FUNDINGS PRODUCTION

Directors Sarah Winkenstette devotes herself inGreetings from Mars (480,000 euros, Leitwolf Filmproduktion, Hamburg) tells the story of ten-year-old Tom, a boy with Asperger's syndrome. When his mother has to travel to China for work, he and his two siblings end up with their hippie grandparents in Lunau, a small village in the north. The three of them soon realise that the rules in the countryside are very different to those in the structured everyday life of the big city. The film, based on the children's book by Sebastian Grusnick and Thomas Möller, who also wrote the script, will have around 30 days of filming in Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg. Filming is scheduled to start in summer 2023.

Another 200,000 euros go to the dramaNo one's calling (Riva Filmproduktion, Hamburg) by Director Kamila Tarabura, in which a journalist fights for the truth in an abuse case. Tarabura wrote the script together with Katarzyna Warnke - there will be three days of filming in Hamburg. InCharlotte (200,000 euros, PakFilm, Hamburg) by filmmaker Leila Jackson, a young man has to make a desperate decision in order to find himself again. The DocumentaryBecoming Roosi (70,000 euros, dirk manthey film, Hamburg) by Script Writer and Director Margit Lillak follows 16-year-old Roosi from Estonia, who grew up as the child of eco-activists.

FUNDINGS NORDLICHTER

With Nothing for boys (390,000 euros, PyjamaPictures, Berlin), the three up-and-coming Hamburg directors Emil Belton, Oskar Belton and Bruno Alexander are producing their new series format following their surprise hit "Die Discounter". The script was written by the three Directors together with Hamburg HMS graduates Miriam Suad Bühler and Ellen Holthaus. The series is being funded by NDR, MOIN Film Fund and nordmedia as part of the Nordlichter programme for young talent.

FUNDINGS PROJECT DEVELOPMENT

In the animated seriesVanja's world (60,000 euros, Fabian&Fred, Hamburg) by Script Writer and Director Marita Mayer is all about the child Vanja, who disguises herself as a different animal in each episode in order to take on its "superpowers". The series is produced entirely from Hamburg.Fat life (30,000 euros, Riva Filmproduktion) is the name of the new tragicomedy by Director and Script Writer Oliver Kracht, in which five night shift workers accidentally come across explosive sex tapes about powerful men from politics, media and industry. A further 30,000 euros will go toAntonia's ever-ready excuse agency (FeithFilmproduktion/ThomasFeith, Ganderkesee) by Kiel-based Director Linus Liyas, who, together with Script Writer Sarah Manon Kempen from Hamburg, tells the story of enterprising twelve-year-old Antonia, who runs an agency for excuses at her school. HFBK Hamburg graduate Luise Donschen shows in her dramaPatty (25,000 euros, Fünferfilm, Hamburg) tells the story of Patty, who goes into the forest of the Kyffhäuser mountains one day and reappears thirty years later, barely aged. For the DocumentaryBroken Bridges (filmtank, Hamburg) by Mokhtar Namdar, who is developing the project together with Dorothea Reinicke via the Hamburg dance group Hajusom, will receive 18,000 euros.

FUNDINGS SCRIPT

The Director's Cut Committee has funded two projects in the script category: The seriesJasper (43,000 euros, Zischlermann Filmproduktion, Lübeck) by HMS graduate Christopher Kaufmann is about a former child star who has to face the demons of his past. The two HFBK Hamburg graduates Jasmin Luu and Ayşe Salman are currently working on the post-migrant coming of age filmHood about 18-year-old Zehra and the dynamics in a three-generation household in Hamburg (25,000 euros, SEOI COLLECTIVE, Hamburg).

FUNDINGS COMPLETION

EUR 30,000 goes to the Documentary Letters from Ms Iran (Jyoti Film, Hamburg) by Farahnaz Sharifi, in which two Iranian women from different parts of the world get to know each other virtually via an e-mail exchange. A further 25,000 euros were awarded for the DocumentaryThis is our Everything by Frederik Subei about the destruction of the rainforest in the Amazon region.

FUNDINGS DISTRIBUTION AND CINEMA

Distribution funding is available for three projects: the DocumentaryFCK 2020 - Two and a half years with Scooter (25,000 euros, Wild Bunch Germany, Berlin) by Cordula Kablitz-Post,Grump - In search of the escort (20,000 euros, Arsenal Film, Tübingen) by Mika Kaurismäki andHuman Flowers of Flesh (10,000 euros, Grandfilm, Nuremberg) by Hamburg filmmaker Helena Wittmann.

Four formats were supported in the cinema sector:Audiovisual Heritage Week (7,000 euros, Kinemathek Hamburg e.V. Kommunales Kino Metropolis, Hamburg),Cine Espanol 2022 (4,500 euros, 3001 cinema, Hamburg),Africa Film Days 2022 in the Studio Kino (4,500 euros, Filmtheaterbetriebe Hans-Peter Jansen, Hamburg) andBambino cinema 2022 (2,500 euros, 3001 cinema, Hamburg).

An overview of all funded projects can be found here.

The Director's Cut Committee is responsible for films and series with production costs of less than 3.5 million euros and cinema documentaries with production costs of less than 1.5 million euros.

The funding decisions were made on 21 September 2022: Ali Samadi Ahadi, Bettina Brokemper, Gabor Greiner, Timo Großpietsch and Helge Albers.