Mission
colourFIELD’s biggest ratings-buster, Germany From Above, was voted best documentary series of the last 30 years by viewers of ZDF, Germany’s most popular TV broadcaster. Other colourFIELD productions that have been internationally successful include Beautiful Minds – A Voyage Into the Brain, The Virus Empire and Automatic Brain – licensed to over 50 countries around the world.
colourFIELD films are visually driven, with exceptional journalistic depth, a quirky sense of humour, edgy and entertaining storytelling, and a great love of music. The original score of our feature film Germany From Above, composed by Boris Salchow, is often performed live to a giant screen in Germany’s most prestigious concert halls, by world-class philharmonic orchestras.
For colourFIELD’s team members, please see the Team section. Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus co-founded colourFIELD in Munich in 1994.
Our films have earned international acclaim, airing not just on Germany’s big networks and broadcasters – ARD, ZDF, WDR, Radio Bremen, HR, and the French-German joint venture ARTE – but also chosen by highly ranked international players such as National Geographic TV, the Discovery Channel, BBC Worldwide, Al Jazeera, NHK Japan, and RAI Italy. colourFIELD productions are shown at international film festivals, as well as German embassies, consulates, and Goethe Institutes around the world, earning multiple international awards.
colourFIELD is based in Dortmund, Germany’s total-football capital, in a beautiful former industrial loft in the leafy, tree-lined heart of town. Borussia Dortmund matchdays are strictly off-duty.
Team
Freddie Röckenhaus
Journalist, Filmmaker, Co-Owner
Freddie was awarded Germany‘s leading journalism prize, the Henri-Nannen-Preis. He also received a number of awards for his works in television and film, such as the German Television Award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis), the German Camera Award (Deutscher Kamerapreis), the Gold Award at the New York Festival, Silver Plaque at the Chicago Film Festival or the Audience Award at the ParisScience Festival.
Before founding colourFIELD, along with Petra Höfer, he was staff editor at Germany‘s prestigious weekly paper DiE ZEIT, later joined as a staff editor Germany‘s most influential nationwide daily paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, where he is still a regular contributing writer. From the University of Bochum Freddie got his university degree in Sport Sciences, German Language and Literature, and Social Sciences.
Petra Höfer ✝ 6.6.2017
Journalist, Filmmaker, Co-Owner
Petra was honoured with a number of awards for her work in television and film, such as the prestigious German Television Award (Deutscher Fernsehpreis), the German Camera Award (Deutscher Kamerapreis), the Gold Award at the New York Festival, Silver Plaque at the Chicago Film Festival , the Audience Award at the ParisScience Festival or the European Science TV Award of the European Union in Lisbon.
Before founding colourFIELD, along with her husband Freddie Röckenhaus, worked freelance for the investigative ARD network programme Monitor, and as a staff editor for Germany‘s nationwide daily paper Die Tageszeitung in Berlin. At the University of Bochum Petra got her university degrees in Sport Sciences, German Language and Literature, and Social Sciences.
Niomi O’Hara
Journalist and producer
Niomi describes herself as a storyteller. Before joining colourFIELD as a freelance journalist in 2019, she enjoyed a successful career as a producer and presenter for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Niomi is a familiar face in her home town of Margaret River hosting numerous interviews and live panel discussions with filmmakers, writers and other creatives at various events and festivals.
Niomi works in pre- and post-production, and enjoys travelling to far-flung corners of the globe. She claims seeing carving glaciers in Greenland and polar bears in the wild as major career highlights – as well as working with talents like John Malkovich, Nikolaj and Nukâka Coster-Waldau.
Niomi is a graduate of the acclaimed Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and holds a communications degree from Murdoch University.
Johannes Fritsche
Chief editor, technical supervisor.
Before joining colourFIELD in 2011, Johannes produced a variety of independent, low-budget short films in Berlin and worked as an editor on the controversial documentary Gangsterläufer (Gangster Runner). Jo has been involved with many of colourFIELD’s multi-award-winning productions, including The Arctic – 66.5 Degrees North, Russia From Above, Automatic Brain, the Germany From Above movie version, Underworlds – Germany From Below, and Migrating Birds.
Jo holds a Digital Filmmaking degree from the internationally renowned University of Applied Sciences SAE in Berlin. Prior to colourFIELD, Johannes worked with the Berlin film companies Hanfgarn & Ufer and Studio TV.
Tanja Shekhtman
Tanja joined colourFIELD in 2019 as part of the “Russia from Above” project. Since then she has worked on a range of other projects including „66.6 Degrees North - The Arctic“ and „20,000 Meters Under the Earth“.
Originally from Volgograd in Russia, Tanja relocated to Dortmund in 2016. Tanja studied mathematics at the State University of Volgograd, and graduated in Business Mathematics with highest honours of “summa cum laude“.
She has subsequently gained many years of experience in the financial industry. Tanja says her strength is numbers, whilst others find, there is much more to her.
Vanessa Uenning
Vanessa joined colourFIELD in 2025 to oversee an exciting new fiction project. She has worked as a coordinator for various film and TV productions in Germany and Austria since 2018.
Her career was only slightly interrupted by the completion of her Master’s Degree and her work in development cooperation, particularly in Africa.
Vanessa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Media and Communication studies and German Languager and Literature, as well as a Masters degree in Political Science. She completed her studies in Germany, France, Spain, and Cuba.
Robert Marx
Among other things, Robert Marx manages the YouTube channel he designed for colourFIELD. Robert supports colourFIELD projects with editing, carefully maintains the extensive archive, and contributes to many production and technical processes. Robert holds a Bachelor’s degree in Film from the “Film and Sound” programme at FH Dortmund. His graduation short film DUO celebrated its world premiere at the Kinofest Lünen in November 2022, followed by a screening at the Münster Film Festival in 2023, where it was nominated for “Best Short Film.” Robert also worked as a video assistant and live cameraman for The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Dortmund Opera House. He is currently finishing his Master’s degree at FH Dortmund.
Kay Schlasse
Journalist, cartoonist, songwriter.
Kai studied German Language and Literature and contributed cartoons to magazines such as Der SPIEGEL before being overwhelmed by the incredible success of his rock band Extrabreit in the 80‘s to 90‘s. The band is still active, but these days a more relaxed schedule allows Kay more freedom.
Since 2009, Kai has contributed to the development of the computer-animated sequences of colourFIELD productions, including the entire Germany From Above series, Underworlds - Germany From Below, and Migrating Birds.
Kai is also a successful author. His novels include Rubicon and Hyperion, and an autobiography Hart wie Marmelade (As Hard As Marmelade).
Prior to colourFIELD he worked with Hamburg based tv company MME as a writer-producer.
Theo Klaproth
Assistant
Theo joined colourFIELD as an intern in early 2024 after graduating from secondary school in Saarland in 2023. Since then, he has worked across a range of productions, focusing mainly on editing and archiving. He has steadily built up his post-production know-how and regularly lends a hand to ongoing projects. Away from the editing suite, he’s usually out with his camera at motorsport events or on road trips.
Theo is currently completing a degree in Film and Sound at Dortmund University of Applied Sciences.