Biography
Danish-born Signe Astrup studied screenwriting at the Deutsche Film- und Fernsehakademie Berlin (dffb) until 2002. After graduation, she received a scholarship for the dffb masterclass sponsored by Columbia Pictures Germany. Following this, she started working as a screenwriter for German and Swiss film and TV productions. Additionally, Astrup directed and produced reportages and documentary short films for German and Dutch TV stations, like "Schüleraustausch – die Französinnen kommen" ("Student Exchange – The French Girls Are Coming", 2005) and the documentary series "Metropolis" (NL 2008-2010). The latter received several awards including the International Medea Award for innovative TV.
In 2007, Signe Astrup founded the production company Sineast Film based in Berlin and Copenhagen. With Sineast Film she realised several short films. At the same time she continued writing screenplays for other production companies. She co-authored "Sommervögel" ("Little paradise", CH 2010), a love story between a developmentally disabled woman (Sabine Timoteo) and a rocker (Roeland Wiesnekker), which won the audience award at the Solothurner Filmtage festival. In spring 2015, Astrup started shooting her first feature-length documentary film: "Die vergessene Armee" ("The Forgotten Army", DE/DK/IL) explores what became of former members of the GDR armed forces that lost their job after the German reunification. The film premiered in German cinemas in June 2017.