Beyond
We think BEYOND
The BEYOND Festival aims to build bridges between cultural issues, storytelling, cinema aesthetics and the joy of film. It addresses current technological and socio-political topics and encourages active engagement with these developments. Initiator and festival director Ludger Pfanz says: "While it is hardly possible to predict the future, it is possible to actively shape it. In addition to the films with their extraordinary perspectives, the focus is therefore also on the exchange between the audience and filmmakers."
Festival director Ludger Pfanz
Festival director Ludger Pfanz is a media artist, director and, since 1997, a lecturer at the Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design (HfG). As founder and director of the international BEYOND and the Future Design Symposium, he works at the interface of art, technology and society.
Ludger Pfanz combines regional roots with international experience: born in Schopfloch, he was one of the co-founders of the Feuchtwangen Youth Centre in 1972. Together with director Gülsel Özkan, he brought the BEYOND concept to Middle Franconia.
Festival Director Gülsel Özkan
Gülsel Özkan is a film director, screenwriter and producer. Since 1989, she has been making documentary films for international audiences, supported by Hamburg Filmförderung, MFG Filmförderung, ARD, ARTE, NDR, WDR, BR DW Phönix, H3, MDR and SFB, as well as international broadcasters such as Spain's TVE, 3 sat and Planet France. Her films have been broadcast internationally and have won numerous awards. Her latest film, ‘Heimatweh’, received 13 international film awards.
She is the managing director of Future Design Company GmbH (formerly Planet Film GmbH) and director of the Beyond Festival, which she founded together with Ludger Pfanz and which has been held in Karlsruhe since 2011 and in Feuchtwangen since 2022.
Özkan is also a jury member and jury president at national and international festivals, including the Türk Film Festival in Mannheim/Heidelberg, the Öko Film Festival in Freiburg, the African International Woman Film Festival in Harare, Zimbabwe, and the VR Festival in Nanchang, China.