DOUGH STUDIOS
ACCESS DRIVEN DOCUMENTARIES
ACCESS DRIVEN DOCUMENTARIES
Directors 丨 Authors丨Filmmakers
Isabella Hoffmann and Felix S. Hoffmann are a Berlin-based
directing duo making stories possible.ANIMALS
ARMY
Documentary VOD show丨4 x 52 min丨2:35:1丨German, English 丨2018 - 2022
and live with the consequences of what they believe in. Shot close and without judgment,
it's an intimate portrait of people holding on to a conviction, even when it costs them.
Full credits and episodes listed on IMDb.
Director of Photography Boy Behnke, Clemens Krueger
Production Handwritten GmbH, X Filme Creative Pool GmbH, Dough Studios
Producer Eric Bouley, Christopher Sassenrath
Editor Felix S. Hoffmann
Music Composer Therese Strasser
Vod Joyn, ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE
We combine cinematic precision with intimate storytelling.
Our work ranges from award-winning short films and feature documentaries.
CRUMBLE
Short Film丨Fiction, Experimental丨3 min丨4:3丨English丨2026
a woman encounters her younger self and discovers that healing begins with finding the courage to face herself.
Selecetd for Aestehtica Film Festival 2026, Female Filmmakers Berlin 2026, Oregon Shortfilm Festival 2026 and
Tallgrass Film Festival 2026
Cast Viktoria Brigitta Serg
Writer and Director Isabella Hoffmann
Director of Photography Bernhard Russow
Production Dough Studios and ctrl.
Executive Producer Chioma Okpara
Editor Felix S. Hoffmann
Music Composer Michele Masin - ATC Studio
Sounddesign Domenique Liebernickel
VFX Lucas Weyh
Writer and Director Isabella Hoffmann
Director of Photography Bernhard Russow
Production Dough Studios and ctrl.
Executive Producer Chioma Okpara
Editor Felix S. Hoffmann
Music Composer Michele Masin - ATC Studio
Sounddesign Domenique Liebernickel
VFX Lucas Weyh
THE
STRONGST
MAN OF
BERLIN
Short丨Documentary丨10 min丨2:35:1丨German,English 丨 Winner FilmConvert Short Film Competition丨2018
Wolfgang Sadowski grew up in postwar Berlin, picking potato peels from bins to survive.
In 1955, he became the last all Berlin champion before walking away from competitive sport.
Now, at 81, with an artificial hip and Henriette, his wife of sixty years, still by his side,
Wolfgang is ready to challenge himself once more. But this time, it is about more than winning.
In 1955, he became the last all Berlin champion before walking away from competitive sport.
Now, at 81, with an artificial hip and Henriette, his wife of sixty years, still by his side,
Wolfgang is ready to challenge himself once more. But this time, it is about more than winning.
Featured by ZEIT Magazine
Director of Photography Pierre Castillo Bernad
Production Dough Studios
LUFTHUNGER
Feature Length Documentary丨70 min丨17:9丨German, English
Lufthunger examines the system of CO₂ gas chambers in German slaughterhouses
and the legal situation that allows them to continue.
and the legal situation that allows them to continue.
Director of Photography Felix S. Hoffmann
Production Dough Studios
DEVELOPMENT
Last Tea丨Hot Pot 丨 Documentary Feature Films
Both projects below are still in development. Development for us means staying
close to a story for months, sometimes years, before we're ready to actually film.
HOT
POT
Feature Length Documentary丨90min丨17:9丨German, English, Mandarin丨2023 - 2027
Hot Pot is an intimate portrait of belonging, displacement, and artistic survival. The film follows a group of Chinese visual artists and performers living and working in Berlin, painters, sculptors, filmmakers, and interdisciplinary artists who have left their place of origin and built new lives through artistic practice.
Writer and Director Felix S. Hoffmann, Isabella Hoffmann
Director of Photography Felix S. Hoffmann
Production Dough Studios
Director of Photography Felix S. Hoffmann
Production Dough Studios
LAST
TEA
Feature Length Documentary丨90min丨17:9丨German, English,Sorani丨2023 - 2028
Last Tea follows him back, two decades later, into Kurdistan and an underground techno scene
taking shape amid the ruins, and into what it means for him to reclaim an identity he left behind.
Director of Photography Felix S. Hoffmann
Production Dough Studios, Smooth.Film
ABOUT US
Directors丨Authors丨Film 丨Two humans with cameras and a lot of heart.
We're Isabella and Felix S. Hoffmann, the founder behind Dough Studios in Berlin.
We make documentaries about people and the worlds around them. We're drawn to subculture, activism and politics, but also to stories that might seem small at first and reveal something much bigger once you stay with them.
We spend time with our subjects. We listen, observe and let their experiences shape the film rather than forcing them into a story we already have in mind. Sometimes we probably get too close. But that's often where we find what we're looking for. Not just how something works, but what it actually feels like to live inside it. At the centre are always real people and their experiences. We want to understand the systems around them, but we want to understand the human being first.
Our films move between documentary observation and a cinematic, visually driven approach.
We work together across the entire process, from research and writing to producing, directing,
camera, sound and edit.
We make documentaries about people and the worlds around them. We're drawn to subculture, activism and politics, but also to stories that might seem small at first and reveal something much bigger once you stay with them.
We spend time with our subjects. We listen, observe and let their experiences shape the film rather than forcing them into a story we already have in mind. Sometimes we probably get too close. But that's often where we find what we're looking for. Not just how something works, but what it actually feels like to live inside it. At the centre are always real people and their experiences. We want to understand the systems around them, but we want to understand the human being first.
Our films move between documentary observation and a cinematic, visually driven approach.
We work together across the entire process, from research and writing to producing, directing,
camera, sound and edit.