With genre diversity to the maximum subsidy rate

After a number of successful short films, the Hamburg-based company's first feature-length productions were immediately recognised at renowned festivals: their Danish co-productionIn Your Arms the Golden Dragon Award in Gothenburg, the cinema filmScrap! won the Audience Award at the Max Ophüls Festival. Her first seriesCome on! received a Grimme Award nomination straight away. The two have completed a total of twelve productions since their foundation in 2012 and are now being rewarded for their success and commitment.

Slate Funding for Tamtam Film

The Hamburg-based company was able to secure Slate Funding from theCreative Europe MEDIA against strong European competition and took home the maximum funding of 210,000 euros. But it wasn't easy. Anyone wishing to apply for the funding must fulfil numerous criteria. Not only the submitted film projects are judged, but the entire company: "We did well overall, but I am particularly pleased that we received a high score for innovative strength - that is important in a business that is undergoing major change," says Andrea Schütte. The international jury particularly praised the genre diversity of the submitted projects and the fact that Tamtam Film works with established directors as well as offering a platform to new talents. It took just under six months to get everything together for the application. "Even if it hadn't worked out, the previous planning wouldn't have been in vain. You sharpen your projects and the company's focus by analysing them," reveals Dirk Decker.

Five funded projects until 2020

The money will be used to drive forward the development of five projects over the next three years - the first filming is scheduled for 2018. Natalija Yefimkina's cinema debut, the DocumentaryGarage peopletakes a look behind garage doors in the north of Russia, behind which many Russians have built up their places of longing far away from their wives and families. The filming ofThe wine merchant by Alain Gsponer (Youth without God,Heidi) are also planned for 2018. The tragicomedy is set in Hamburg and is about wine merchant Lutz, who has to wait three days for his final diagnosis after a leukaemia test and suddenly perceives his life completely differently. With the short filmDon't forget Anna by Lena Knauss will also be made into a literary film in 2018: The story, based on a story by Arno Geiger, is about a mother who has to keep reminding herself in her unconventional life that her daughter Anna must not be forgotten either. The feminist satireLove in free fall by Isabell Šuba (Hanni and Nanni 4) focuses on two women who clean up a male-dominated world - presumably in 2019. With the German-Danish co-productionCandy Boy under the Directorship of Marc Brummund (Freestate), the company ventures into the grey areas of the Danish porn industry in the 60s and 70s.

Film fans can therefore expect an exciting mix of different material over the next few years, which the now six-strong Tamtam team will bring to screens and platforms together. Next up is the co-productionLetters for Amina is in the starting blocks: Jakob Bitsch's film will have its premiere at this year's Filmfest Hamburg. One thing is certain: we will be hearing a lot more from the versatile company from Hamburg in the future.