Diversity
Responsibility and respect are central aspects of our culture. We promote equal cooperation in teaching, research, and administration in order to provide equal opportunities and participation for all students, faculty, and staff.
Living Diversity
Diversity at the ifs
As an educational and professional training institution for tomorrow's young media professionals, we have a special responsibility. Future media makers have the task of reflecting the diversity of our civil society both in front of and behind the camera, thus providing impetus for social renewal.
We welcome diversity and provide equal opportunities for all school members - regardless of gender, origin, position, age, sexual orientation, family obligations, religion, impairments , or illnesses.
We see ourselves as a family-friendly school and therefore strive for an optimal compatibility of study / work and family.
We are a signatory of the Diversity Charter and a member of the Film & Democracy Network.
News
»If you are seen, you belong«
Promoting diversity in film: Workshop »Work and Connect« with About Me videos
ifs becomes a member of the Film & Democracy Network
Targeted positioning against right-wing ideologies
Launch of Massive Open Online Course »Diversity in Film and Media«
14 modules on gender theory, queer studies, disability representation, decolonizing film studies etc.
»ifs-Encounters« Series with »Sam – Ein Sachse«
Screening at Filmforum NRW in cooperation with the Africa Film Festival Cologne
Promote diversity in film!
Workshop »Work and Connect - working with talents with disabilities« at ifs
Gender equality
We have set ourselves the goal of actively supporting the development of the German film and television industry towards greater gender sensitivity and equal opportunities. Therefore, we aim to increase the proportion of women professors and students in the traditionally male-dominated trades of film production. Accordingly, interested women are encouraged to contact the ifs Equal Opportunity Officer for advice.
The Equal Opportunity Officer
The Equal Opportunities Officer of the ifs is the contact person for all members of her institution on the subject of equal opportunities. The main tasks include:
- Participation in appointment procedures
- Advising female applicants interested in a professorship
- Advising female prospective students
- Advice on discrimination and sexual harassment
- Advice and referral on the subject of reconciling family and studies / career
Further information on equal opportunities can be found on the website of the central Equal Opportunities Officer of the TH Köln.
Our Equal Opportunities Officer
Hannah Schorr
Coordinator European Showrunner Programme
Deputy Equal Opportunities Officer
- Phone
- +49 221 920188270
Anti-discrimination
We are specifically committed to equal opportunities and diversity - in terms of ethnicity, gender, social origin, religion or ideology, sexual orientation, age, coping with family responsibilities, and physical and mental impairment.
We live and promote a learning and organizational culture in which individual, social, and cultural diversity is understood as enrichment and as a quality feature.
By enacting the "Guideline for Protection against Discrimination and Sexualized Violence at the ifs internationale filmschule köln" and in the form of preventive measures, we actively work against discrimination in any form. In this sense, we do not tolerate any kind of discrimination and sexualized violence at the ifs internationale filmschule köln.
The Anti-discrimination Officer
The Anti-discrimination Officer of the ifs is the contact person for all members of her institution on the subject of equal opportunities. The main tasks include:
- Counseling in cases of discrimination and sexual harassment
- If necessary, referral to internal and external offices, such as the Equal Opportunities Officer of the ifs, the central Equal Opportunities Officer and her department at the TH Köln, the TH Köln Representative for People with Disabilities or to the external independent contact point of the ifs
Independent contact point for victims of sexual assault, sexual harassment and discrimination
Lawyer Martina Lörsch (contact see below)
Our Anti-discrimination Officers
Dr. Laura Schuschke-Nehen
Head of Human Resources and Legal Affairs
Anti-Discrimination Officer
- Phone
- 0221 920188217
Studying with impairments
Studying is a particular challenge for students with impairments. The ifs is aware of this and supports affected students as much as possible.
Barrier-free access to the ifs is provided via the rear entrance. The classrooms are accessible barrier-free via elevators.
The buildings of the ifs have sanitary facilities suitable for the disabled.
The website of our cooperation partner TH Köln provides helpful information on the topic.
Projects and initiatives
Diversity in teaching
We have developed numerous teaching formats explicitly dedicated to gender and diversity. These include:
- FilmLektüreKlub: feminist and racism-critical texts as a basis for dialogue on feature films and documentaries, enabling alternative images and perspectives (SoSe 21).
- "The Pleasure of Feminism!" Workshop with film scholar Laura Mulvey (WS 2020/21).
- Gender and Sexuality - Diversity in Games Summit (WiSe 18/19).
- Film series "Fucking Stereotypes" (summer semester 2018)
- Seminar "(Re)Presentations of Gender in Film" (SoSe 2018)
- Documentary film project on "Concepts of Identity in Multicultural Societies in Israel and Germany" with Beit Berl College (BBC) from Israel (WiSe 16/17)
- Workshop with Dagmawi Yimer on Cinema & Migration (WiSe 16/17)
Project Funding Gender and Diversity
Since 2022, the ifs provides a special budget of 3,000 euros available as "Gender and Diversity" project funding for artistic and scientific Bachelor's Programs final projects and final screenplays that deal with the topics of gender and diversity in a relevant way and, with their material and/or working methods, make a contribution to a diverse, critical, and solidarity-based film culture. A committee decides on the awarding of the "Gender and Diversity" project funding.
Student initiative queer@filmschule
queer@filmschule is a student-initiated network for queer people at the ifs for networking, exchange, and discussion.
Since May 2022, the student initiative queer@filmschule has been organizing film evenings with subsequent discussions in the auditorium under the title "Queer Cinema Night". Among other things, outstanding films of queer cinema are shown.
future.film.education
»future.film.education – Online Teaching and Diversity in European Film Schools«
"future.film.education - Online Teaching and Diversity in European Film Schools".
European Research Project | 2021 - 2023 | Co-funded by the Erasmus+ program of the European Union.
The aim of the European research project is to contribute to a more innovative, inclusive and diverse film and higher education - both on- and offline.
Future.film.education was initiated by the ifs internationale filmschule köln in cooperation with the Moholy Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) in Hungary and the Cooperativa de Formação e Animação Cultural (COFAC) of the Universidade Lusófona in Portugal.
Within the framework of the project, research groups developed the following:
- a toolkit on online teaching
- a toolkit on diversity
- a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Diversity in Film and Media for European film and art schools
The toolkits include course materials, best practices, guidelines and a self-assessment survey. The MOOC includes 14 modules on gender theories, queer studies, representation of people with disabilities, decolonisation in film studies, among others.
The three offerings are intended to both improve online teaching and address (in)equality in education, as well as to support the development of strategies to introduce diversity and inclusion as study goals and to establish them as a central concept in higher education.
The toolkits and the MOOC are available free of charge on the website.
GEECT-Konferenz »Embracing Diversity in European Film Schools«
In March 2019 (6th-8th March), the ifs hosted the second part of the GEECT conference "Embracing Diversity in European Film Schools" in Cologne. In lectures and workshops, the conference addressed the question of how film schools can and should deal with topics such as cultural and religious diversity, migration, demographic change, and gender equality, as well in research and teaching as in the cinematic work of students. After the first part of the conference at the Nederlandse Filmacademie in Amsterdam dealt with taking stock of European film schools, the focus of the conference in Cologne was on how to implement concrete changes in curricula and university structures.
Keynote speakers at the conference were Mark Terkessidis (author, journalist, and migration researcher) and screenwriter and media artist Prof. Sylke Rene Meyer (California State University, LA).
Joint initiative of six German film schools for gender equity
"Together for Gender Equity" - An initiative of the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb), the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, the Filmuniversität Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF, the Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF), the ifs internationale filmschule köln and the Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln (KHM), with the aim of creating awareness for gender representation in film, empowering women for the film business and signaling in the university structures: Here we think and work in a gender-appropriate way.
In 2018, the initiative "Together for Gender Justice" was presented by representatives of German film schools at the Berlinale reception. And in 2020, the representatives of the German film schools, together with Dr. Maria Furtwängler, actress and co-founder of the MaLisa Foundation, presented their activities for "Living Gender Equity at German Film Schools".