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One step further in the Oscar® race: İlker Çatak's Hamburg film "The Teachers' Lounge" has made it onto the shortlist in the category "Best International Film". Among the other candidates: The historical film "Kings Land" starring Mads Mikkelsen, which celebrated its German premiere at Filmfest Hamburg in autumn.

For the seventh time, there is a new call for entries for the NORDLICHTER - the debut series organised by Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and nordmedia - Film- und Mediengesellschaft Niedersachsen/Bremen. We are looking for new North German film material.

Inception meets virtual reality: VR artist and filmmaker Dan Franke has won the XR Pitch Battle organised by MOIN Film Fund with his VR thriller "Fragments of Silence" and will receive 10,000 euros in funding. The event took place in cooperation with the Nordic Film Days Lübeck in the Infinity Dome and in parallel on ZOOM.

The Nordic Film Days Lübeck is calling: from 1 to 5 November, the 65th edition of the Nordic Film Days Lübeck will feature over 180 films. MOIN Film Fund is represented in the programme with 13 funded productions - including the long-term documentary "Forever" by Grimme Award winner Pia Lenz, the historical epic "King's Land" with Mads Mikkelsen and the world premiere of the documentary "Hugo Hercules & The Wild West" by Martina Fluck from Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, several immersive projects will be presented to an expert jury at the "XR Pitch Battle" in the Infinity Dome.

Apply now for the EAVE Slate or Impact Zone Lab at "When East Meets West 2024"!

The MOIN Film Fund and the European Film Market Toolbox programme are pleased to announce the extension of their partnership! You can now apply for the upcoming EFM Fiction Toolbox programme and the European Film Market, which will take place in Berlin from 15 to 21 February 2024!

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.

At its latest meeting, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded almost one million euros in funding to ten projects. They include the new film by "The Teachers' Lounge" Director İlker Çatak, which took 21 days to shoot in Hamburg, and a drama by Hungarian Berlinale winner Ildikó Enyedi.

The MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein surveyed companies as well as individuals/self-employed people in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein from the feature film, documentary, commercial, XR and animation sectors for a study.

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.

The Hanseatic city in cinema mode: the Filmfest Hamburg is taking place this year until 7 October - and has 17 productions with northern German participation on board. These include two series highlights with Heinz Strunk and Fahri Yardim as well as the German premieres of "King's Land" with Mads Mikkelsen and "The Lesson" with Julie Delpy and Richard E. Grant - the thriller was filmed entirely in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. MOIN will also be on site with several events as part of the Industry Days.

You still have some time before the next festival film? Then just drop by our MOIN Filmfest Café at CinemaxX Dammtor until 6 October and chat about films and events at Filmfest Hamburg while enjoying delicious snacks and refreshing drinks. We look forward to seeing you!

When you think of Hamburg's cinema history, you think of him first: in 1970, Werner Grassmann founded the Abaton, one of Germany's first arthouse cinemas in the Hanseatic city - now the cinema maker and film producer has died at the age of 96.

The 80th Venice International Film Festival kicks off at the end of August - and MOIN Film Fund will be there with six projects. These include the historical drama "King's Land" with Mads Mikkelsen in the international competition and the film "Yurt", produced by Red Balloon from Hamburg, in the Orizzonti competition section. Germany is this year's focus country at the film festival.

The Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded almost 2.2 million euros to 32 projects at its latest meeting. These include the romantic comedy "Zwischen den Zeilen" about a deaf and blind couple by Hamburg-based Directors Milan Skrobanek and the series "Brüt" by Oliver Bassemir and Marian Freistühler about a different kind of magic mushroom - both projects are to be shot largely in Hamburg.

_The Explorer programme invites you to Hamburg on 6 October to shed light on the transformation of production for film, television and streaming.

A true all-rounder in all areas of film funding: Katrin Mersmann has been working as a film funding officer for more than 20 years. She will now take over as head of the MOIN funding department at the turn of the year 2023/24.

Important information for all applicants: From now on, feature films and series with a budget of up to 2.5 million euros will be assigned to the Director's Cut Committee, while feature films and series with a budget of over 2.5 million euros will be submitted to the High End Committee. Previously, the budget threshold was 3.5 million euros.

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:

Three short, two immersive: At its current meeting, the "Kurz + Innovativ" Committee of the MOIN Film Fund supported five projects with around 140,000 euros. These include the animated film "Butterfly Kiss" from the Hamburg-based animation studio "Fabian&Fred" and the 270-degree experience "InHuman - A New World" about the creation and destruction of the rainforest.

In its current funding session, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded more than 1.4 million euros to eleven projects. Among the productions receiving funding are the new animation project "Go with the flea" by "Peterchens Mondfahrt" Director Ali Samadi Ahadi and the series "The Next Level" with actress Lisa Vicari, produced by Hamburg-based Letterbox.

The Hamburg Media School, MOIN Film Fund and the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg are jointly continuing the GetOnSet film trainee programme. Following the successful launch of the pilot project in 2022, the practical programme has proven to be an effective building block against the shortage of skilled workers in the film and series industry.

Germany's northernmost and southernmost film funding organisations were joint hosts: Filmmakers from all over Scandinavia and from Germany came together at the Business Lunch as part of the 76th Festival de Cannes.

A new dawn or standstill? How are new digital tools impacting the film industry? The Explorer Konferenz #4 as part of FILMFEST HAMBURG INDUSTRY DAYS (2 to 6 October 2023) invites Executive Producers, financiers, funding institutions and students to take a look at the future of production for cinema, streaming and TV.

At the German Film Awards 2023, the LOLAS in gold and bronze for best feature film went to the MOIN-funded productions "The Teachers' Lounge" and "Holy Spider". At the awards ceremony on Friday evening, the drama "The Teachers' Lounge", which was filmed entirely in Hamburg, received a total of five awards, including to Ilker Çatak for Best Director and Leonie Benesch for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Our cooperation with the international mentoring programme First Cut Lab is entering its third round! The First Cut Lab Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is aimed specifically at MOIN-funded feature and documentary film productions that are in the editing phase.

Ten productions with North German participation can hope to win a total of 21 LOLAs at the German Film Awards 2023. Among the nominated films are the drama "The Teachers' Lounge" by Ilker Çatak, which was shot entirely in Hamburg, with seven nominations, "Holy Spider" by Ali Abbasi with four nominations and the novel adaptation "When Will It Again Like It Never Was Before" by Sonja Heiss with two nominations.

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.

Faster, simpler, clearer: From now on, all proceeds for funded films will be entered into our new proceeds tool. Sending PDFs and paper forms is now a thing of the past.

In its first meeting of the year, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund has supported four projects with around 950,000 euros - including the new animation adventure "Seeräubermoses" by Hamburg-based Ulysses Films ("The Amazing Maurice"). In addition, the Nordbuster Committee is awarding more than 850,000 euros to Wüste Film for the tragicomedy "Drift" by Director Florian Dietrich, who will shoot his new film almost entirely in Hamburg following his surprise success "Toubab".

On the Tuesday of the Berlinale, Minister of Digitalisation Dirk Schrödter welcomed the Schleswig-Holstein film scene to the Baltic Motion reception at the state representation in Berlin. With a full dome experience, a short film programme and an exhibitor area, there was plenty for the guests to discover that evening.

The "Kurz + Innovativ" Committee of MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein has funded three innovative projects and one short film at its current meeting - including the new VR experience by the Hamburg-based GoBanyo team about life on the street and hologram whales from Schleswig-Holstein. Ideas were also funded for four XR projects.

Ruben Östlund can hope to win three Oscars with his megahit "Triangle of Sadness". As the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today, the MOIN-funded production has been nominated in the categories "Best Director", "Best Film" and "Best Original Script". The 95th Academy Awards will take place on 12 March 2023 in Hollywood.

The Grimme Institute today published the nominations for the 59th Grimme Prize. Among them are 8 productions from the north of Germany. The Grimme Prize is one of the most important awards in the German television sector.

The Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund is awarding almost 2.5 million euros to 30 projects in its current round. Among them: the drama "Anna ist" with 45 days of filming in Hamburg and the dystopian coming of age film "Dry Country" by Schleswig-Holstein filmmaker Malte Thomsen.

The High End and Nordbuster Committees of the MOIN Film Fund have awarded around 2.5 million euros to 19 projects - including the film adaptation of the bestseller "Der Buchspazierer" with Christoph Maria Herbst and a new series format by Heinz Strunk.

We are looking for a new director for Filmfest Hamburg as of 1 January 2024 - applications are open now and can be submitted until 8 January 2023.

In its autumn round, the Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund is supporting six projects with over 150,000 euros. Among them: a short film adventure with animals in space animated entirely in Hamburg and a VR horror experience.

From 2 to 6 November, 14 MOIN-funded productions will be shown on the big screen at the 64th Nordic Film Days in Lübeck - including the multi-award-winning drama "Aus meiner Haut", the short film "Kalb" shot in Schleswig-Holstein and Pepe Danquart's documentary about the artist Daniel Richter.

In its current meeting, the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 1.7 million euros to 21 projects - including the children's book adaptation "Greetings from Mars" with over 30 days of filming in the north and the new Nordlichter series by the Belton brothers from Hamburg.

In addition to 19 subsidised productions, this year we are once again represented at Filmfest Hamburg with exciting industry events such as the Explorer Konferenz and a panel with Iris Berben. And if you fancy a snack or delicious coffee specialities in between, pop into our pop-up café at CinemaxX Dammtor.

In its third meeting of the year, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund is supporting eleven projects with around 1.7 million euros. These include the new film "Amrum" by Fatih Akin and Hark Bohm and the series adaptation of the bestselling young adult book Alea Aquarius. The Nordbuster Committee also supported two projects with around 440,000 euros.

Festival director Albert Wiederspiel and his team are serving up a packed programme for the 30th anniversary edition of Filmfest Hamburg. Festival visitors can look forward to a total of 19 MOIN-funded productions from 29 September to 8 October. These include Cannes winners such as "Triangle of Sadness" and "Holy Spider", series highlights "made in Hamburg" and several world premieres.

The Explorer programme has been confirmed and invites you to Hamburg on 7 October to shed light on the transformation of production for film, television and streaming.

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!

We are looking for a new full-time site manager for our company headquarters in Kiel as soon as possible. Are you interested? Here you can find all further information.

In a nationwide survey, MOIN Film Fund asked 30 catering companies about sustainability. Where are companies already managing to act sustainably? Where is there still room for improvement? And what can film crews and production companies do to support caterers on set? Here are some initial answers.

In its June edition, the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund supported 14 projects with around 800,000 euros - including a drama about an exiled author on a North Sea island and a documentary about the Hamburg jack-of-all-trades Dietrich Kuhlbrodt.

A celebration on the longest day of the year: MOIN Film Fund celebrated its annual industry get-together at Kampnagel on Tuesday evening with around 1000 guests from film and TV, culture and politics. Among the guests were Otto Waalkes, Jonas Nay, Pheline Roggan, Charly Hübner and the cult band Scooter.

Here's to an exciting collaboration: the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund is being launched for the eleventh time this year. The deadline for the current application phase is 5 September 2022.

With immediate effect, the Schleswig-Holstein Cinema Prize is once again open for applications from cinemas in the state. Due to the ongoing economic burden on cinemas as a result of the pandemic, a total of 100,000 euros will be distributed this year, which represents a one-off increase of more than double. The awards are based on the programme year following the reopening of the cinemas from 1 July 2021 to 30 June 2022.

A shower of awards at the Croisette! Two films with Hamburg participation were able to win in Cannes: the Palme d'Or went to Ruben Östlund's "Triangle of Sadness" and the prize for Best Actress went to Zar Amir Ebrahimi in "Holy Spider".

Are you at home in the world of numbers, balance sheets and accounts and looking for a new challenge in the North German film and culture scene? Then join our team! At our company headquarters in Hamburg-Ottensen (with home office option) we are looking for a\*financial accountant\*in as of 01.10.2022.

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.

"Pacifiction - Tourment sur les Îles" is another film with Hamburg participation in the Cannes competition. Executive Producer of the film: the Hamburg company Tamtam Film ("Some had crocodiles"). In the "Un Certain Regard" section, the new film by Emily Atef ("3 Days in Quiberon") can also celebrate its world premiere.

With the social satire "Triangle of Sadness" by Ruben Östlund ("The Square") and the dark Iranian thriller "Holy Spider" by "Border" Director Ali Abbasi, two MOIN-funded co-productions have made it into the competition of the 75th Cannes International Film Festival. "Burning Days" by Directors Emin Alper will also be screened in the Un Certain Regard section.

In its first meeting of the year, the Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded 160,000 euros to five projects. These include the new VR experience by the Hamburg-based GoBanyo team about life on the street and an interactive fairytale lesson for children.

Sustainability has played a central role at MOIN Film Fund for more than ten years. With immediate effect, the company now also fulfils the criteria of the German Sustainability Code, thereby demonstrating its commitment: The requirements for the film industry apply just as much in-house.

The cooperation between MOIN Film Fund and the international mentoring programme First Cut Lab is entering its second round! With the First Cut Lab Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, it is aimed specifically at MOIN-funded feature film productions that are in the editing phase.

We are delighted about our first cooperation with Series Mania and are sending a delegation from the funding region to the Series Mania Forum in Lille (22-24 March)

In the first funding session of the year, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 2.5 million euros to 14 projects. A total of 1.2 million euros will go to six series productions from the north of Germany. The series highlights include a crime drama starring Fahri Yardim and an end-time drama set on Helgoland.

The Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund met just before the turn of the year. The result is six projects with around 130,000 euros in Fundings. These include a rural coming-of-age story by Friedrich Tiedtke from Schleswig-Holstein and an animal-political VR experience by Hamburg-based animation studio Fabian&Fred.

In its last funding session of the year, the Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 850,000 euros to 18 projects. Among them are a future drama by Hamburg-based "Systemsprenger"-Executive Producers Weydemann Bros. with Susanne Wolff and a coming of age film by Hamburg-based filmmaker Willy Hans.

Hamburg has lost a great cinema maker: On Monday, 29/11/21, Lydia Matern-Jansen, long-time CEO of the Blankeneser Kino and the Elbe Filmtheater, passed away after a short, serious illness.

First Locarno, now short film LOLA: On Thursday evening, HFBK graduate Nicolaas Schmidt was honoured with the German Short Film Award for his film "First Time (The Time For All But Sunset - Violet)". The film has already celebrated its world premiere at the Locarno Film Festival.

The German-Russian documentary film festival "Territorium Film" celebrates its tenth anniversary edition this Friday. The opening ceremony will take place via livestream in parallel in the plenary hall of the Schleswig-Holstein State Parliament and at the festival venue in Kaliningrad. Since it was founded in 2011, the film festival can look back on around 90 films screened, 140 film guests and more than 20,000 visitors.

In its third meeting of the year, the "Kurz + Innovativ" Committee of the MOIN Film Fund is supporting five projects with a total of around 100,000 euros - including the new short film by HFBK graduate Leonie Kellein and an immersive journey to the Amazon region.

A total of eleven coveted LOLAS went to the north of Germany at the German Film Awards Distribution on Friday evening - including the LOLA in Gold to the Letterbox production "Ich bin Dein Mensch" and the LOLA in Bronze to the MOIN-funded political satire "Curveball".

In its third meeting of the year, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund awarded around 1.3 million euros to eight projects - including Kida Khodr Ramadan's new Hamburg series "Santa Fu" and a historical film with Mads Mikkelsen. The Nordbuster Committee is also funding three additional projects.

From 30 September to 9 October 2021, Filmfest Hamburg invites you to the city's cinemas for the 29th time. The festival selection includes several North German productions that have already impressed at international festivals. These include the recent Locarno winners "No One's with the Calves" by Sabrina Sarabi and "Vengeance is Mine, All Others Pay Cash" by Edwin.

The 2021 Schleswig-Holstein Cinema Award will once again be presented in presence. "We want to celebrate and show the reopening of our cinemas with the Cinema Award Distribution in a real cinema hall and with guests: Cinema has survived and is coming back to life," said Culture Minister Prien in Kiel today.

As part of a major social media campaign, the Hamburg Cinema Awards 2021 were presented by Senator for Culture Dr Carsten Brosda on 19 August. The Senator for Culture was supported by 17 prominent laudators, including Detlev Buck, Peter Lohmeyer and Catrin Striebeck. The cinema prizes were more than doubled to 220,000 euros this year as part of the coronavirus aid programme.

The MOIN Film Fund is kicking off the second half of the year with a new series of events. Together with the Hamburg media law firms GRAEF, UNVERZAGT and VON HAVE FEY, the focus will be on film and media law topics under the label "All You Need is Law". The new format starts on 2 September with an online workshop, which you can register for today.

The Director's Cut Committee of the MOIN Film Fund has awarded more than 1.1 million euros to 23 projects in its second meeting of 2021. Among them are the new drama from "Systemsprenger" Executive Producers Weydemann Bros. with "Dark" star Louis Hofmann and Almila Bagriacik as well as a documentary about the journey of a paraplegic cat.

In its second funding session of 2021, the Kurz + Innovativ Committee of the MOIN Film Fund supported seven projects with a total of 140,000 euros. These include a VR experience about life on the street, an interactive art installation for children and a North German short film production on the topic of "saying goodbye during the coronavirus pandemic".

On Thursday, cinemas in Hamburg will finally open their doors again - and the City of Hamburg, together with the Film Fund, is providing the accompanying programme: with an unprecedented free ticket campaign and a doubling of the cinema programme prize funds, the cinemas in the north are to be given an easier start to the cinema summer. This brings the total amount of Hamburg's coronavirus aid to around 1.2 million euros.

This year's NDR "Albatross" prize for the best television series concept, worth 7500 euros, goes to the series "Babyland" (Agitprop Film) and Bulgarian Executive Producer Martichka Bozhilova. The prize was awarded as part of the "Series Lab Hamburg". Script Writers of "Babyland" are the Italian Simona Nobile and the US-American Dianne Jones.

50 cinemas and free admission everywhere: in a unique campaign, the states of Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein are jointly heralding the reopening of cinemas. Whether island cinema, arthouse gem or multiplex: on the first weekend in July, all participating cinemas are offering free tickets for one screening. And by the way, Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein is presenting itself in a new guise - and is now called MOIN Film Fund.

From 1 July 2021, cinemas in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein will reopen their auditoriums. The MOIN Film Fund Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the state of Schleswig-Holstein are donating the first round: 50 cinemas are offering free tickets for a cinema screening on the opening weekend as part of the #MOINKINO campaign

Do you have an idea for an artistic and/or narrative VR/XR project? Would you like to pitch this idea online and live in front of a jury at the Virtual Reality & Arts Festival VRHAM! Then apply to us now and by 10 June!

Cinema operators from Schleswig-Holstein take note: You have until 30 April to apply for the 2021 Schleswig-Holstein Cinema Prize, which is endowed with a total of 50,000 euros and awarded by the Minister of Education, Science and Culture.

You can now apply with your series projects for the Series Lab Hamburg 2021, which will take place from 22 to 24 June in an online edition. Work on your series material together with screenplay experts and also meet potential financing partners.

More money for the film north: The state of Schleswig-Holstein has increased its annual share of the funding pot of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein by 233,000 euros to around one million euros and is strengthening the film landscape in the region. Numerous film shoots are already planned for 2021 in the northernmost federal state.

Another Hamburg film at the Berlinale: Executive Producer and new Hamburg resident Farzad Pak is screening his film "District Terminal" in the "Encounters"competition. Pak previously produced "There is no evil" - with the drama Mohammad Rasoulof won the Golden Bear in 2020.

Would you like a little more? Up to four times a year, our Nordbuster committee supports projects from northern Germany that have what it takes to become a cinema hit. You can find out exactly what we are looking for and who can apply here.

Desire to go to the cinema despite the pandemic? The "Eine Stadt sieht einen Film" event organised by Hamburg's arthouse and district cinemas will be launched as an online edition for the first time on the weekend of 27 and 28 February. The Hamburg classic and milieu thriller "Supermarket" by Roland Klick will be available to stream free of charge on these two days - including a digital location tour and other programme highlights.

From 17 to 24 January, the 42nd Max Ophüls Preis Film Festival will take place in an online edition. A total of five FFHSH-funded films will be streamed at the young talent festival, including two entries from the Hamburg Media School and a film that also made it to the Sundance Film Festival this year.

In 2021, the international mentoring programme First Cut Lab is coming to Film-Norden for the first time and is aimed specifically at FFHSH-funded feature film productions that are in the editing phase.

Goodbye 2020! In the last meeting of the year, the FFHSH "Director's Cut" Committee awards almost 1.4 million euros to 19 projects. Among them are a German-Canadian thriller from Junafilm and an unusual love story with a star cast and 27 days of filming in Schleswig-Holstein.

A new animation studio for Hamburg and many days of filming for Schleswig-Holstein: In the last meetings of the year, the High End and Nordbuster Committees of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein awarded around 2 million euros to a total of eight projects, including the first film adaptation of Joachim Meyerhoff's novel.

The FFHSH-funded short film "Maman Maman Maman" by Director Lucia Margarita Bauer received the special prize of 20,000 euros at the German Short Film Award Distribution on Wednesday evening. Executive Producer is Ann Carolin Renninger (joon film) from Schleswig-Holstein. Another Lola went to HFBK graduate Roxana Reiss and her experimental graduation film "Alturas".

There have been several awards for FFHSH-funded productions in recent weeks, including Katrin Gebbe's "Pelikanblut" and "Atomkraft Forever" by Carsten Rau.

In its tenth session, the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund of Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and Istanbul Film Festival - Meetings on the Bridge supported three co-productions in development. This year, the decision was made in a virtual meeting instead of at Filmfest Hamburg as is traditionally the case.

In its most recent funding session, the Director's Cut Committee of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein awarded around 900,000 euros to 23 projects, including the drama "Maret" with "Styx" star Susanne Wolff and a documentary about the Syrian ex-professional swimmer Sarah Mardini with Oscar-winning Director of Photography Zamarin Wahdat.

In its second meeting of the year, the High End Committee of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein awarded around 1.6 million euros to ten projects. Among the productions receiving funding are "Over & Out", the new film by Hamburg company Oma Inge Film ("Systemsprenger") and the novel adaptation "Mittagsstunde" by Lars Jessen, which also received further funding from the FFHSH Nordbuster Committee.

Streaming or cinema? From 24 September to 3 October, Filmfest Hamburg opens its doors in a hybrid edition. Seven FFHSH-funded films have made it into the programme, including the Berlinale winner "There is no evil" by Mohammad Rasoulof and the world premiere of Moritz Bleibtreu's directorial debut "Cortex". The films will be framed by several specialist events.

In addition to plenty of music, there are also several cinema screenings and events for the film industry at this year's Reeperbahn Festival from 16 to 19 September. We give you a brief overview.

The Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg wants to contribute a total of 5.5 million euros to the planned cancellation fund for corona-related filming interruptions in Germany. The FFHSH expressly welcomes this step.

This year, two FFHSH-funded films will be shown on the big screen at the 77th Venice International Film Festival from 2 to 12 September: The tragicomedy "Gaza mon amour" by Arab and Tarzan Nasser and the short film "What would probably have happened if I hadn't stayed at home" by Hamburg filmmaker Willy Hans.

At the first funding session of the FFHSH High End Committee, twelve projects were funded, including six series with numerous shooting days in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein. The Nordbuster Committee also met for the first time in June and decided in favour of two projects. The projects from both funding sessions include the film adaptation of the Sarah Kuttner novel "Kurt" and a series about the so-called Hamburg acid barrel murderer Lutz Reinstrom.

Due to popular demand, the German Film Commissions (GFC) are continuing their online seminar series "Keen to be green" in mid-July. The web seminars with Green Filming & TV expert Philip Gassmann will then be aimed specifically at actors, agencies, Directors and Script Writers.

This week, the list of nominees for the German Drama Award was announced - a total of four prizes could go to FFHSH-funded projects. Among the nominees are Benjamin Radjaipour for his young talent role in "Futur Drei" and Alina Serban as best actress in "Gipsy Queen".

Until the end of the year, film theatres and venues can still apply to the FFA for the "Future Cinema Programme" and receive funding for 80 percent of the costs of modernisation. In order to cover the remaining 20 per cent, the FFHSH is currently providing an investment grant that waives the need for an own contribution.

The new FFHSH Committee "Director's Cut" 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 coronavirus-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.