portrait @en | Christina Felschen

portrait @en | Christina Felschen

Can her research reform the World Bank?

published by Letter, the magazine of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD >> (and as a short version on the DAAD website >>)

When Professor Pinelopi “Penny” Goldberg applied for the position of Chief Economist at the World Bank in 2018, it was not her first application to the bank. Thirty years earlier, she had applied for an internship, but was rejected. She took it as a challenge, which led her from Freiburg to Yale and finally to Washington D.C.

“Ms Lemper, Marlene Dietrich would like you to call her back!”

published by German Embassy Washington D.C. and germany.info, directing + editing: Wiebke Nauhauser, cinematography: myself

An international icon for her acting, singing and style: in 1939, Marlene Dietrich became a US citizen and took a clear stand against the Nazi dictatorship in her homeland. 80 years later, German performer Ute Lemper, likewise world famous and living in New York, has dedicated a production to Dietrich – inspired by a phone call from the legend herself.

Wilhelmina

produced for New York Film Academy

Amidst film stars and hipsters at the Union Square Greenmarket in downtown Manhattan, an elderly lady bends down into garbage bags to sort other people’s waste. Who is this woman with a Dutch queen’s name and a German accent? And what does she hope to achieve in a city that likes nothing more than to buy and to throw away?

There is no „America First“ science

published in the magazine of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), pp. 8-11, May 2017 >>

Climate change is a lie and science does not need any exchange: Donald Trump has an “alternative” understanding of what is true – much to US researchers’ chagrin. A conversation with the political scientist Beverly Crawford from Berkeley University, who is currently researching Fake News.

Donald Trump’s best bodyguard

published in German by ZEIT ONLINE on Jan, 23, 2017 >>, translated into English by Watching America >>

Political experience, determination, respect in Congress. His vice-president, Mike Pence, brings what Donald Trump lacks. Politically, he is at least just as extreme.

Hummus and apple pie

part of the photo exhibition “…und plötzlich diese Stille” (…suddenly there is silence), on display in the townhall of Wadersloh, Germany, as of April 20, 2016 >>

When the air raid warning went off, Samer* und Gazi* ran for their lives before bombs transformed their neighborhood into a landscape of rubble. Today father and son live in rural Liesborn-Göttingen and fear for their family whom they had to leave back in Syria.

The Taliban on their heels

part of the photo exhibition “…und plötzlich diese Stille” (…suddenly there is silence), on display in the townhall of Wadersloh, Germany, as of April 20, 2016 >>

In Germany, Kainat can finally go back to school. Her family fled from a remote Pashtun village still ruled by the Taliban, who forbid her to leave the house. In rural Westphalia, the eleven of them easily make friends as they are all avid football players. All of them except one-year-old Sana who prefers sitting on the ball to kicking it.

Frantic with worry – why so many men escape without their family

part of the exhibition “…and suddenly there is silence”, on display in the townhall of Wadersloh, Germany, as of April 20, 2016 >>

Sulyman is angry. Angry with himself, because he cannot do anything but “sleep, eat, drink” – in a house with 40 other worrisome men. And he is angry with the authorities. Six months have passed since his application for asylum; six months, in which his wife and small children have persevered between the front lines waiting for a family reunification visa. What, if the Syrian war is faster than the German authorities?

First times – Iranians in a German village

part of the photo exhibition “…und plötzlich diese Stille” (…suddenly there is silence), on display in the townhall of Wadersloh, Germany, as of April 20, 2016 >>

Farkhondeh*, Kurosh and their two daughters were betrayed. While they were on vacation, the Guardians of the Islamic Revolution broke into her house in Tehran and found figures of angels and crosses. Evidence. As Christians, they would have been immediately arrested upon entry. A smuggling truck was their salvation – but first, it was nearly their end.

“Too safe to die, too poor to live”

part of the photo exhibition “…und plötzlich diese Stille” (…suddenly there is silence), on display in the townhall of Wadersloh, Germany, as of April 20, 2016 >>

Marjeta and her friends aren’t refugees and yet they applied for asylum because they can not apply for a visa. They come from a so-called safe country of origin”, Albania, and might be deported anytime. To rid her family of hospital debts, they need to earn money in Germany. A local company wants to employ them, but their work permit is still pending.