A fun film evening: 'Dreh meinen Film' impresses girls, parents and scientists

6 February 2025

Photo: CUI

The girls, who came from all over the city and from different schools, asked for an evening to watch the films together. Scientists Sadia Bari (2nd. left) and Sabine Rockenstein (back row) joined in.

For three days, the Bahrenfeld Campus was transformed into a lively film set. "Dreh meinen Film" was the name of the project to which the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter" invited girls between the ages of 12 and 15 to learn the necessary skills for filming and to use this know-how to portray female scientists. At the final meeting, all the girls came together again with their parents and siblings to watch their work, which is now available online.

"Many schoolgirls are interested in science but may not have role models to motivate them to pursue a career in science," says Eileen Schwanold, who is the Diversity Manager of the Cluster of Excellence "CUI: Advanced Imaging of Matter". She came up with the idea for the new program. Girls who are interested in the natural sciences but also have a strong interest in the social or media sciences are often lost to STEM subjects when they decide to study. It therefore seemed logical to her to link the project to the cluster's public relations work. In addition to PR managers Ingeborg Adler and Annika Schonefeld, the head of the Molecules & Schools school laboratory, Skadi Kull, was also involved with her expertise in the school sector.

Workshop with professional equipment

The idea was to reach out to young girls in their formative teenage years and engage them in today's world, where digital and social media play an important role. They were first given a filmmaking workshop with film professionals Marie Eissing and Luisa Scheer, and provided with professional film equipment. In small groups of two or three, they then got to know "their" scientist and developed a concept for the film.

They spent a whole morning with Prof Sadia Bari, Dr Franziska Esmek, Jessica Harich, Dr Carolin Seuring and Sabine Rockenstein, filming in the labs, then reviewing the material and editing it into three-minute videos. The film professionals were impressed by the students' commitment. But the scientists also benefited from the experience: Sabine Rockenstein, for example, says that she repeatedly asked whether the girls had understood her and adjusted her explanations accordingly.

The girl's very personal views

The results are the girls' very personal views of the scientists and their research, as well as nice explanatory films. At the end, the schoolgirls, who came from all over the city and from different schools, asked for a joint screening evening where they could watch all the films together and show them to their parents and siblings. "A packed seminar room at HARBOR, popcorn, good humor and lots of positive feedback. We are delighted with the response to the project, which broke new ground, was received," says Eileen Schwanold.