Toby Chlosta
Screenwriter & DirectorIn 1984, Toby Chlosta is born in Munich as Anne Chlosta. He gets to live outside the box quite early on, when his parents decide to move the family from the Bavarian mountains to the Dutch coast. There, Toby grows up bilingual and in-between-cultures, which leads to the open mind he has preserved until this day.
Toby spends most of his teenage years roaming the stage. He writes and directs his own plays and performs in them as well, loving to entertain others with his stories. After a brief detour into cultural sciences and the big, wild world, Toby throws himself into studying screenwriting at the Dutch Film Academy in Amsterdam. The medium of film becomes his home, as does the queer community. Toby gets to direct his graduation film about a gay BDSDM-coming-of-age-journey himself. This shows him once and for all how strongly he feels about telling unusual stories about how to find your place in this world.
Toby’s own journey then leads him to study directing at Hamburg Media School. After successfully completing his studies with an action-noir-ballad, Toby stays in Hamburg. The Dutch coastal dweller now lives at the river Elbe, and continues to work both in Germany and The Netherlands on various film and series projects. Toby is an out and proud trans man who plays an active role in voluntary media network Queer Media Society. His main goal remains: Entertaining an audience through original perspectives and unconventional stories filled to the brim with feelings, love and laughter – completely outside of any box.
© photo: Anna Clarks
Filmographie
HOLD YOUR HORSES
Feature Film | Comedy, Drama
Screenwriter
(in development)
HOUSE OF BELLEVUE
drama series (6 x 45 min.) |
Don’t Panic Films GmbH | ZDF, ZDFneo
Writers‘ Room + Writer (episode 6, co-writer episode 1)
director with Gabriel B. Arrahnio + Kai S. Pieck
TOUGH COOKIES
feature film
writer & director
NEST development funding by
MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein
(in development)
SWEETIE
comedy series (6×30 min) | Tellux Film
creator
(in development)
TITCOM
comedy series (6×30 min.)
creator with Corinne Le Hong
development funding by
Kulturamt Münster and Filmservice Münster.Land
(in development)
GLITZER KING
feature film
writer & director
development of treatment and screenplay funded by MOIN Film Fund Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein
(in development)
LIESELOTTE
childrens’ animated series |
WunderWerk with Fabrique d’Images | ZDF
screenwriter | writers‘ room
based on the book series “Lieselotte“ by Alexander Steffensmeier
episode 34: ‘Lieselotte trifft ins Tor’
episode 45: ‘Lieselotte mopst das Obst’
QUEER AMSTERDAM
web series | Rozing Producties & BNNVARA (NL)
creator with Bart Peters & Dorien Rozing; writer;
director with Bart Peters
TOOTHPAINTER
music video | for A Boy Named River |
director, concept with Darja Pilz + Michael Lewandowski
RED DOGZ
short film | graduation film Hamburg Media School
director, co-screenwriter with Florian Wentsch
DÜNNES EIS (FINAL STROKE)
short | Hamburg Media School
director
12 LIKES
short | Hamburg Media School
director
Stage / Theatre
ZENITH (NL)
Musical Theatre / theatre tour 2025
co-writer + dramaturge
director: Tom Jaspers
performer: Brix Schaumburg
Other activities
Jury member TALENTFILM
Film Fund Hessen Film & Media
JURY MEMBER
MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig- Holstein / NEST
JURY MEMBER
Queer Media Society Award / 43. Student Film Fest Munich
jury president: Monika Treut
LECTURE
on „Queer perspectives in series and films”
symposium „Trans*Besonders“: Knowledge, Connection
and Creating in Hamburg
LECTURE
Case Study: Queer Amsterdam
Diverse Storytelling in digital short form series
dffb / Serial Eyes
JURY MEMBER
Screenwriting Competition for upcoming talents /
German TV-Crime-Festival
SENSITIVITY READING
RatPack Filmproduktion Bavaria Fiction,
SquareOne Entertainment etc.
QUEER MEDIA SOCIETY
Member since 2019
2022-2024 Head of the TIN (trans inter non-binary) section with Lion H. Lau
FILM & KAMERA
Publishing of articles on young talent /
film festivals for young talent
„TRANS*CAPADES“
Social media project to increase trans visibility
Instagram + Facebook
since 2022
Education
Master Of Arts | Film Directing
2007-2011 | Dutch Film Academy Amsterdam (NFA)
Bachelor Of Film and Television | Screenwriting
MASTERCLASSES
Masterclass Film University Konrad Wolf Babelsberg + Queer Media Society
2024 | Winterclass Serial Writing And Producing
Masterclass Film University Konrad Wolf Babelsberg + Erich Pommer Institut
2015 | Robert McKee STORY Seminar Amsterdam
Awards
2026
HOLD YOUR HORSES
Participation as one of 10 selected writers in the Nordic NEST, a new co-development initiative of MOIN Film fund, FFA and The Five Nordics
Nordic NEST Space and Gothenburg Film Festival in collaboration with Le Groupe Ouest
2020
LIESELOTTE
Nomination Goldener Spatz
2019
LASSO MORTALE
Best Pitch Award + Exposé Grant PRO7/SAT1
QUEER AMSTERDAM
Special Jury Award & WWW Series Critics Award | DIE SERIALE
2018
QUEER AMSTERDAM
Best Series Award. Wendie Webfest Hamburg
What’s Next Director Award. Webfest Berlin
2016
DÜNNES EIS
Award „Excellence In Women’s Filmmaking“ |
European Independent Film Festival (ÉCU)
2015
RED DOGZ
Cinematic Achievement Award |
Thessaloniki International Short Film Festival (TISFF)