Bombastic atmosphere in the Schanzenviertel

10.06.2020 | First "Director's Cut" funding session

The new FFHSH "Director's Cut Committee" for projects with production costs of less than 3.5 million euros met for the first time at the end of May. In response to the corona-related shooting stops, the focus was on the development of new film material. A total of 18 projects were funded with over 400,000 euros.

The new tragicomedy is about the discovery of a bombDud (57,000 euros, Tamtam Film, Hamburg) by Kerstin Polte. The episodic film is set in the middle of Hamburg's lively Schanzenviertel neighbourhood. And in the shimmering heat of midsummer, it's not just tempers that can quickly flare.

Kiel instead of Hamburg and late autumn instead of midsummer: several episodes also take place inBefore the beginning (35,000 euros, Kinescope Film, Hamburg) is a film about three women, three fates and a shared desire for redemption. The writing duo Constantin Hatz and Milena Aboyan won the Emden Screenplay Award last year for their film.

Further funding for project development will be provided to the DramaThe splendour of the moment (I, Alex) by Christoph Hochhäusler and Script Writer Sebastian Ladwig (40,000 euros, Riva Filmproduktion, Hamburg) and Marc Brummund's coffee-trip comedyCalifornia (30,000 euros, Port au Prince, Berlin). Behind the dramaAnd that you can live without deception (25,000 euros, Silva Film, Lübeck) by Katharina Lisa Lüdin includes Jana Kreissl, Executive Producer of the festival success "Das melancholische Mädchen". The projects each receive 20,000 euros14 days Directors Damian Schipporeit and Script Writer Ulrich Klingenschmitt (Leitwolf Filmproduktion, Hamburg) andLangsdorff and the perception of the world (20,000 euros, Flumenfilm, Hamburg) by Philipp Hartmann and Danilo Carvalho.

Screenplay funding goes to eight projects, including the literary film adaptation Miroloi (25,000 euros, a little. film production, Berlin) by Hamburg-based Script Writer Karen Köhler andColour me life (25,000 euros, Bon Voyage Films, Hamburg) by the German-New Zealand writing team Max Currie and Odine Johne. 24,000 euros will also be awarded to the romantic comedy Kabul Jan (Adomeit Film, Lübeck) by Shahrbanoo Sadat and co-author Anwar Hashimi. Their first two films "Wolf and Sheep" and "The Orphanage" celebrated their world premieres in Cannes.

WithSummer by Ricarda Saleh andSunland by Reza-Sam Mosadegh, 20,000 euros each will go to two up-and-coming Hamburg authors. Executive Producer Nils Kacirek and Script Writer Franziska Biermann will receive the same amount forRobert, the super rabbit (Eddi Media UG, Hamburg) and Sarah Manon Kempen for Antonia's ever-ready excuse agency. The coming of age dramaBeneath us the waves by up-and-coming filmmaker Hilke Rönnfeldt from Schleswig-Holstein is being funded with 18,000 euros. Her short film "The Silence of the Fish" has already screened in the 2020 Max Ophüls Prize competition. Hilke Rönnfeldt and Ricarda Saleh are alumni of Screen Talent Europe and the Young Talent Development Initiative of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein.

The small arthouse cinema in Eimsbüttel will receive aFilmRoom 7,000 euros for its integrative open-air cinema project "Cinema builds bridges, brings people together". A further 6,000 euros will go to theSchanzenkino 73 for its popular open-air cinema in Hamburg's Sternschanzenpark. The Hamburg cinema will receive exactly 1,255 eurosAbaton cinema. The sum will be used to support the printing of posters and flyers to promote theDonation campaign "The Show Must Go On!" to save Hamburg's arthouse cinemas.

A detailed overview of all funded projects can be found at ffhsh.de retrievable.

The funding decisions were made on Wednesday, 27 May 2020, by Gabor Greiner, Timo Großpietsch, Manja Malz, Mia Spengler, Maryam Zaree and Helge Albers.