Biography:
Johanna Lietha, born in 1986 in Zurich, is a director and screenwriter with Swiss–Austrian roots. She studied film directing at the London University of the Arts and completed further training in directing actors and acting, including with Judith Weston, Susan Batson, Jack Garfein, and Giles Foreman. Early in her career, she gained on-set experience as an assistant to Jessica Hausner, Bernard Rose, Antonin Svoboda, and Klaus Maria Brandauer. Her debut feature film LOVECUT premiered in 2020 at the Max Ophüls Film Festival, where it received the Fritz Raff Screenplay Award. The film went on to screen at international festivals such as the Warsaw International Film Festival, the Kaohsiung Film Festival, and the Les Arcs Film Festival. Her second feature film HEART BEATS, a family film, is currently in financing and has been selected for the PÖFF Co-Production Market at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. Johanna is an alumna of the CineKid Script Labs and Directors Labs, as well as the Babylon, Diverse Stories, and LIM programs. She is a member of Austrian Directors and the Austrian Screenwriters Association.