Antje Kruska
Antje Kruska was born in Dortmund on July 13 1973. From 1993 on, she studied publishing, Spanish philology and theatre in Münster and Berlin. In addition, she had several internships, among others at the ZDF TV network. In 1999, she and Judith Keil co-directed their first documentary "Ausfahrt Ost", which got a nomination at the 2000 Grimme-Award. For their follow-up "Der Glanz von Berlin" (2001), the two filmmakers portrayed the professional and private lives of four cleaning women. The film was screened at the 2002 Berlin IFF and later won the 2003 Grimme-Award.
"Dancing With Myself" (2005), the third documentary Keil and Kruska made together, also premiered at the Berlin IFF In it, the filmmakers portray three individuals, aged between 18 and 63, from different social backgrounds who share a passion for dancing. At the Leipzig DOK Festival, "Dancing With Myself" won the Discovery Channel Award. "Wenn die Welt uns gehört" was the first dramatic feature by the two filmmakers. It tells the story of three teenage outcasts in a small East-German town who become Satanists. The film premiered at the 2009 Hofer Filmtage and received very positive reviews, yet it wasn't released theatrically.
The two filmmakers next contributed the segment "Gestrandet" – in which they portray a refugee from Cameroon who tries to settle in rural East-Germany – to the TV documentary series "20xBrandenburg" (2010). The short also became the basis for their next feature-length project: "Land in Sicht" ("Land in Sight") shows the everyday experience of three refugees living in a small town in Brandenburg. After premiering at the 2013 DOK Festival Leipzig, the film was released in Germany in January 2014.