German-born Elmar Biebl began his journalism career as a reporter at the local daily, Straubinger Tagblatt. He then joined the national weekly, Stern, and four years later, the national magazine Dialog. Biebl then became a staff writer for the national daily, Welt, and was later named editor-in-chief at John Jahr Publishing, Hamburg. During that time, Biebl helped develop and start Cinema which later became Europe's most-read film monthly. He moved to Los Angeles to work as a correspondent for Cinema and as a freelance contributor for German print, radio, TV and online. Biebl worked for Premiere TV, as a consultant for the TV network Pro7, as a writer for the weekly magazine Bunte and he continues to analyze Hollywood trends, awards, and business in video commentaries for MB-TV’s online service. Biebl has written five film-related books including the bestselling "Behind the Scenes” about special effects in films and “The Films of Walt Disney.” He has won the International Journalist Jury Gold Medal and the La Pluma de Plata journalism award in Mexico. For the last decade, he has been a jury and committee member of the annual Cinema for Peace awards and was invited by the Dubai Film Festival as a juror. He has served as Vice President, Director of the Board and Parliamentarian of the HFPA several times.