Biography
Jana Matthes, born in 1966 in East Berlin (then GDR), graduated from the University of Leipzig and the Konrad Wolf Academy of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg in 1993 with a major in television journalism and a minor in documentary film directing. While still a student, she began working in 1990 as a writer for "Selbstbestimmt!", a TV magazine that focuses on concerns of people with disabilities. After graduating, she worked for several years as a freelance journalist for television. She realized reportages for formats such as "37 Grad", "Unter deutschen Dächern", "Kulturweltspiegel", "Klartext" and "Quivive". She often worked together with her former fellow student Andrea Schramm.
In 1999, the two founded the production company Schramm-Matthes-Film. Since then, they have produced a large number of documentaries and reportages for various TV broadcasters. Examples include "Zwischen den Welten - Ein Imam in Deutschland" (2002) and "Wo der Osten Urlaub machte - 1000 Betten DDR" (2003) and "Im Schatten der Blutrache" (2007), for which they were awarded the German Television Prize and which earned them a Gerd Ruge scholarship. Furthermore, the two filmed several reportages for the ZDF program "37° Grad", such as "weiblich, über 50, sucht..." (2007), "Ich liebe nicht nur einen" (2011) and "Der Geschmack von Leben" (2018), about everyday life in a hospice. For the latter, they received the Communication Award of the German Society for Palliative Medicine and the German Palliative Foundation. Parallel to their work as documentary filmmakers, in 2013 Schramm and Matthes were among the four founders of Achtaugen Filmproduktion, which specializes in social spots, training films, and advertising and image films.
In 2018, Matthes and Schramm began work on their documentary feature "Endlich Tacheles", ("The Heart of the Matter") about a young Israeli game designer who processes his grandmother's experiences during the Holocaust in a new game. After its premiere at the digital DOK.fest Munich @home 2020, "Endlich Tacheles" was released in German cinemas in October 2021.