KATJA BENRATH
Influenced by theatre throughout her youth, Katja Benrath pursued that career in her early professional life. She became a costume designer and worked for Pina Bausch's dance company. Subsequently she completed her studies in Singing and Acting in Vienna, Austria where she also discovered filmmaking. Her first short films, "Babydoll", "No One Pukes in Heaven" and "Tilda", have been playing successfully on many international festivals and won international awards. During her master studies at Hamburg Media School she directed "Where Have You Been", "Secrecies" and "Watu Wote", her graduation project, which was awarded with many prizes, including the student Academy Award® and a nomination for the Oscars.

Director's statement
"ROCCA takes us back to the feeling of great children stories by the likes of Lindgren, Kästner and others. They didn’t highlight the difference between people, but were brimming full of phantasy, ideas, the vision of justice and carried the conviction that children can change things in a big way for the greater good–in an unbridled, wild and wonderful way. What is needed is curiosity and courage. Both of these traits are found in Rocca, the strong and unconventional protagonist. Having been raised in a camp for astronauts, she moves to Hamburg and turns the world there upside down with her very own worldview. The solution is often closer and less complicated than adults make it out to be. And thus she shows everybody how easy life can be, when we stand up for each other and work together to get things done. And it’s lots of fun, too. It’s not a new idea to teach children to be nice to each other, but Rocca does it in a different way: she doesn’t dictate the ways in which we should act, but her questions will stay in your mind. And questions change the world. Just like Rocca".