Irja von Bernstorff
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Irja von Bernstorff studied theatre and media at the university of Bayreuth and at the Sorbonne in Paris. She speaks fluently French, English, German and knows the basics of Italian and Spanish language. Since October 2013 she lives with her daughter and her husband Adrian Bernstorff in Thimphu, Bhutan.
From February 2006 until October 2016 she worked as a producer, author and director for the renowned German film and TV-production company fechnerMEDIA.
2006 to 2010 she was responsible for the development, financing and theatrical distribution of the cinema-featured documentary "The 4th Revolution" (aired on ARTE and ARD and broadcasted on several international channels). From 2008 to the end of production, she was Executive Producer and Directors Assistant on a team that filmed in eleven countries. With audience numbers in excess of 120,000, the film was the most viewed cinema documentary in 2010 in Germany.
Since January 2011 she has been heading up the Berlin office of fechnerMEDIA. In 2011 she produced the German version of the cinema-featured documentary "Nicky's Family" (aired on ARD) and directed a TV reportage for ZDF "Nuclear waste in my Backyard" (30 min.). In 2012 she completed directing a 5 part series on the German energy transition, commissioned by the public Japanese broadcaster NHK, for a theme evening called "The world of Energy after Fukushima" (5 x 10 min.)
In 2013 Irja von Bernstorff completed a theme evening for SR/ARTE on "Urban Futures" directing two one-offs entitled "Feeding Cities - A Challenge for the Future" (52 min.) and "City of the Future - Future of the Cities" (45 min.) that were screened at international festivals. For "Feeding Cities" she won the German Conservation and Sustainability Film Prize. Along with this programme, she designed an online forum "Urban Gardening - How to green your city?" for Arte, which won the German Industrial Film Award in the New Media category. In 2014, she directed a 25-episode BBS (Bhutanese Broadcasting Service) series called "THE FARMER - Sonam Zhingpa" (25 x 30 min.) a production of the Happy Green Cooperative. The feature-length documentary "The Farmer and I" reflects her personal experience in Bhutan, premiered 2016 on the Max-Ophüls Film Festival and had a theatrical release in German cinemas a.o. it won Best Documentary Film on the Polish International Film Festival and on the Hollywood International Independent Film Festival.
2017 she produced and directed a portrait on a child forced to work in a tannery in Bangladesh called "Ridoy" (30 min) aired on KIKA/SWR that won a price for good children's entertainment from TV Spielfilm and German Sustainability award for best childrens' program. "Ridoy" was also awarded as one of the 10 best children film productions in 2018/2019 by National Broadcaster ARD. by
2018, she produced and directed two portraits for KIKA/SWR about 11-year-old Tshering, visiting a rural school in Bhutan and living alone in a small hut near the school with her 8-year-old sister and cousin. The first part of the portrait shows her struggle to carry the responsibility for a household, while trying to progress in school. The second part is focusing on digitalization in developing countries in contrast to 12-year-old Coco in London, who has her own youtube channel.
2019 Irja produced and directed a film called "Bhutan - Glücksland im Wandel" for the format "Länder Menschen Abenteuer" (45 minutes), a co-production between NDR and ARTE. Irja is showing her adopted home Bhutan through the eyes of five protagonists, each representing a unique feature of Bhutan - the co-existence of an ancient society of nomads and subsistence farmers and a young and vibrant urban society at the same moment in time.
From February 2006 until October 2016 she worked as a producer, author and director for the renowned German film and TV-production company fechnerMEDIA.
2006 to 2010 she was responsible for the development, financing and theatrical distribution of the cinema-featured documentary "The 4th Revolution" (aired on ARTE and ARD and broadcasted on several international channels). From 2008 to the end of production, she was Executive Producer and Directors Assistant on a team that filmed in eleven countries. With audience numbers in excess of 120,000, the film was the most viewed cinema documentary in 2010 in Germany.
Since January 2011 she has been heading up the Berlin office of fechnerMEDIA. In 2011 she produced the German version of the cinema-featured documentary "Nicky's Family" (aired on ARD) and directed a TV reportage for ZDF "Nuclear waste in my Backyard" (30 min.). In 2012 she completed directing a 5 part series on the German energy transition, commissioned by the public Japanese broadcaster NHK, for a theme evening called "The world of Energy after Fukushima" (5 x 10 min.)
In 2013 Irja von Bernstorff completed a theme evening for SR/ARTE on "Urban Futures" directing two one-offs entitled "Feeding Cities - A Challenge for the Future" (52 min.) and "City of the Future - Future of the Cities" (45 min.) that were screened at international festivals. For "Feeding Cities" she won the German Conservation and Sustainability Film Prize. Along with this programme, she designed an online forum "Urban Gardening - How to green your city?" for Arte, which won the German Industrial Film Award in the New Media category. In 2014, she directed a 25-episode BBS (Bhutanese Broadcasting Service) series called "THE FARMER - Sonam Zhingpa" (25 x 30 min.) a production of the Happy Green Cooperative. The feature-length documentary "The Farmer and I" reflects her personal experience in Bhutan, premiered 2016 on the Max-Ophüls Film Festival and had a theatrical release in German cinemas a.o. it won Best Documentary Film on the Polish International Film Festival and on the Hollywood International Independent Film Festival.
2017 she produced and directed a portrait on a child forced to work in a tannery in Bangladesh called "Ridoy" (30 min) aired on KIKA/SWR that won a price for good children's entertainment from TV Spielfilm and German Sustainability award for best childrens' program. "Ridoy" was also awarded as one of the 10 best children film productions in 2018/2019 by National Broadcaster ARD. by
2018, she produced and directed two portraits for KIKA/SWR about 11-year-old Tshering, visiting a rural school in Bhutan and living alone in a small hut near the school with her 8-year-old sister and cousin. The first part of the portrait shows her struggle to carry the responsibility for a household, while trying to progress in school. The second part is focusing on digitalization in developing countries in contrast to 12-year-old Coco in London, who has her own youtube channel.
2019 Irja produced and directed a film called "Bhutan - Glücksland im Wandel" for the format "Länder Menschen Abenteuer" (45 minutes), a co-production between NDR and ARTE. Irja is showing her adopted home Bhutan through the eyes of five protagonists, each representing a unique feature of Bhutan - the co-existence of an ancient society of nomads and subsistence farmers and a young and vibrant urban society at the same moment in time.
