Vanessa van Houten was born in 1971 in California and grew up in the Bahamas and Germany. After completing studies in Photography and Photo Design in Dortmund, she relocated to New York to study Anthology Film Archives. She then returned to Germany and studied at the Munich Academy of Television & Film from 1997-2007. Her films include: "the shorts Growing Silently" (1992-1994), "Alps" (1995), "New York Images" (1996), "The Death and the Maiden" (1997), "Mona" (1998), "Girls in the Army in Israel" (2000), "Karma Cowboy" (2001), and her first feature "Paper Bird" (Haus der Wuensche, 2007).

Source: German Films Service & Marketing GmbH