Photo: Steve Granitz © WireImage.com

Katja Esson was born in Germany, lives in New York and works in the US and Europe. Having received her Bachelor in Motion Picture and Theatre in 1990, Katja Esson works as a writer/director. Her 1992 short film SPEECH LESS was shown at film festivals all over the world and won several international awards. In 1994 she went on to make her first documentary, MIAMI QUE LINDA ES CUBA, which was part of exhibitions in museums in Spain and the US, and is now part of the "Art on Film Series" in New York. In 1997 she received the prestigious Master School Fellowship in Berlin with her screenplay EL ALEMAN. Esson's subsequent credits include VERTICAL TRAVELER (2000), FERRY TALES (2003), SIEGFRIED & ROY - EIN MÄRCHEN FÜR ERWACHSENE / SIEGFRIED & ROY - A FAIRY TALE FOR GROWNUPS (2004), "Vermisst - Das Geiseldrama in der Wüste" / "Missing - The Hostage Drama in the Desert" (2005, TV), and "Der Hafen von New York" / "The Port of New York" and "Hole in the Sky: The Scars of 9/11" (both for TV) and A SEASON OF MADNESS (all 2006).  Nominated for Documentary (Short Subject) 2003: FERRY TALES 1 nomination