Hella Wenders

Hella Wenders is Managing Director of the Wim Wenders Foundation.

After completing an MA in Film Studies and American Literature, Hella Wenders studied directing at the German Film and Television Academy in Berlin. Her graduation film, the long-term observational documentary BERG FIDEL - A School for All (2012), was selected and awarded at several international film festivals and is still showing in cinemas, universities and schools throughout Germany. The sequel SCHULE, SCHULE was released in 2017. Together with her husband Luca Lucchesi, she wrote the film A BLACK JESUS, which was awarded the German Human Rights Film Award in 2022. 2023 she was a fellow of the Academy for Children's Media that concentrates on developing good stories for young audiences and is currently writing her fiction debut JELLYFISH.

Hella Wenders, Wim Wenders’ niece who has always been connected with his work, has been a member of the advisory board of the Wim Wenders Foundation from the beginning, until she officially joined its team in 2017. In 2020, she took over its management together with Claire Brunel. She focuses on the institutional aspects of the Foundation, supports research work by scholars dealing with the extensive oeuvre of Wim Wenders, and oversees the annual Wim Wenders Grant as well as the film education activities. 

She is a passionate cinema-goer and is a member of the European Film Academy.