TV & Film

After many years as a line producer for foreign productions in Japan, I wrote and directed my first documentary film in 2022. The topics I deal with most often include social issues, women, politics, and natural disasters.

Sonja Blaschke Director, Author and Line Producer in Japan

Content advisor
Logistics including budgeting
Casting and liaising with protagonists
Location scouting
Obtaining filming permits
Execution of filming on behalf of author or director
Interpreting and translations

Areas of expertise

Social issues (women, demographic change, protest movements)
Natural sciences (natural disasters, marine animals, natural phenomena)
Current reporting including disasters like „Fukushima“ 2011 und the Noto peninsula earthquake 2024
Music documentaries from classical to metal music

Projects as author and director

Debut documentary „Rice Fields Instead of Tokyo: Young Women in the Japanese Countryside“, broadcast on Swiss and German national television in November 2022, April 2023 and Dezember 2023
Second documentary currently in preparation

"Terra X" shoot in Rebun © Uli Kunz — „Terra X“ shoot in Rebun © Uli Kunz

Current news reporting as line producer and co-author

2024: Current reporting on the Noto peninsula earthquake together with DW correspondent James Chater from Taiwan – including disaster-related protection measures due to arrival less than 72 hours after the earthquake in the disaster zone
2021: Olympic & Paralympic Games in Tokyo 2020/21 – producer responsible for „green topics“ (i.e. not sports related) and co-author of several news reports broadcast in ZDF news programs, co-authored with ZDF Beijing bureau chief Ulf-Jensen Roeller in the summer of 2021
2011-2012: Current reporting during the triple disaster in Tohoku 2011 (The Great East Japan Earthquake and nuclear disaster of „Fukushima“) – line producer at the Tokyo studio, at the interim Osaka studio and on location in Tohoku for the German public broadcaster ZDF

Documentary and TV projects as line producer (selection)

„Dystopia & Hope“, a documentary about German thrash metal pioneers Kreator – production in January/February 2024 – in cinemas from 2025
„Terra X: Fascination of Water“, German national broadcaster ZDF flagship docuseries – line producer during three-week Japan shooting, year-long preparation including content, casting, location scouting, logistics, and budgeting – broadcast in May, June (ARTE) and August 2024 (ZDF)
„Jahr auf Abstand“, documentary about effect of Covid-19 social distancing on human beings, French-German culture broadcaster ARTE – director/line producer for Japan segment, broadcast in January 2021, documentary received Bavarian Film Award and nomination for German Film Award
„Eine Sinfonie geht um die Welt“, documentary about Beethoven, French-German culture broadcaster ARTE, German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) – broadcast in November 2019 (DW) and February 2020 (ARTE)
„Terra X: Fascination Earth“, German national broadcaster ZDF flagship docuseries about Japan – line producer, year-long preparation including content, casting, location scouting, logistics, and two weeks of shooting across the country – broadcast in December 2018
„Robots and AI in Japan“, Swiss TV documentary series „NZZ Format“, Swiss public broadcaster SRF1 and German public broadcaster 3sat – broadcast on 15 June, 2017
„Kind als Karrierekiller – Mutterschafts-Mobbing“, German public broadcaster ZDF prime-time news program „auslandsjournal“ about the discrimination of working mothers in Japan, co-authored with ZDF Asia Pacific correspondent Katja Eichhorn – broadcast on 3 August 2016
„Galileo“, several short documentary reports for TV program, German private broadcaster ProSieben – broadcast in July 2015
„Eine Handvoll Leben – Chancen extremer Frühgeburten“, documentary on preemies titled by director Antje Christ, French-German culture broadcaster ARTE – broadcast in September and October 2014
„Tokyo’s Belly“, documentary on Tokyo food logistics by director Reinhild Dettmer-Finke, French-German culture broadcaster ARTE – broadcast in 2013 on TV and shown at film festivals worldwide, including SEOUL International ECO Film Festival (South Korea), Filmmor Women’s Film Festival (Turkey) and XIX. Festival Internacional de Cinema Ambiental da Serra Da Estrela (Portugal), received several awards, among others at Uranium Film Festival (Brazil)
„Terra X – Wild Planet“, German public broadcaster ZDF flagship docuseries on „Storms“ and „Earthquakes“ – broadcast in April and May 2013
„Die Musik hat immer recht – Der Dirigent Mariss Jansons“, classical music documentary about conductor Mariss Jansons, German public broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) and German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) – broadcast in January 2013
Several documentaries and science programs related to „Fukushima“, i.e. the aftermath of the Great East Japan Earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster, broadcast between March 2011 and 2012 on channels ARD, ZDF Kinderkanal (KIKA) and SWR
„Terra X: Fascination Earth“, German braodcaster ZDF flagship docuseries about Japan (ZDF) – assistant line producer, broadcast in January 2011