Esther van Messel, CEO

Born 1965 in Vienna, lives in Switzerland and holds a Bachelor’s degree in film & television production and in history from the University of Tel Aviv.

In 1990, she joined Warner Bros. Israel and became Head of Distribution. From 1992 she produced international feature films and documentaries as Head of Co-Production and Sales for an independent production company in Zurich.

In 1998, Esther van Messel founded her own company First Hand Films in Zurich and Berlin for world sales of documentaries and fiction films. First Hand Films acts as executive producer for selected projects.

Esther van Messel has been working as a lecturer and consultant for various organisations like EAVE Brussels, IDFA Forum Amsterdam, Cinemart Rotterdam, Eurodoc Paris, Avea Johannesburg, Eureka Warsaw and Tallinn, Another Finland, TV Media Business School Barcelona, Discovery Campus Munich, FÁS Screen Training Ireland, the Filmacademy Ludwigsburg, the Erich Pommer Institut and the Austrian Parliament, a.o. She was an appointed member of the Selection Committee for the Austrian Film Institute and served on several juries like Golden Link EBU and Nordisk Filmpanorama.

Since 1999 she co-owns Vertical Strategy Ltd. in Leipzig together with Björn Koll from Edition Salzgeber Berlin. Esther van Messel is fluent in English, German, French, Dutch, Hebrew, and not yet in Danish. Since 1992 and 1995 she is raising a daughter and a son. She rides a Hornet 900.

Gitte Hansen, Sales and Acquisitions, Zurich

Born on the rocky island of Bornholm, Denmark, Gitte Hansen lives in Switzerland since 2000. In Zurich Gitte worked with international distribution of feature films and started in 2002 at First Hand Films.

Before that, Gitte was Head of Information and Promotion at Filmkontakt Nord for five years, a promotion and coordination center for independent shorts and documentaries from the five Nordic countries Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. The task including assisting the Nordic Film Community as well as international buyers, distributors and press.

Gitte was also the coordinator of the Nordisk Forum for Co-financing of Documentaries for Filmkontakt Nord, and she worked for the MEDIA project DOCUMENTARY on the first edition of the EDN TV Guide (European Documentary Television Programming Guide) as well as on a study of the European Documentary sector.

Gitte Hansen has followed Vertical Strategies and Eurodoc sessions, and is a consultant and lecturer at various workshops while also serving on several international film festivals’ juries around Europe. Gitte holds a Master in Film and Rhetoric from the University of Copenhagen.

She lives with her husband and their two children near Zurich.

Ayse Poffet, Finance and Administration, Zurich

Born in Switzerland and raised in Istanbul (Turkey) and Switzerland, Ayse has a Masters degree in English Literature and Linguistics, Neurophysiology and Social Psychology at the University of Zurich where she also gave several tutorials in Neurophysiology.

She has independently advised German language publishers on American and Turkish literature. She has worked as a sous-chef responsible for first courses and desserts in a classic gourmet restaurant in Cambridge (England) where she also took a degree in English language at Cambridge University (Proficiency) and studied independently at Cambridge Technical College and Cambridge University. She participated at seminars on Feminist Criticism at Sylvia Plath’s college.

In 1998 she has successfully launched a public welfare organisation in her home town which she headed for two years. 1992-2001 She has co-organised a free kindergarten over which she also presided from 1999 to 2001.

Ayse who regularly travels to Turkey, is fluent in German, Turkish, English, and French. She lives near Zurich, is married, raises two unruly teenagers and a Catalan herding dog. She fully subscribes to the rule that "if you can manage a family, you can manage anything!"

Manuela Ruggeri, Assistant Sales & Acquisitions, Zurich

Born in 1980 in Ticino, the sunny part of Switzerland, Manuela Ruggeri has lived in Zurich since 2000, where she completed a Master’s degree in Sociology, Ethnology and International Rights in 2005. After her studies she joined the Documentation Office of the International Film Festival of Locarno.

In 2004 Manuela won the first prize at the 28th edition of the Young Film Days Festival in Zurich with the Documentary Which color has got taste? Or, which taste has got racism?. In the same year Manuela Ruggeri completed a training program in the Editorial Office of the TV-Program Storie at the TSI (Swiss Italian Television). She assisted in producing and editing documentaries. In June 2004 Manuela shot the Symposium The Future of World Society at the Sociological Institute of Zurich. In November 2005 Manuela Ruggeri joined First Hand Films.

Sarah Born, Research & Development

Born in Germany, Sarah holds a Bachelor in Cultural Studies from the European University, Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder.

In 2004 Sarah finished her first documentary Smerffurt City about the relationship between German and Polish children as European neighbours within the urban artproject Slubfurt City. Sarah has also worked for NiKo Film, Berlin, as production assistant.

In summer 2007, she did an internship at First Hand Films, completing a study about international distribution channels of DVD and VOD Services. Since September 2007 Sarah takes care of all things technical. As a child, she had learned to read and write from a Catholic nun in the Basque Country.

Rut Ferner, Head of office, Berlin

Born 1971, studied Geography at the Universities in Würzburg and Bremen.

In her former life she worked as a geographer, specialising in the geography of sexualities and geography of fear and working on public/private spaces.

Before launching her next professional career, she worked for several years on a voluntary basis as programmer and press relations coordinator for Bremen’s queer film festival.

Since August 2001 assisting Esther van Messel at the First Hand Films Berlin office.

At the same time organising Training programmes and workshops for Vertical Strategy Ltd., Leipzig - to serve independent European producers professionalizing their marketing skills and tools (either through seminars or individual consultancies).

Something I don’t usually mention: I love surfing (not the internet, but on the sea with a rather small board and a sail on top of it...) - and: I have a special interest in China.