PETROLIO is a production cooperative founded in 2012 by Hannes Lang, Carmen Losmann and Mareike Wegener. PETROLIO stands for independent, critical and artistic cinema and for the development and realization of films that the filmmakers see as an instrument for discovering, observing, dissecting and rearranging that which can be made visible. The company is based in Cologne, where the business is run by Hannes Lang and Mareike Wegener.

Hannes Lang, Mareike Wegener and Carmen Losmann are graduates from the Academy of Media Arts Cologne, where they studied film, in particular documentary film. After graduating, they each made their debut with their own feature-length documentaries: Carmen Losmann with WORK HARD PLAY HARD (2011), Hannes Lang with PEAK (2011) and Mareike Wegener with MARK LOMBARDI - DEATH DEFYING ACTS OF ART AND CONSPIRACY (2012). In 2012, they joined forces to produce future film projects independently and collectively. The following year PETROLIO received a grant from the Mediengründerzentrum NRW in support of the company's launch.

The production debut I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER, a feature-length cinema-destined documentary by Hannes Lang, celebrated its world premiere at the Danish CPH:DOX in 2014. PETROLIO's second production was also directed by Hannes Lang: RIAFN, a 30-minute documentary musical, premiered at Visions du Réel in April 2019, screened at various festivals and received multiple awards. In 2020, Carmen Losmann's second feature-length documentary and PETROLIO's third completed film OECONOMIA celebrated its world premiere at the Berlinale in the "Forum" section. The film was subsequently awarded the Grimme Prize, among others. Mareike Wegener's short film X premiered at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 2021 and was nominated for the German Short Film Award. Wegener's film ECHO is PETROLIO's first feature film and was invited to the Berlinale in 2022.

Born and raised in Westphalia/ Germany. 2003 - 2008 Audiovisual Media Studies at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne, focusing on painting and documentary filmmaking. Her 2008 thesis film AL HANSEN. THE MATCHSTICK TRAVELLER premiered at the Anthology Film Archives in NYC. In 2007 she received a scholarship to attend the New School in New York. She was enrolled at the European Graduate School in Switzerland, where she studied Media and Communication.

She has been working as a freelance writer, director and editor since 2008. Her first feature-length documentary MARK LOMBARDI. DEATH-DEFYING ACTS OF ART AND CONSPIRACY received the Gerd-Ruge-Grant in 2009 and premiered in 2011. Mareike Wegener is co-writer of all Hannes Lang films, including PEAK (2011), I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER (2014) and RIAFN (2019), she also produced the latter two. Further producing credits include Carmen Losmann’s OECONOMIA, a documentary that was invited to the 2020 Berlinale Forum. Mareike Wegener's short film X premiered at the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen in 2021 and won a German Short Film Award in Silver. Her first full-length feature film ECHO was invited to the Berlinale in 2022.

Since 2022, Wegener has been working as a visiting professor for documentary film in the DocNomads Master's program at LUCA School of Arts in Brussels. In 2023, Mareike Wegener was selected as an Emerging Producer at the Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival.

Write to: wegener@petroliofilm.de

Born and raised in the Italian Alps. After a two-year training as a carpenter, Lang received a technical diploma as a draftsman. He worked as a film production assistant in South Tyrol until enrolling at the Academy of Media Arts, Cologne in 2004, where he studied audio-visual media prioritizing in the field of artistic documentary filmmaking. Since his graduation with the documentary short LEAVENWORTH, WA in 2008, Lang has been working as a freelance cinematographer and director.

His first feature-length documentary PEAK won him the Goethe Institute Documentary Film Award. 2011 Lang received the Gerd-Ruge-Grant for I WANT TO SEE THE MANAGER, a documentary that was completed in 2014 as PETROLIO’s first own production. His short RIAFN premiered in 2019 and was invited to numerous festivals all over the world, where it won many awards.

Hannes Lang’s producing credits include Carmen Losmann’s documentary OECONOMIA (2020) and Mareike Wegener's fiction feature ECHO (2022), both of which were invited to the Berlinale for their premiere.

Write to: lang@petroliofilm.de

Born and raised in Baden-Württemberg, South Germany. Her bachelor of arts studies in England (BA Marketing) were followed by her studies at the media arts school cologne with a degree at the film department. Since 2009 she works as a freelance director.

WORK HARD PLAY HARD is her debut feature-length documentary and has been awarded numerous times, i.a. Grimme-Award 2014. Her second feature-length documentary OECONOMIA was awarded with the Gerd-Ruge-Grant and celebrated its world premiere at the 2020 Berlinale in the Forum section. This film received the Grimme-Award as well.

Write to: losmann@petroliofilm.de