JANINA PIGAHT

I am a creative documentary filmmaker that works independently, as well as together with universities and cultural institutions, helping them visually communicate their content. Born in Germany (1982) I grew up in England, Egypt and Norway until I settled in the Netherlands in 2001.  I have attained two Master’s Degrees, Cum Laude, in Film & Gender studies in 2007 and 2010.  During this time I also worked in South Africa as a camerawoman and production assistant on a wildlife series for animal planet, and founded my own film Production Company that I ran for three years before becoming a documentary film director.

In 2010 I directed and produced my first film Delfts Blauw Meets Hijab, a documentary on Dutch women who have converted to Islam, which has been screened at festivals and aired on Dutch television in 2012. In the same year, my second documentary The Diaries Of An Elephant, about the SS past of my grandfather (produced by VPRO), premiered during the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam and won the Best Newcomer Award at The Dutch Film Festival Utrecht in 2013.

I am currently artist in residence at the centre for the humanities in the Netherlands in which I am researching and working towards a transmedia project about the environmental humanities.  I am also producing my third documentary film