Latest news

In its last meeting of the year, the Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 150,000 euros to seven projects. These include the short film "No Time" by Schleswig-Holstein Screenplay Award winner Jackie Gillies and the mixed media experience "Haunted Healing" by Hamburg-based animation company Fabian&Fred.

If you live in our region, work in the film industry AND consider yourself part of a marginalised group, then apply for one of the free EFM Market Badges + festival accreditations.

In its current meeting, the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund of MBB, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Istanbul Film Festival - Meetings on the Bridge is awarding almost 30,000 euros for the development of four new German-Turkish film projects.

Around 1.7 million euros were awarded to 31 projects by the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund at its current meeting - including the new film "Ficken für Freiheit" by Hille Norden from Schleswig-Holstein and the drama "5 Tage" by "Peterchens Mondfahrt" Director Ali Samadi Ahadi.

Four graduates of Hamburg Media School have won the Student Academy Award 2023 in bronze in the feature film category with their graduation film "ISTINA (Truth)". The awards were presented last night in Los Angeles by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 110,000 euros to four projects at its latest meeting. These include the short film "Lebensschulden" by Hamburg filmmaker Lena Hetzel about life in a youth detention centre and the VR experience "Golems" by Deborah and Dennis Reinmüller from Kiel.

An open-air cinema where two films are shown at the same time? That's exactly what happened this year at the open-air SchanzenKino. A unique concept in Germany that will be going into its second round next year.

The Hamburg Media School, MOIN Film Fund and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg jointly launched the film trainee programme "GetOnSet" last year. Three graduates of the first round are now working on the set of the series "BRÜT" by Hamburg production company Tamtam Film.

The MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is in the final of the 16th German Sustainability Award for Companies 2023.

ProQuote Film, Palais Fluxx and Let's Change The Picture are organising a pitching session at Filmfest Hamburg with the support of MOIN Film Fund on 3 October for stories with women and FLINTAQ\* in the leading roles from 67 years of age and upwards.

A total of 16 cinema awards were presented by State Councillor for Culture Jana Schiedek last week at the Savoy cinema. The Zeise cinema, the 3001, the B-Movie and the Abaton were among this year's winners. A special prize went to the initiative "Flexibles Flimmern".

Berlinale premiere, film award winner and now German Oscar candidate: the film "The Teachers' Lounge", shot in Hamburg, is in the running for the foreign Oscar.

On 17 September, the Toronto International Film Festival will kick off its 2023 edition. Three MOIN-funded films have made it into the line-up of the renowned festival. They include Ilker Catak's "The Teachers' Lounge", "King's Land" with Mads Mikkelsen and the Cannes film "About Dry Grasses".

Script Writers have until 31 August to apply for the Lübeck Screenwriting Scholarship. Find out what the scholarship is all about and how to apply here.

Positive results from the first GetOnSet year: around 85 per cent of the film trainees found their way into the film world through the programme - and there were more than 150 applications for the second GetOnSet round. The success of the Hamburg Media School and MOIN Film Fund initiative underlines the importance of promoting young talent in the film industry.

Be there when the international XR industry meets at VENICE IMMERSIVE (31.08.-03.09.23)! MOIN Film Fund is sending a delegation from the regional XR industry to the festival in Venice. Interested Executive Producers can apply for one of the two places until Monday, 24.07.23. Germany is the focus country of the Venice Production Bridge this year _

With around 1000 guests from film and TV, culture and politics, the MOIN Film Fund celebrated its annual industry get-together at Kampnagel on Tuesday evening. Among the guests were German Film Award winner Leonie Benesch, "Der Buchspazierer" Christoph Maria Herbst and the "Sløborn" team Aaron Hilmer and Emily Kusche.

In Schleswig-Holstein's oldest cinema, the KinoCenter in Rendsburg, State Secretary for Culture Guido Wendt presented the state's cinema award today (21 June) and paid tribute to the state's cinema culture:

Fatih Akin's biopic "Rheingold" was honoured as best film at the Bavarian Film Awards. The film about the life of rapper, dealer, label founder and gold robber Giwar Hajabi aka Xatar has been seen by more than one million cinema-goers in Germany since its release. Another award went to the drama "Aus meiner Haut" by Alex Schaad.

From Cannes straight to Hamburg: Kiel-based media artist Eugenia Bakurin will be showing her experimental film "Long Time No Techno" as part of the Hamburg Short Film Festival, which will be taking place for the 39th time from 6 to 11 June. In April, the lecturer at the Muthesius Academy of Fine Arts and Design was honoured with the Short Tiger Award for her work.

For her acting performance in Nuri Bilge Ceylan's film "About Dry Grasses", Turkish actress Merve Dizdar was honoured as best actress in Cannes. The German co-production was screened in the official competition section of the festival.

In its current meeting, the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded more than 2.8 million euros to 27 projects - including the series "Schwarze Früchte" by showrunner and actor Lamin Leroy Gibba and the drama "Der Optimismus" by Hamburg filmmaker Steffen Goldkamp - both projects will be produced entirely in the funding region in the summer of 2023.

Two MOIN-funded films will be represented at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival this year: Turkish Director Nuri Bilge Ceylan's "About Dry Grasses" has made it into the official competition, while Faouzi Bensaïdi's film "Déserts" is screening in the "Quinzaine des Cinéastes" section. Also taking part: up-and-coming Hamburg actress Pauline Pollmann and Kiel-based short filmmaker Eugenia Bakurin.

Malika Rabahallah will take over the management of FILMFEST HAMBURG from 1 January 2024. The Executive Producer and long-time head of the funding department of MOIN Film Fund will succeed Albert Wiederspiel, who will leave FILMFEST at the end of 2023 after twenty successful years as festival director.

On 21 May, together with six other funding institutions, we are inviting Executive Producers from Germany and Scandinavia to a "Business Lunch" in Cannes. If you want to be there, you can still apply until 19 April.

It's that time again: on 16 April, 17 Hamburg arthouse cinemas will be showing a Hanseatic city classic in their programme. This year you can look forward to "Bandits" by Katja von Garnier from 1997 at "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film". A large part of the film team will be on site at the cinema screenings.

On 21 April, four productions with North German participation will be awarded the Grimme Prize: "Atomkraft Forever" by Hamburg filmmaker Carsten Rau, "The Other Side of the River" by Hamburg production company Doppelplusultra, the arthouse horror film "Schlaf" produced by Junafilm from Hamburg, and "Im Feuer - Zwei Schwestern" by Director and Script Writer Daphné Charizani.

As of now, cinema operators from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein can once again apply for the 2023 Cinema Awards. Here you can find out who can apply where and when the submission deadlines end.

An Oscar nominee, a cinema million and two Palme d'Ors in Cannes: in 2022, there was plenty of tailwind for films from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. With 2,000 days of filming and production funding for 60 cinema films such as "Amrum" by Fatih Akin and Hark Bohm and for nine series such as "Helgoland 513" and "Davos", exciting new projects are in the starting blocks.

On the first Saturday of the Berlinale (18 February), the Hamburg film industry met for Tea Time at the Hamburg State Representation on the Spree. Directors Fatih Akin and "Rheingold" lead actor Emilio Sakraya as well as the "Mittagsstunde" team Charly Hübner and Lars Jessen were among those in attendance.

Last year, up-and-coming producers were able to apply for the new "Port of Production" residency programme for the first time - now the four participants from Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and Canada have been selected. Among them: Executive Producer Fabian Driehorst from Hamburg.

How diverse is the German film industry really? Despite important studies and surveys, there are gaps in the available data. The MOIN Film Fund wants to change this and is therefore cooperating with the Australian "The Everyone Project" with immediate effect. A pilot of the new "OMNI Inclusion" platform is to be launched across Germany in 2023 with the help of industry representatives.

When the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival takes place this year from 16-26 February, eight MOIN-funded productions will be screened in the capital - six of them as world premieres. They include "The Measures of Men" by Lars Kraume, Ayşe Polat's "In the Blind Spot" and the drama "The Teachers' Lounge" by İlker Çatak, which was shot in Hamburg.

The Hamburg-based production company Ulysses Films will be showing its animated film "The Amazing Maurice the Cat" at the renowned Sundance Film Festival in the USA from 19 January. The Terry Pratchett adaptation will be one of only three films to be shown in the children's section. Bastian Pastewka lends his voice to the orange-coloured street cat in the German version - cinema release is 9 February 2023.

From February 2023, Nicola Jones will take over as head of the Schleswig-Holstein location of MOIN Film Fund. The former CEO of the German Children's Media Festival "Goldener Spatz" will succeed Arne Sommer, who has successfully managed the Filmwerkstatt since 2014 and has left the company at his own request.

We are cooperating with Series Mania for the second year in a row and are sending a delegation from the funding region to the Series Mania Forum in Lille (21-23 March 2023)!

The VR experience "Queer Utopia" has won the XR Pitch Battle organised by MOIN Film Fund. The Portuguese-Brazilian VR artist Lui Avallos will receive support totalling 10,000 euros for his project idea.

The first year of "GetOnSet", the Hamburg pilot project to combat the shortage of film professionals, has started. More than 180 interested people applied in advance for the 15 places available. Dr Carsten Brosda, Senator for Culture and Media, and Labour Senator Dr Melanie Leonhard have now visited two GetOnSet trainees at work on the film set of "Notruf Hafenkante".

In its current meeting, the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund of MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Medienboard and Istanbul Film Festival - Meetings on the Bridge is awarding 40,000 euros for the development of three projects.

MOIN Film Fund, Danish Film Institute, National Film School of Denmark, SODEC Québec and Netherlands Film Fund are awarding four residency grants to young Executive Producers for the year 2023. The fellows will live, work and network in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Montreal. Applications are open until mid-November, the first "Port of Production"residency will take place in Copenhagen in March 2023.

Are you at home in the world of immersive media and looking for a new challenge in the North German film and culture scene? Then join our team! We are currently looking for a\*project coordinator\*for immersive media at our company headquarters in Kiel.

The twelfth Schleswig-Holstein Cinema Prize was awarded at the Astra-Filmtheater Plön on Tuesday evening.

Three reasons for series fans to rejoice: Fahri Yardim and Henriette Confurius are filming a new thriller series in the north. The first two Filmfest Hamburg series will premiere at the Filmfest Hamburg - and the film funding can also bring exciting series to the Hanseatic city in the future, as Senator for Culture Dr Carsten Brosda announced on the set of "Die Quellen des Bösen" by Hamburg production company Wüste Medien.

A total of seven MOIN-funded films will be screened at this year's Toronto International Film Festival from 8 to 18 September. In addition to the premieres of the two international co-productions "War Sailor" and "Snow and the Bear", the North German short film "Beben" has also made it into the programme.

Do you have an idea for an artistic and/or narrative XR project? Would you like to pitch this idea to a jury online and live? Then apply to us as part of the "XR Pitch Battle" by 4 October!

There's a whole load of Hamburg coming our way: we currently have ten MOIN-funded productions in the Filmfest Hamburg programme - including Fatih Akin's new gangster epic "Rheingold" and Hans-Christian Schmid's "We Are Next of Kin" about the kidnapping of Jan Philipp Reemtsma.

The Venice International Film Festival begins on 31 August and a large part of the programme has now been announced. Included: the drama "Victim" with Hamburg leading actress Vita Smachelyuk in the Orizzonti section as well as the film "Aus meiner Haut" with Jonas Dassler and Mala Emde, which was shot entirely in Schleswig-Holstein and will be shown in the "International Film Critics' Week".

Two Hamburg-based Directors are celebrating their world premieres at the renowned Locarno Film Festival this summer: Kilian Riedhof's drama "You Will Not Have My Hate" is screening on the Piazza Grande and Helena Wittmann is competing for the Golden Leopard with "Human Flowers of Flesh".

How are new digital tools impacting the film industry? And how are film production and the distribution of stories changing in times of radical change? As part of FILMFEST HAMBURG, the Explorer Konferenz #3 on 7 October 2022 invites you to explore these relevant questions together with international guests and take a look into the future. Three Explorer Impuls events will offer a foretaste of what's to come.

Back to normality: for the first time since 2019, the Hamburg Cinema Awards were presented live and in colour on 21 June. Culture Senator Dr Carsten Brosda presented awards to 17 arthouse and district cinemas as well as initiatives for the 2021 programme year at Kampnagel. Due to the pandemic, the prize money was more than doubled again this year from coronavirus funds to a total of 220,000 euros.

In its latest meeting, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund supported ten projects with around 800,000 euros. Among them: the sequel to the true crime series "Reeperbahn Special Unit 65", a family film about four chaotic sisters and a documentary about the Vendée Globe regatta centred around Hamburg's Boris Herrmann. More than 550,000 euros will also go to four productions from the Nordbuster committee, including an animal-themed Schleswig-Holstein project.

Small but mighty: the Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund has awarded 125,000 euros in funding to three short films at its latest meeting. Schleswig-Holstein filmmaker Hilke Rönnfeldt's "Duty Free" takes us to a floating sales container on the Baltic Sea, while Hamburg-based animation company Telescope tells the story of an old lady and her dragon.

Just in time for the 50th anniversary of the Hamburg cult film "Rocker", 16 arthouse and arthouse cinemas in the Hanseatic city are showing the German Easy Rider as part of the event "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film". The packed supporting programme on 19 June includes a location tour, an exhibition - and of course filmmaker Klaus Lemke and some of his crew.

This has never happened before: three films with Hamburg participation are screening in competition at the 75th Cannes Film Festival, including the new film by Ruben Östlund. Three other MOIN-funded productions can be seen in other sections - the short film "Beben" was shot almost entirely in Schleswig-Holstein.

The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk has already been able to help a total of 108 Ukrainian filmmakers with its Emergency Fund. After the German film funding organisations had already contributed 100,000 euros to the fund in March, there will now be further support amounting to 100,000 euros - because the situation remains precarious.

It's THE week for all North German documentary film fans: from 20 to 24 April, documentarfilmwoche hamburg will be showing the works of numerous Hamburg and international filmmakers in 36 screenings. A central theme of the current festival edition will be the (late) aftermath of war.

A portrait of the Hamburg cult band Tocotronic and the new film by "Manche hatten Krokodile"-Director Christian Hornung about the Hamburg Sternbrücke: The Director's Cut committee of the MOIN Film Fund has awarded around 1.2 million euros to 29 projects - including ten documentaries that received production funding.

Are you currently planning a new series project? Then apply now with your material for the Series Lab Hamburg 2022, which will take place in the Hanseatic city from 14 to 16 June. Work on your series material together with screenplay experts and also meet potential financing partners.

In view of the humanitarian emergency and the war in Ukraine, solidarity is more important than ever: German film funding organisations condemn Putin's invasion in the strongest terms and are sending a signal of solidarity to Ukrainian filmmakers and their families with their joint action.

Multiple national and regional funding organisations are often involved in the funding of film and series projects in Germany. A standardised review process is now being planned.

The new digital annual report from MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein takes stock of the coronavirus years 2020 and 2021. 2,501 shooting days, 26.2 million euros in funding, Golden Bears and Leopards

At the Berlinale 2022, Film-Norden will be represented with four subsidised films and a high-end series. At the "Berlinale Series Market" there will be a first glimpse of the series "REEPERBAHN Special Unit 65".

A new addition to the Hamburg production landscape: In 2020, the jack-of-all-trades Hape Kerkeling and Hamburg film lawyer Harro von Have joined forces under the name "Honeybird Film " (formerly Blueverde) to realise original material by the cult comedian from Hamburg in the future. The mini-series "Club Las Piranjas" marks the start of this endeavour.

In the last High End session of the year, the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 800,000 euros to five projects. These include the psychological thriller "The Tutor", which was shot entirely in Film-Norden, and the animated adventure "Seeräubermoses", based on the novel by Hamburg's honorary citizen Kirsten Boie.

A Hamburg classic is returning to the big screen, freshly restored: Pia Frankenberg's "Burning Beds" will be shown in 16 Hamburg art house and district cinemas on 12 December as part of the "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film" event. Frankenberg and other cast and crew members will be on hand at many of the screenings for a short discussion with the audience. There will also be other exciting programme items.

A broad alliance of production companies, broadcasters, VoD services and film funding organisations is switching to a more ecologically sustainable production method: From 2022, ambitious, binding voluntary commitment to comply with minimum ecological standards and award of the new sustainability label "green motion".

In its third meeting of the year, the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 660,000 euros to 20 projects. Among them: an internationally cast biopic about the surrealist painter Leonora Carrington, which will be filmed in Schleswig-Holstein for around two weeks.

Ten years of the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund! In its current session, the funding round of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Istanbul Film Festival - Meetings on the Bridge has supported six co-productions with a total of 53,000 euros. Following a digital edition in 2020, this year's anniversary session was once again held live in the Hanseatic city as part of Filmfest Hamburg.

In addition to numerous films worth seeing, the Filmfest Hamburg will once again feature exciting specialist events for those interested in the industry. MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is organising four events - two on water and two on land.

The first batch of shortlisted films has been released: And with "Gaza Mon Amour", "The Other Side Of The River" and "Les Enfants Terrible", three MOIN-funded films can hope to be nominated for the European Film Awards.

A total of three films supported by the MOIN Film Fund can hope to win a LOLA at the 71st German Film Awards. "Tides" by Tim Fehlbaum leads the field with six nominations. "Curveball - Wir machen die Wahrheit" by Johannes Naber and "A Symphony of Noise" by Enrique Sánchez Lansch also have a chance.

Actress Saskia Rosendahl has won the best actress award in the "Concorso Cineasti del presente" section at the Locarno Film Festival for her leading role in the drama "No One's with the Calves". Executive Producer of the film, which had 16 shooting days in Schleswig-Holstein and two in Hamburg, is the Hamburg-based company Weydemann Bros. The main prize of the evening went to the Indonesian film "Vengeance Is Mine, All Others Pay Cash", which was co-produced by Fatih Akin's company bombero international.

A total of four films supported by the MOIN Film Fund will be screened in competition at the 74th Locarno Film Festival from 4 to 14 August this year: "Systemsprenger" producers Weydemann Bros. from Hamburg are celebrating their world premiere in Switzerland with "No One's with the Calves" - and Fatih Akin's company bombero international is sending an Indonesian action comedy into the race.

Is it Christmas already? In its second meeting of 2021, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awards around 1.5 million euros to 14 projects - including the Hamburg-produced animation adventure "Niko's Arctic Adventure" and a diving thriller that will be shot in the film water tank "Offtec" in Schleswig-Holstein, among others. The Nordbuster Committee is also funding two scripts with 50,000 euros each.

In the summer of 2020, a group of European filmmakers came together to found ARTEF, the Anti-Racism Taskforce for European Film. The first step was an awareness-raising programme led by Dr Emilia Roig, trainer, Script Writer and founder of the Centre for Intersectional Justice in Berlin. The workshops took place online between November 2020 and May 2021 with an average of 40 participants per session from all over Europe.

From 1987 to 2011, Reinhard Hinrichs shaped the establishment and development of film funding in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The film industry in the north owes him a great deal. He has now passed away at the age of 74.

From producing in the digital age, the reinvention of public broadcasters to diversity as a business opportunity: the second Explorer Konferenz will take place at the beginning of October, docked to FILMFEST HAMBURG. On 8 October, everything will once again revolve around producing for cinema, streaming & TV. The half-day conference will focus on the challenges and opportunities of the current upheaval in the film industry - partly on three stages in parallel.

The German Film Commissions' nationwide sustainability initiative "Keen to be green" has met with a great response: so far, more than 1,200 filmmakers from all sectors have taken part in the online events on "green filmmaking".

Hungarian Berlinale winner Ildikó Enyedi (Golden Bear for "Body and Soul") is in competition at the 74th Cannes International Film Festival with "The Story of my Wife". The European co-production with leading actress Léa Seydoux was filmed in 2019 at historical locations in Hamburg, among others. Also included: Bruno Dumont's "France", which was co-produced by Red Balloon Film from Hamburg - and also stars Léa Seydoux.