Bärbel Merseburger-Sill pursued her love for film at an early age: As a child, she became a serial Hollywood addict, watching all sorts of Hollywood films from black & white movies to American TV series, from studio classics with Cary Grant, Joan Crawford, Ginger Rogers to Charlie’s Angels, Magnum P.I., Remington Steele. The 1980s were obligatorily dominated by Star Wars, Indiana Jones and Bruce Willis in Moonlighting (of course).
The pictures, the stories, the actors, the voices: she was so fascinated by it all that she couldn’t relinquish. It is hardly surprising that she is now making films herself and is working as a voice talent.
But before that, there were endless nights in the city of lights and there was the fashion business…
For almost 20 years she lived in Paris, mostly in the 9th arrondissement, the city she continues to see as her home. She went there to work as a fashion assistant at Marie Claire, Elle, and Cosmopolitan. (Yes, she watched all of the big fashion shows! And it was a totally different era back then.) Later on, after a year as an assistant at German Vogue, she worked as a beauty editor and stylist herself for French Marie Claire, styled ad campaigns for Christian Dior, Kenzo, Nivea and other. Next to her work, she got a PhD degree in film and media arts at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University, writing about the star system in American movies, before turning herself towards television and the creation of films. Something she always aspired to.
For many years, she worked freelance for arte in Strasbourg as well as for French production companies and as a freelance correspondent for German television in Paris. After a stop-over of six years in Vienna (Austria), she moved to Berlin.
Today, she is based in Berlin-Keuzberg and her main focus is on videos and 45 to 90 minutes documentaries. She is an expert in investigative stories. She covers all sorts of subjects (It’s the story that counts!) but especially enjoys public health stories, cultural events and artist portraits. References include arte, SWR, ARD, ZDF, rbb, NDR, BR, ORF, DW, Fashion in Motion Film Festival.
In 2008, she launched ImagePool and started working as a director/producer. As a producer, she continues to create high-end reports for television. References include arte, ORF, RTL Group.
Even though she enjoys video on demand and television documentaries, watching a movie at a movie theatre is still her favorite thing. As is listening to original motion picture soundtracks, which she also uses for her documentaries when she is not working together with a composer. Besides her endless love for film, she is passionate about yoga and meditation, reading French Elle magazine and the New York Times, filming in Paris and New York. As for her work as a writer, she just started writing her first short film script next to her first novel.