Ernst Wilhelm "Wim" Wenders is a German filmmaker, playwright, author, and photographer. He is a major figure in New German Cinema. Among the honors he has received are prizes from the Cannes, Venice and Berlin film festivals. He has also received a BAFTA Award and been nominated for three Academy Awards and a Grammy Award.
Thalidomide, sold under the brand names Contergan and Thalomid among others, is an oral medication used to treat a number of cancers, graft-versus-host disease, and many skin disorders. While thalidomide has been used in a number of HIV-associated conditions, such use is associated with increased levels of the virus.
Phocomelia is a congenital condition that involves malformations of human arms and legs which results in a flipper-like appendage. A prominent cause of phocomelia is the mother's use of the drug thalidomide during pregnancy; however, the causes of most cases are to be determined.
Volker Schlöndorff is a German film director, screenwriter and producer who has worked in Germany, France and the United States. He was a prominent member of the New German Cinema of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Grünenthal is a pharmaceutical company headquartered in Aachen in Germany. It was founded in 1946 as Chemie Grünenthal and has been continuously family-owned. The company was the first to introduce penicillin into the German market in the postwar period, after the Allied Control Council lifted its ban.
John Zaritsky was a Canadian documentarian/filmmaker. His work has been broadcast in 35 countries and screened at more than 40 film festivals around the world; in 1983, his film Just Another Missing Kid won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Thalidomide!! A Musical is a British musical written and composed by Mat Fraser, who was born with phocomelia as a result of the drug thalidomide being taken during his mother's pregnancy. Fraser and Anna Winslet play all the roles in the show.
Niko von Glasow is a German film director and producer. He is the founder and artistic director of Palladio Film and the founder of the Niko von Glasow Foundation.
Prajwala is a non-governmental organization based in Hyderabad, India, devoted exclusively to eradicating prostitution and sex trafficking. Founded in 1996 by Ms. Sunitha Krishnan and Brother Jose Vetticatil, the organization actively works in the areas of prevention, rescue, rehabilitation, re-integration, and advocacy to combat trafficking in every dimension and restore dignity to victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
Terrence 'Terry' Wiles was one of the most disabled thalidomide babies born in the UK. He has since become known internationally through the Emmy Award winning television drama On Giant's Shoulders and the best-selling book of the same name.
Marjorie Shiona Wallace CBE is a British investigative journalist, author, and broadcaster. She is also the Founder and Chief Executive of mental health charity SANE.
Fís Éireann / Screen Ireland, formerly known as Bord Scannán na hÉireann / the Irish Film Board, is the Republic of Ireland's state development agency for the Irish film, television and animation industry. It provides funds for the development, production and distribution of feature films, feature documentaries, short films, TV animation series and TV drama series.
Armin Meiwes is a German former computer repair technician who received international attention for murdering and eating a voluntary victim in 2001, whom he had found via the Internet.
Sunitha Krishnan is an Indian social activist and chief functionary and co-founder of Prajwala, a non-governmental organization that rescues, rehabilitates and reintegrates sex-trafficked victims into society. She was awarded India's fourth highest civilian award the Padma Shri in 2016.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the use of thalidomide in 46 countries by women who were pregnant or who subsequently became pregnant resulted in the "biggest man-made medical disaster ever," with more than 10,000 children born with a range of severe deformities, such as phocomelia, as well as thousands of miscarriages.
Christian Becker is a German film producer. He is the co-owner of Rat Pack Filmproduktion together with German major studio Constantin Film.
My Way to Olympia is a 2013 feature documentary produced and directed by Niko von Glasow, which follows disabled athletes preparing to compete at the London 2012 Paralympics. The film focuses on Matt Stutzman, an armless American archer; Norwegian table tennis player Aida Dahlen; the Rwandan sitting volleyball team; one-legged German swimmer Christiane Reppe and the tetraplegic Greek boccia player Greg Polychronidis. The film was produced by Palladio Film.
Marc-Henri Wajnberg is a Belgian film director born in 1953. He is also a screenwriter, an actor and the co-founder and CEO of Wajnbrosse Productions.
Gunnar Dedio is a German film producer and media entrepreneur. He is the founder and managing director of the film production company LOOKSfilm.
Michaelina "Mikey" Argy MBE is an English thalidomide survivor and activist. She is a past chair of the National Advisory Committee of the Thalidomide Trust, the organisation through which British thalidomide survivors receive financial support, and is still involved in the media activities of the trust.
