Our Team

The right team is what makes us successful. Together, we create the spirit that you can feel in our films.

"Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success."

Henry Ford

Jan Haft

His room as a child looked like a nature cabinet. Little Jan then swore to always live together with animals and later to work with them. At the beginning of the 1990's, he started as an assistant for an animal film and until 1995 often helped Wieland Lippoldmüller (above water) and Walter Sigl (under water) on filming expeditions sometimes spanning several months. In 1996 he founded nautilusTV GbR, which became the nautilusfilm GmbH in 2001, today one of the most successful companies in the German nature film branch.

JAN HAFT
Creative Director, Writer, Cinmatographer

Melanie Haft

Little Melanie devours books about horses in her free time or works with and rides on the neighbourhood horses. In 2001, the nascent media and communications scientist joins the team and feels just fine surrounded by common ravens and wild boars. Melanie is the organisational backbone of nautilusfilm. She creates filming schedules, calculates, budgets and negotiates with broadcasters and licensees. She is, so to speak, the manager of this fine wildlife film company from the Isental, Bavaria.

MELANIE HAFT
Head of Production, Managing Director

KAY ZIESENHENNE

Already as a child, Kay discovers his love of electronics and mechanics. For this reason he takes the detour via an appropriate teaching profession, before he turns to the medium of film. Here he can unite his technical skills and his notable abilities as a patient and gifted designer of images. Kay completed his studies in audiovisual media in Stuttgart with a diploma and is now employed at nautilusfilm as a lighting cameraman and technician.

KAY ZIESENHENNE
Head of Cinematographers

DR. GERWIG LAWITZKY

As a young boy, Gerwig always won the struggle against the parental prohibitions against transporting beehives, wasp nests and ant colonies to his room. Nothing stood in his career path as a zoologist. However, his interests and exceptional knowledge extends much further - through palaeontology, botany, zoology, but also history and culture. The walking encyclopaedia always has a detailed answer for any question asked, at the latest at the next weekly meeting.

DR. GERWIG LAWITZKY
Research

Christina Hötscher

Holding a degree in digitial film marketing and working in the industry for some time, Christina joined nautilusfilm in June 2015. She is in charge of the ever growing mass of data, she also edits the various short films we are producing.

CHRISTINA HÖTSCHER
Head of Postproduction

JONAS BLAHA

Jonas joined nautilusfilm in February 2017. His excellent technical skills combined with his love for nature are the ideal qualifications for his everyday work as our in postproduction. In addition he supports our camera team as camera operator and he maintains our longtime timelapses.

JONAS BLAHA
Editor & Camera Operator

JANINE VAN HOOF

Janine is a permanent fixture at nautilusfilm. She takes care of our offices, the barn and the animals at the nautilusfilm-farm. She joined us in 2006.

JANINE VAN HOOF
Concierge & Groundskeeper

ANDREAS HARTL

Since his earliest childhood, Andreas has been underway in nature every free minute. Hardly anyone is as familiar with his home region as he does, and hardly anyone has photographed the landscapes, animals and plants of not only Upper Bavaria with such versatility and detail as the animal photographer and higher civil servant from Dorfen. Our set and press photos originate from him. Since 2006 he has led, together with Melanie Haft, the subsidiary company nautilus Licences.

ANDREAS HARTL
Still Photographer, Licensing of photographs

YANNIK STRAATMAN

Yannik, native to the foothills of the Alps, is completing his training as a media designer for image & sound at nautilusfilm. Film enthusiast, animal lover and resilient – these are just some featurese that describe Yannik, he supports us since September 2021.

YANNIK STRAATMAN
Apprentice

PAULA FABIAN

Ever since she was a child, Paula's favourite places to go were the Isar river, farms and the islands in the North Sea. Over time she started to take a camera on her excursions. After graduating from high school, her lifelong interest in animals and wildlife led to a volunteer year, working with birds on the island of Spiekeroog. Paula now wants to further her knowledege about flora and fauna and in combination with her creative skills she makes an ideal apprentice nautilusfilm.

PAULA FABIAN
Apprentice

Our Projects

What we have done so far and what we are currently working on.

» Projects