallah said the overwhelming encouragement from the local film industry gave the necessary impetus to apply to become Albert Wiederspiel’s successor at the Filmfest. “At the [MOIN] film fund I wasn’t alone because I always had a sparring partner in [CEO] Helge Albers. But at the Filmfest you are suddenly alone at the top and have the sole responsibility for all the people and have to make the decisions by yourself.
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