Company Profile
pong was founded in 2001 by Berlin based cultural producers Merle Kröger and Philip Scheffner. Both had gathered film production experience in the video collective dogfilm from 1992 - 2000.
Website: https://www.pong-berlin.de/en
pong stands for the production of creative documentaries and features on the border to the arts – films in which the filmmakers’ aesthetic and political positions are formed and expressed.
Merle Kröger has expertise as scriptwriter, dramaturg and novelist. She is co-author of several films by Philip Scheffner. Furthermore, she has published four novels with argument since 2003. She received the German Crime Novel Award in 2013 and 2016. A fifth novel was released in 2021 with Suhrkamp and was awarded the German Crime Novel Award 2021. Since 2007 she works for Berlinale Talents, Doc Station. Since 2011 she is co-director and mentor at the Professional Media Master Class for Documentary Film in Halle (Saale).
Philip Scheffner has been working as a visual artist since 1985. His feature length creative documentaries The Halfmoon Files (2007), Day of the Sparrow (2010), Revision (2012) and Havarie (2016) won numerous awards, have been released in cinema and were shown around the world. Since October 2021 he is Professor of Documentary Practices at KHM Cologne. Scheffner's first fiction film Europe celebrates its world premiere at Berlinale 2022. As part of pong, his focus is project development and editing.
Caroline Kirberg & Alex Gerbaulet, filmmakers and producers, are on board of pong since 2014. In 2022 they become shareholders and CEOs.
Caroline Kirberg has specialized in the production of interdisciplinary and innovatively conceived films on the border to the arts. Next to being pong's head producer, Kirberg has been producing for well-known artists like Clemens von Wedemeyer, Dani Gal, Assaf Gruber, Stephan Geene, Volker Sattel and Clarissa Thieme. She teaches film production at film and art schools.
Alex Gerbaulet has a record of many years of practice-based and film-theoretical teaching at different German art schools and has worked as a curator for film festivals, like Dokfest Kassel and Duisburger Filmwoche. Her short films Shift (2015), Depth of Field (2017) and The Sleeper (2018) won many awards and have been shown around the world. Together with Mareike Bernien, who also supports the pong team, she celebrates the world premiere of their experimental documentary Sun Under Ground at Berlinale Forum Expanded 2022.
pong has produced the films by Dorothee Wenner (Peace Mission, Kinshasa Collection), Philip Widmann and Dan Nguyen (A House in Ninh Hoa), Khaled Abdulwahed and Amel Alzakout (Backyard, Purple Sea). Together we focus on up-coming artists and filmmakers and international co-productions, aiming to expand pong as a platform for moving images as well as sounds, music and text.
Filmography:
SUN UNDER GROUND D 2022 / Film by Mareike Bernien and Alex Gerbaulet
funded by Gesellschaft für künstlerische Forschung Berlin, Stiftung Kunstfonds, FFA
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2022 / Forum Expanded
EUROPE D 2021 / Film by Philip Scheffner https://europe.pong-berlin.de
Co-produced by Haut les Mains Productions, Blinker Film, RBB and Région Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes mit dem CNC
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2022 / Forum
World Sales: Square Eyes
PURPLE SEA D 2020 / Film by Amel Alzakout and Khaled Abdulwahed http://purplesea.pong-berlin.de
Co-Produced by ZDF / Arte
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2020 / Forum Expanded
Nominated for the Grimme Award and the VFF Documentary Production Award 2021
BACKYARD D 2018 / Short Film by Khaled Abdulwahed http://backyard.pong-berlin.de
WP: FID Marseille / GP: DOK Leizpig / CNAP Award FID Marseille
THE SLEEPER D 2018 / Short Film by Alex Gerbaulet http://sleeper.pong-berlin.de
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2018 / Forum Expanded
KINSHASA COLLECTION D 2017 / Web Series by Dorothee Wenner http://kinshasa-collection.com/
Co-Produced by Goethe Institute Kinshasa
WP: HKW Berlin
HAVARIE D 2016 / Film by Philip Scheffner http://havarie.pong-berlin.de/den
Co-produced by Blinker Film, worklights media and ZDF/arte
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2016 / Forum young Film
IP: FID Marseille July 2016
Awards: German Film Critic Award 2017, arte Documentary Award at Duisburger Filmwoche, Best International Feature Film L’Alternativa Barcelona, Best Editing at RIDM – Montreal International Documentary Festival, Special Mention – Prix George de Beauregard International at FID Marseille
AND-EK GHES D 2016 / Film by Philip Scheffner & Colorado Velcu http://andekghes.pong-berlin.de/en
Co-produced by RBB
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2016 / Forum young Film
A HOUSE IN NINH HOA D 2016 / Film by Philip Widmann & Nguyen Dan-Phuong http://www.a-house-in-ninh-hoa.com/
Co-produced by ZDF/arte
WP: Visions du Reélle 2016
THE WORLD, ALMOST D 2016 / Short Film by Caroline Kirberg http://fastweltweit.pong-berlin.de
WP: Unerhört! Music Film Festival Hamburg 2016
SCHICHT D 2015 / Short Film by Alex Gerbaulet http://schicht.pong-berlin.de/en
WP: International Short Film Festival Oberhausen May 2015 / Main Award German Competition
IP: FID Marseille July 2015 / Main Award First Film
Nominated for the German Film Critics Award 2015
HAVARIE D 2015 / Novel by Merle Kröger http://merlekroeger.de/en/5/havarie
Based on the research for the film with the same title, German Crime Novel Award 2016
CHAURANGA India 2014 / Film by Bikas Ranjan Mishra http://www.anticlockfilms.com/films/chauranga
produced by: anticlock Films in coproduction with pong (and others)
Awards: Grand Jury Prize Best Film IFFLA Los Angeles, Best Film India Gold Mumbai International Film Festival, Incredible India Award for Best Project at Film Bazaar, Winner Goteborg International Film Festival Script Lab & Binger Film Lab, Selected for Paris Project
Theatrical release in India January 2016
DRAMA CONSULT D 2013 / Film by Dorothee Wenner http://dramaconsult.com/en
Co-produced by Goethe-Institute Nigeria and ZDF/arte
GRENZFALL D 2012 / Novel by Merle Kröger http://merlekroeger.de/en/5/books/grenzfall
Based on the research for the film REVISION, German Crime Novel Award 2013
REVISION D 2012 / Film by Philip Scheffner http://revision-film.eu/en
Co-produced by Blinker Film, worklights media and ZDF/arte
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2012 / Forum young Film / IP: HotDocs Toronto 2012
Awards: Bild-Kunst Award for Editing, Award of Excellence Yamagata Film Festival, Fritz-Gerlich Award Film Fest Munich, Documentary Award GoEast Film Festival, shortlisted for the German Film Award LOLA 2013
World Sales: Deckert Distribution
I AM India 2011 / Film by Onir / Written by Onir, Merle Kröger, Urmi Juvekar http://www.iamthefilms.com/
Produced by: anticlock Films in coproduction with pong (and others)
Awards: Best Hindi Feature Film & Best Lyrics at the 59th National Awards, Best Director at Jagaran Film Festival, Best Film & Best Actress at London Asian Film Festival, NETPAC Award for the Best in Asian Cinema at International Film Festival of Kerala, Audience Choice Award Best Film at River To River Film Festival Florence, Best Narrative Feature at Kashish Mumbai International Queer Festival, Winner of I-VIEW 2010s Engendered Award for Outstanding Contribution (Opening Film)
THE DAY OF THE SPARROW D 2010 / Film by Philip Scheffner http://dertagdesspatzen.de/en
Co-produced by Blinker Film, worklights media and ZDF/arte
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2010 / Forum young Film / IP: FID Marseille 2010
Awards: Klaus-Wildenhahn-Award of the Hamburg Documentary Week 2010, City of Ludwigsburg Award at the German Documentary Awards 2011
PEACE MISSION D 2008 / Film von Dorothee Wenner http://peace-mission.pong-berlin.de/en
Produced in affiliation with ZDF/ arte
WP/IP: Toronto International Film Festival / Real to Reel 2008
World Sales: First Hand Films
THE HALFMOON FILES D 2007 / Film von Philip Scheffner http://halfmoonfiles.de/en
In cooperation with Lautarchiv der Humboldt Universität zu Berlin and Stiftung Deutsches Rundfunkarchiv
WP: Berlin International Film Festival 2007 / Forum junger Film / IP: FID Marseille 2007
Awards: Documentary Film Award by Goethe Institute, Förderpreis der Stadt Duisburg Film Festival Duisburg, Best Documentary Award Film Festival Mar del Plata, Prix des Mediathèques FID Marseille, Award for best Documentation & Research Memorimage Festival
