Pioneers of the first hour: Of hackers and gendernauts

In 1981, Wau Holland and other German hackers founded the legendary Chaos Computer Club, which campaigns for the protection of private data, freedom of information and hacker ethics. In the docu-fictionChaos Computer Film by Klaus Maeck and Tanja Schwerdorf (110,000 euros, Interzone Pictures, Hamburg) is about the history of German hackers - told by the protagonists themselves in a found-footage montage with plenty of bite and music.

20 years after her documentary "Gendernauts", filmmaker Monika Treut returns inGendernauts Revisited (100,000 euros, Hyena Films, Hamburg) returns to San Francisco to reunite with the transsexual protagonists of her classic film. Back then, they were the "young pioneers" of the trans movement in a city that was considered a Mecca for outsiders. Today, they are between 50 and 80 years old and live in Trump-era America. How have their lives changed since then? Treut has been shaping feminist and lesbian cinema since the 1980s and received the Special TEDDY Award for her life's work at the 2017 Berlinale.

In 1989, a few musicians tried to record their first and only album in New York's Chung King Studio. The three-day session by hardcore punk band Judge turned out to be a disaster. Nevertheless, the label pressed 110 copies of this unsuccessful recording on white vinyl and sent them out to pre-order customers. Today, 30 years later, this record is considered the Holy Grail in collectors' circles. Title of the album:Chung King Can Suck It. In the film of the same name (60,000 euros, zischlermann filmproduktion, Lübeck), Directors Jesper Petzke sets out to track down the few owners of the numbered copies.

A total of eight projects will receive production funding totalling 443,000 euros. Around 80 per cent of the funding amount, exactly 358,000 euros, will go to six projects with female Directors. The other funded projects include the hybrid filmCleo Carell and the magic of things (40,000 euros, Hamburg) by HFBK professor Robert Bramkamp and Susanne Weirich, the short filmWho was last at the fridge? by Daniel Nocke, Henning Thomas and Kathrin Albers (40,000 euros, Fünferfilm, Hamburg), the Slovenian-German co-productionSteakhouse by Špela Čadež (38,000 euros, Fabian and Fred, Hamburg), the animated filmCancelled by "Gelato" Director Daniela Opp (30,000 euros, Hamburg) and the KammerspielWhich would probably have happened if I hadn't stayed at home by HFBK graduate Willy Hans (25,000 euros, Hamburg).

There is a funding commitment in project development for the documentationSantorini Weddings by Svetlana Strelnikova (18,000 euros, Doppelplusultra Film und TV, Hamburg). Directors Thomas Matthew Salt from Ratzeburg receives for the post production of his filmThe Last Painting a grant totalling 6,285 euros. Distribution funding totalling 17,500 euros goes to fsk Kino & Peripher Filmverleih and Gluth Film. The Hamburg cinema B-Movie receives 2,900 euros for its film series about the Filipino Director Lav Diaz.

Birgit Glombitza, Timo Großpietsch, Maria Köpf, Joachim Kühn, Arne Sommer and Andres Veiel made the funding decisions on Wednesday, 16 January 2019.