Karin Kaper and Dirk Szuszies

Karin Kaper was born on June 23rd, 1959 in Bremen,

Dirk Szuszies on October 20th, 1956 in Dortmund.

Both founded the ZATA Theater together in the mid-80s and worked as director, author and actors in the independent theater sector in Munich and Berlin until the end of the 90s.

Since 2000 they have dedicated themselves full-time to the production and self-distribution of documentary films.

“The Last Mahadevi” was their first joint directorial work, an award-winning documentary about the fairytalelike, dramatic and combative story of an Austrian who found her happiness as a princess in Burma until the military dictatorship put an end to it.

Other award-winning documentaries followed such as “Resist!” And “Another Glorious Day” about the New York Living Theater and its Jewish founder Judith Malina, which were invited to festivals around the world.

The film “But life goes on”, which deals with the topic of flight and displacement very personally, also received great international attention. In this film, funded by the Foundation for German-Polish Cooperation, three Polish and three German women describe their dramatic family experiences from a personal point of view.

On January 6th, 2015, the documentary film “Berlin East Side Gallery” celebrated its world premiere, which was widely acclaimed by radio and print media. The documentation offers a multi-layered insight into the overall history of the East Side Gallery and also addresses the current conflicts that endanger the existence of the symbol of the peaceful revolution that has been declared a monument.

The award-winning documentary film “We are Jews from Breslau” by Karin Kaper and Dirk Szuszies premiered in November 2016 as part of the European Capital of Culture in Wroclaw and then ran very successfully nationwide in cinemas and at international film festivals until March 2020.

The first and only feature documentary about the life of Walter Kaufmann with the title "Walter Kaufmann - What a life!" Will be created in cooperation with 321-2021: 1700 years of Jewish life in Germany e.V. and the International Auschwitz Committee. The cinema release will take place in the course of 2021. The exact date depends on the development of the pandemic.