STORY.SE - Key Persons
Amiin Madar is a Somali-Swedish filmmaker. He's currently studying Fine Art at Konstfack and working on his first feature documentary, about two female martial artists.
Ania Winiarska is a Gothenburg-based documentary film director and photographer. Since moving to Sweden from UK in 2013, she has worked with Story productions such as Fonko and Ruth, as well as her own films Chapter 11 and the Rio Stories series. Born in Poland, raised as a Catholic, Ania's work often takes an interest in questions about the role and purpose of religion in people's life.
Job Titles:
- Director
- Editor
- Director of Photography
David Aronowitsch is a film director, producer and one of the co-founders of Story. His work often revolves around political issues. Together with Hanna Heilborn he has directed the three animated short films "Hidden" (2002), "Slaves" (2009) and "Sharaf" (2012).
His filmography also includes films like "I am Dublin", "Facing Genocide" and "A Fragment of Life in Four Scenes". In 2020 his latest documentary, "Idomeni", premiered at the Gothenburg Film Festival.
Born in Dublin, Ireland, in 1991, Dennis makes work about movement, identity and the city. He holds a bachelor's degree in Film Studies and Spanish from Trinity College Dublin and a Master's degree in Cinema Studies from Stockholm University.
Dennis is a member of Noncitizen, a collective of filmmakers, artists and activists who work to highlight issues of oppression in our time, like borders, restricted freedom of movement and the right to have rights. Since 2018 he has been managing Noncitizen's filmmaking mentorship projects for undocumented migrants and asylum seekers, and building noncitizenarchive.com, an online repository for audiovisual material from migratory experiences.
Dennis is currently developing his first feature, a film-essay about the politics of movement. He began working as a producer at Story in 2020.
Born 1992 on Gräsö, Roslagen archipelago. Studied Journalism at Södertörn University 2011-2014 and Gender Studies at Stockholm University 2013-2014. Worked as a researcher for I am Dublin (Story, 2015), Crisis Document. A Survival Guide (MDEMC, 2015) and Unkilled (Story, in progress). Production manager for A Fragment of a Life in Four Scenes (Story, 2016). SAD and casting assistant for Aniara (Meta Film, 2018). Debuted as director and producer in 2018 with feature documentary Wild Dogs (Dela Kakan). Founding member of film collective Noncitizen, www.noncitizen.se, www.noncitizenarchive.com.
Hanna Heilborn is a filmmaker born 1968. She has been working as a as a writer since 1990 and film-director since 1998, mostly with documetaries for film and TV. She is also senior lecturer at various Arts-, Film- and Animation Schools around the world. Her leaning towards Art are felt in the groundbreaking and internationally awarded animated documentaries "Hidden" (2002), "Slaves" (2009) and "Sharaf" (2012) directed with David Aronowwitsch, among other documentaries. Hanna also directs and produces various installations for Museums and works as a tutor within programmes for EDN (European Documentary Network). She has been co-owner of Story since 2001.
Hannah Reinikainen, born 1992, is a filmmaker from Stockholm, Sweden. She has been studying journalism and documentary filmmaking. She has been working as an editor and directed two short films. In 2020 her first feature film, Always Amber, premiered at the Berlinale. She is currently working on her second feature film, Our Love.
Jacob Frössén is a filmmaker and graphic designer. He made the film "En film om Olle Ljungström" and is currently working on a film about the the singer Henric de la Cour and a film about the painter Sara-Vide Ericson that both will be finished in 2013. He also works as a graphic designer.
Julian Vogel is a filmmaker from Stockholm, with a BA in film production from the University of Edinburgh. Specializing in cinematography for documentary, he has worked on numerous projects abroad for Story, SVT and others.
Lamin Daniel Jadama, is a film director, producer and visual artist, born 1976 in Stockholm, Sweden. He has a Masters Degree in Artistic Research/Documentary Processes from the Stockholm University of the Arts. Initiated and co-directed the tv series, Fonko (Story, 2014), the feature length, Fonko (Story/WDR, 2016), premiered at the BFI LFF (2016), screened at festivals and television, worldwide. He is the founder of the production company, Machete, producing narratives that circulates around identity, class and post colonial perspectives. Produced and directed, They Call Us - Sneakerheadz (SVT, 2019) LDJ has worked as a DJ and producer for the Swedish National Radio, SR. Produced radio documentaries for Story/ SR. Board member of CinemAfrica - Northern Europe's largest film festival dedicated to African and diasporic film. Produced visual installations, Black Ocean (The Fringe Festival) and The Door of No Return (The Royal Theatre Dramaten, Stockholm) - The National Black Theatre of Sweden.
Born 1993 in Stockholm, Sweden. Lia Hietala has been working in the film industry since 2014 as a director, cinematographer and casting director. She has directed two fictional short films; If I Say No (2016) and My Gay Sister (2017). My Gay Sister became a big international success and won the worlds biggest queer film award, the prestigious TEDDY Award, at the Berlinale. In 2020 her first feature film, Always Amber, premiered at the Berlinale. She's currently studying Fine Art at Konstfack, University of Arts, Crafts & Design and is also working on her second feature film, Our Love and the short documentary Night Shift.
Melissa Lindgren was born in Stockholm 1986 and graduated from the University of Gothenburg with a Master in Fine Arts focusing on curation for film and video. Before coming to Story she was the artistic director of Tempo Documentary Festival for almost 8 years. She is also the funder and festival director of Cinema Queer International Film Festival. Melissa is inspired of the share variety, dedication and creativity exhibited within documentary storytelling. She is particularly interested in exploring how film can be used as a point of departure for social change. She is a producer at Story since 2019.
Mia Engberg is a film director, producer and teacher. She has made a number of shorts and feature-length documentaries in Sweden, USA and France with her production company Story.
Moon Rider is a coming-of-age story about the bike rider Rasmus Quaade. The film follows young Rasmus' struggle to become a professional rider, a rough and winding road through hell and back.
Shot on fragile Super8 and raw helmet-cam, it is a journey seen from the inside of a young man's head - it is a personal story entrusted to the spectator by Rasmus himself from his intimate diary. Rasmus has proven to have an extra ordinary talent for riding, but even if Rasmus' physical abilities are extra ordinary and build for cycling, his mind is build for thinking. His constant reflections about life and death becomes his biggest obstacle in reaching his goal of becoming a World Champion. In order to win, he has to empty his head completely, but how do you clear your head, when every thought is a step in the wrong direction? The film paints an honest and heartbreaking picture of the extreme and lonely life of a young championship rider.
Roxy Farhat (b. 1984, Iran) is a Swedish artist and filmmaker. From documentary to video and performance, Roxy uses her work to explore themes of anti-racism, intersectional feminism, community engagement and the absurdity of capitalism. Educated at UCLA (MFA) and Konstfack (BFA), Roxy has since branched out across media and industries through collaborations with artists such as Gnucci and Zhala, playwright Dimen Abdulla, and the Malmö based youth council HUR.
Salad Hilowle is an artist and filmmaker based in Stockholm. His artistic practice revolves around identity, memories and place. His short film "Letter to Sweden" was shortlisted for a Guldbagge nomination and got an honorary mention at Tempo Documentary Festival for best short film. The film was seen by more than 1 million on TV in 2017.
Hilowle was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and grew up in Gävle. In 2015 he received one of Sweden's largest scholarships, Karin and Erik Engmans scholarship. In 2020 he received the Bernadotte scholarship from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm.
He is currently working on his first feature film "Tungomål".
Sally Jacobson, born 1993, is a filmmaker based in Stockholm. She holds a bachelor in film at HDK-Valand Academy of Art, graduated spring 2022. Sally is currently working with her first feature documentary project Laws of the Wild in collaboration with Tuva Björk.
Sophie Vuković is a Stockholm based filmmaker whose work explores questions of identity, intimacy and migration.
Her debut short film, "09:55-11:05, Ingrid Ekman Bergsgatan 4B (2015), was an international success and was awarded at festivals like SXSW, Slamdance, Mezipatra Queer Film Festival and Stockholm International Film Festival.
Her first feature-length film, "Shapeshifters" (2017), is a hybrid documentary about migration and belonging beyond national borders. "Shapeshifters" premiered internationally at CPH:DOX and was nominated for several festival awards.
Tobias Janson is producer and CEO at Swedish production company Story since 2009. His filmography includes (selection) That Summer (2017, Telluride, Berlinale Panorama, Gothenburg FF), Shapeshifters (2017, Competition sections in Gothenburg FF and CPH:Dox), The Traffic Lights Turn Blue Tomorrow (2017, Competition sections in Gothenburg FF and Tempo), Kiki (2016, Sundance World Competition, Teddy Award at Berlinale, Idfa + more), Fonko (2015, Rotterdam and London IFF), Concerning Violence (2014, Sundance World Competition, Cinema Fairbindet Award Berlinale, Special Jury nomination, Sheffield, Best documentary at the Swedish Film Awards), Belleville Baby (2013, Berlinale Panorama, Best Documentary at Swedish Film Awards) After You (2013, Best Nordic Documentary Award, CPH:Dox), At Night I Fly, (2011, Best Documentary at Swedish Film Awards, Special Jury nomination, Sheffield), The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011, World Documentary Editing Award, Sundance, Best Editing, Best Music, Swedish Film Awards + worldwide theatrical distribution).
Tuva Björk is a documentary filmmaker born in Helsinki. She holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts and a master's in Fine Arts in Film, both from Valand Academy of Art. Her video works have been exhibited in Gothenburg City Museum, Konstepidemin, Kunstnernes Hus in Oslo, etc. Her works often deal with the ways humans relate to the natural world and the conventions that exist around the representation of nature in the contemporary media landscape. Tuva is currently working on her first feature documentary project Laws of the Wild in collaboration with Sally Jacobson.