My work

My work

Focus on Latin America. While working abroad I mostly film, edit, and write the stories myself.

MEXICO: COOKING LIKE GRANDMA

Corn, banana leaves, vegetables and meat – the older women of the village of Cárdenas in the Mexican state of Chiapas still cook the way their grandmothers did. How can these traditional recipes be preserved?
(videography, editing, text)
6 min
Deutsche Welle, 2020
watch in English
watch in German
watch in Spanish

GUATEMALA / USA: JAKELIN’S DEADLY JOURNEY















Late 2018, seven-year-old Jakelin Caal from Guatemala died in U.S. custody. The case triggered dismay around the world. What went wrong? And how has the family dealt with the tragedy? I went to her home village in Guatemala to spend some time with her family and talk about what happened.
SPIEGEL ONLINE, 2018
watch in English
watch in German

PERU: THE BIG SELL-OUT

Deforestation, land grabs, exploitation: in the province of Ucayali in Peru, corruption is widespread. International investors have snapped up huge tracts of land using dubious methods that leave local farmers and indigenous people destitute.
(videography, editing, text)
6 min
Deutsche Welle, 2018
watch in English
watch in German
watch in Spanish

MEXICO: PHOTOGRAPHER MARTIN ENGELMANN AND THE LACANDON PEOPLE

Austrian photographer Martin Engelmann is documenting the live and culture of the Lacandon people. The Lacandon are indigenous descendants of the Maya, and for a long time they have been seen as the only Maya that were successfully fighting for not being christianised. But their culture is about to disappear, only a few hundreds are left. For the movie I was given the opportunity to accompany Martin Engelmann during one of his expeditions into the Mexican jungle. (videography, editing, narration)
12min
SPIEGEL.TV, 2017
DER SPIEGEL (Visual Story)

COSTA RICA: MAKING COFFEE CLIMATE-FRIENDLY


Coffee is one of Costa Rica’s main exports but coffee production contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. Efforts are underway to make it less environmentally damaging. For Deutsche Welle I was visiting the country and filming how a whole bunch of scientists, coffee experts and hundreds of small scale farmers are working on the idea of “climate-friendly coffee”. (videography, editing, text)
7 min
Deutsche Welle, 2017
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watch in German
watch in Spanish

GRENADA: BIOGAS FROM THE PRISON

I was given the opportunity to report from Grenada, a more than beautiful island a couple of hundred kilometres north of Venezuela. The prison of Grenada is producing biogas – and the prisoners themselves are being educated to be the biogas engineers. The more biogas plants there will be in Grenada in the future, the better the inmates’ chance to find a job after their time behind bars.


USA: WHO VOTED FOR TRUMP?

In the week leading up to the 2016 presidential election I filmed a documentary with a german colleague that we will edit and publish in 2017. Set in Western New York, a region full of Trump fans, we interviewed locals and asked, why Trump? Very emotional stuff.

 (Interview)
rbb online, 2016


CHILE: SAVING DARWIN’S FROG

Patagonia’s Darwin’s frog is a threatened species fighting a duel battle against habitat loss and an invasive fungal skin infection. Scientists at the Huilo Huilo Nature Reserve and at a local university are trying to save the tiny frog by breeding healthy juveniles and shipping them all the way to the Leipzig Zoo in Germany. (videography, editing, text)
7 min
Deutsche Welle TV, 2016
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watch in Spanish
watch in German

BELIZE: AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE EARL

When Hurricane Earl hit Belize in August 2016, I reported for Accuweather.com about the situation the day after the storm near San Ignacio.


PARAGUAY: SMALL-SCALE FARMERS vs. SOY 

Many Paraguayan small-scale farmers have to give up their traditional way of living as multinational agricultural companies purchase large tracks of land in an attempt to meet worldwide soy demand. Only a few find a way to keep their land – and are struggling to survive.
(videography, editing, text).
7 min
Deutsche Welle, 2015
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watch in Spanish
watch in German


NICARAGUA, EL SALVADOR: WORLD WIDE BERLIN

A multimedia project about some of the many places in the world that are called Berlin. Published as a web documentary and a 3-hours-TV-documentary. I worked as videographer in Berlin, Nicaragua and as director (with camera and audio staff) in Berlín, El Salvador.
rbb Fernsehen, Deutsche Welle, 2015
watch the web documentary


COLOMBIA: EXPLORING REMOTE CORNERS OF THE AMAZON

With the help of a group of top scientists from WWF (World Wildlife Fund) we monitored and recorded the ecosystem’s health in search of new species surrounding an indigenous community along the flood plain of the Amazon River near the border of Colombia, Brazil, and Peru. (videography, editing, text).
7 min
Deutsche Welle, 2014
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watch in German
watch in Spanish


INVASION OF THE LION-FISH

-> Awarded at the Belize Film Festival

Beautiful to watch, dangerous to touch: The lion-fish is a recent invasive species in the Caribbean with a big appetite, and no predators. It’s rapidly breeding and eating its way through the country’s pristine barrier reef, a top diving destination. Now the people of Belize are trying to fight back – by catching and eating the venomous fish.
(idea, videography, editing, text)
7 min
Deutsche Welle, 2014
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watch in German


MEXICO: MENNONITES IN CHIHUAHUA

In the north of Mexico people speak German: low German, an accent from centuries ago. Mennonites are still living in their own traditional way, trying to live the life that their ancestors lived, when they moved from Europe to the other side of the world. It is a life full of contradictions. (idea, videography, text)
42 min
SPIEGEL TV WISSEN HD, 2013
watch documentary in German

BELIZE: PREPARING FOR THE END OF THE WORLD?

In Belize there are still many living descendants of the Maya. This documentary shows how people all around the country are preparing for the end of the Maya calendar on December 21st, 2012. Also visiting the ancient monuments of Caracol for a traditional fire ceremony led by a Maya spiritual leader. (idea, videography, text)
42 min
Spiegel TV WISSEN, 2012
watch here in German


BARCELONA, SPAIN: LIVING IN TIMES OF CRISIS

A documentary about people of Barcelona, who are struggling to make a living after the economic crisis hit Spain especially hard. And also about people who don’t have a problem – because they have enough money to get through it.
17 min
Spiegel.TV, 2012
watch in German


SPAIN: WAY TO EXPENSIVE – WAY TO AWESOME?

The famous Sónar-Festival in Barcelona is one of the hottest electro-events in Europe.  But because of the economical crisis a lot of locals cannot afford the ticket.
20 min
SPIEGEL.TV, 2012
watch in German


24h @ BARCELONA

One day I went to explore the vibrant life in the city of Barcelona. I meet musicians, artists, and Germans who found their happiness within the beautiful city. (reporting on camera)
42 min
SPIEGEL TV WISSEN HD, 2012
watch in German