Biography
Agnes Lisa Wegner, born in 1976 in Worms, Germany, studied American Studies and Film Studies in Berlin and African-American Studies at Harvard University in Boston (USA). After her studies, she dedicated herself to various humanitarian causes, working with organizations like Pro Asyl and Forum Menschenrechte.
Her first foray into filmmaking was as a member of the research team for Britta Wauer's documentary "Gerdas Schweigen" (2007).
Since 2013, Wegner has been working as a freelance writer and filmmaker. In collaboration with Uli Gaulke, she made her debut documentary "Goodbye G.I." (2014), which explores the closure of the largest U.S. Army garrison in Germany and its impact on soldiers and local communities.
In 2015, Wegner's 25-minute documentary "Amanda und das Land am Ende der Straße", part of the KiKa series "Schau in meine Welt", won the Golden Sparrow in the Information/Documentary category at the Kinder Medien Festival. The film portrays the nine-year-old daughter of a US soldier stationed in Wiesbaden.
In another collaboration with Uli Gaulke between 2016 and 2018, Wegner co-directed the documentary "Sunset Over Hollywood", which delves into a retirement home in Hollywood for former professionals in the US film industry. During the same period, she also directed the mid-length documentary "No Fucking Ice Cream" (2018) in the U.S., which tells the story of children whose father was executed and who, ten years after his death, find themselves trapped in a cycle of drugs, prison, and hopelessness. "No Fucking Ice Cream" won the award for best documentary short film at the Kassel Documentary Film Festival in 2018.
For the television station KiKa, Wegner produced the four-part documentary "Und jetzt sind wir hier" (2017), which follows a 14-year-old Syrian refugee and his family from their arrival in Berlin to their new home in the Allgäu region over the course of a year. The series was screened at the Chicago International Children's Film Festival and the Golden Sparrow Children's Media Festival in 2018, among others. She also directed "Das Mädchen mit den langen Haaren" (2018) for the Kika documentary series "Schau in meine Welt", which tells the story of an eight-year-old girl who grows her hair to donate to a child without hair.
"König Bansah und seine Tochter" ("King Bansah and His Daughter", 2020) was her next documentary feature, which focuses on Céphas Bansah, a Ghanaian car mechanic living in Ludwigshafen, who is also the king of the Ewe people in his homeland. For this film, Wegner received the "Granit" documentary award at the Hofer Filmtage.
Two years later, Wegner made another documentary feature, "Das leere Grab" ("The Empty Grave", DE/TZ 2024, co-directed with Cece Mlay), which follows a Tanzanian man's journey to Berlin in search of the remains of his great-grandfather. The film premiered at the Berlinale 2024 in the Berlinale Special section.