ABSTRACT
Monika Treut has a fondness for hyenas; you could almost call it a fellow-feeling. After all, in hyena society, the female is dominant and, moreover, these are beasts which survive by scavenging for scraps, fearlessly standing up to larger predators for a share of the spoils. Such is the life of an independent film-maker. When, in 1984, Treut and Elfi Mikesch, one of Germany’s leading cinematographers and directors, decided to set up their own film production company, what else could they call it but ‘Hyena Films’?
