Further reading
- Klug, Hannes (2015). Schauplatz Film New York (in German). Regensburg: Bueckle & Boehm. ISBN 978-3941530256. portraits of New York directors - Katja Esson p. 162–166
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Katja Esson is a German-American filmmaker based in Miami, Florida. She was born and raised in Germany. [1] [2]
Her documentary Ferry Tales received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 2004. [3] She is the only female German filmmaker ever nominated for a documentary at the Academy Awards.
Esson was born Katja Kümmerle, in Hamburg, Germany. After graduating from secondary school in Hamburg, she moved to the United States to study film, [1] earning a Bachelor in Motion Pictures and Theater at the University of Miami, Florida. [2]
Esson began working in the film industry as a director's assistant on German features, [2] and a production assistant in Miami. [4] She moved to New York in 1994. [1] She was married to Cuban painter Tomas Esson. [5]
Since the year 2000, she has worked as a writer-director. Her documentaries have screened internationally on numerous festivals in the US, [6] [7] Asia and Europe, and have won international awards. [2] In 2011, her film Poetry of Resilience won the award for Best Short Documentary at the Woodstock Film Festival. [8] [9] In 2012, her film Skydancer was nominated for three awards at the Shanghai Television Festival (Best Documentary, Best Director, Best Camera). [4]
Her films have also been broadcast on PBS, HBO and channel Thirteen, [2] as well as Arte and ARD in Europe. [2] [10] [11]
In 2004, she started her own production company, Penelope Pictures.
In 2007, Esson received the Simons Public Humanities Fellowship [12] and was nominated for a Rockefeller Media Grant. [2]
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