Directors Alina Cyranek and Falk Schuster are the founders of Hug films, a production company dedicated to stimulating and helping to shape social discourse across generations through content-rich, innovative documentaries and animated films. Cyranek completed a double master‘s degree in media art at Bauhaus University Weimar and Tongji University Shanghai. She works as a director and producer in Leipzig. Schuster studied design at the Burg Giebichenstein Kunsthochschule Halle. His work includes free animation and mixed-media films. Since 2014, he has held teaching positions at the Kunsthochschule Halle and the HFF Munich.

Their film "Hotel Astoria" was selected for screening at Foça Film Days 2022.