Press

İlker Çatak and Fatih Akin - together in Hamburg with their Golden Bears: For the nationwide cinema release of "Yellow Letters" on Thursday, 5 March 2026, MOIN Film Fund is sending a visible signal for the film location: for more than two decades, the German Berlinale-winning films have come from Hamburg.

The Hamburg Senate and MOIN Film Fund invited the film industry to Tea Time at the Hamburg State Representation in Berlin on Saturday, 14 February, as part of the Berlinale. Among the guests were Shahrbanoo Sadat, Bruno Alexander, Laura Tonke, Aaron Hilmer, Doris Dörrie, Jeanette Hain and Merlin Sandmeyer.

Ten writers, 20 producers, six countries: at the Göteborg Film Festival, the “Nordic NEST” initiative by MOIN Film Fund, the German Federal Film Board (FFA) and The Five Nordics, is entering its decisive stage. The aim: new feature films and TV drama series for the international market.

The North is strongly represented in the capital this year: no fewer than eight funded films have made it into the official programme of the 76th Berlinale from 12 to 22 February 2026. With the drama "Yellow Letters" by Oscar-nominated filmmaker İlker Çatak, which was shot in Hamburg, and "Rose" with leading actress Sandra Hüller, two funded films can be seen in the Competition.

Hamburg/Lübeck/Berlin, 16.01.2026 - The 76th Berlinale is kicking off in northern Germany and internationally at the same time: with "No Good Men", a film from Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein will open this year's film festival on 12 February 2026. Afghan Director Shahrbanoo Sadat, who lives in Hamburg, and Lübeck-based Executive Producer Katja Adomeit are sending a strong signal for the film industry in the north of Germany.

Hamburg, 03.12.25 - In its most recent meeting, the High End Committee of the MOIN Film Fund supported an extraordinary series project: The German-British production "Hamburg Days" (AT) tells the story of the early days of the Beatles in Hamburg's neighbourhood and the friendship surrounding a group of German artists led by Klaus Voormann. Showrunner of the series: "The Crown" Director Christian Schwochow.

His life story can currently be seen in the cinema with Fatih Akin's "Amrum". Now Hamburg film legend Hark Bohm, Director of classics such as "Nordsee ist Mordsee" and co-founder of the Hamburg Film Office, has passed away at the age of 86. In addition to "Amrum", he also wrote the scripts for "Tschick" and "Into the Fate" with Akin.

The film north meets in Lübeck: the 67th Nordic Film Days will take place there from 5 to 9 November 2025. More than 180 films will be shown in ten sections - including 18 MOIN-funded productions such as the haunting drama "Smalltown Girl" by Kiel filmmaker Hille Norden, the world premiere of "Astrid Lindgren - Humanity Has Lost Its Mind" by Kiel-based Director Wilfried Hauke and the animated film "Mama Micra" by Rebecca Blöcher from Hamburg, which was nominated for the German Short Film Award.

The 33rd edition of Filmfest Hamburg is just around the corner - and the Hanseatic city is shining in its most beautiful yellow colour. This year, 14 MOIN-funded productions have made it into the programme, including the Cannes films "Amrum" by Fatih Akin and "Romeria" by Carla Simón, "Short Summer" by Nastia Korkia, which recently won an award in Venice, and the Hamburg animation adventure "The Last Whalesinger" by Reza Memari.

The MOIN Film Fund introduces the "MOIN Cinema Bonus": Additional funding totalling 100,000 euros, which will be awarded this year as part of the Hamburg Cinema Awards.

With NEST, MOIN Film Fund has been breaking new ground in development funding for over a year. Time to take stock: since the programme began in 2024, almost three million euros have been invested in the development of film ideas. That's more than twice as much as in the same period last year.

In the second funding round of the year, the MOIN Film Fund committees supported 44 projects with more than 2.7 million euros. These include Doris Dörrie's drama "Mrs Winkler Leaves Home" and the family adventure "Miniature Wonderland".

In the cinema auditorium of the LichtBlick Filmtheater in Heide today (Wednesday 11 June), for once it was not the film that was in the spotlight, but those who provide the film with a stage: the cinemas and their operators.

The Hamburg Media School (HMS) is sending a clear signal for diversity and inclusion in the German film industry with its current film degree programme. Since the current student year, HMS has been the first university in Germany to use the OMNI Inclusion Data survey tool to record the diversity on its students' film sets and back it up with concrete data.

Hamburg Media School, MOIN Film Fund and the City of Hamburg are continuing the successful "GetOnSet" 2025 film trainee programme. Since its launch in 2022, the practice-oriented programme has established itself as a valuable entry opportunity for career changers who want to build a future in the film and series industry. The majority of previous graduates have successfully made the leap into the industry after completing the programme.

Hamburg, 11.03.25 – FILMFEST HAMBURG is expanding: Starting with the next festival edition from September 25 to October 4, 2025, the renowned industry platform European Work in Progress (EWIP) and the International Film Distribution Summit (IFDS) will be held in the Hanseatic city for the first time. With producer Fabian Massah as the new head of INDUSTRY DAYS, the festival in Hamburg will become one of the most important industry events in the North.

Following the successful pilot phase, OMNI Inclusion Data is now being launched for the entire German film and media industry. For the first time, the platform offers a data-based foundation to make diversity in productions measurable. This was announced today at the 75th Berlinale in the Hamburg State Representation with industry representatives from film funding, production and streaming.

With "The Seeds of the Sacred Fig", filmmaker and Hamburg resident Mohammad Rasoulof has made it to the final five films for the foreign Oscar - and is now nominated as the German entry for the film world's most important prize. Following İlker Çatak's nomination last year for "The Teachers' Lounge", this is the second time in a row that a Hamburg project has been nominated for the Oscars in Los Angeles.

At the start of the year, MOIN Film Fund is supporting a total of 19 projects with more than 1.6 million euros. These include the new documentary "Anatolischer Drache" by Fatih Akin and the horror comedy "Body Farm" with Hamburg actor Sebastian Bezzel. In addition, eleven projects in development were supported in the new NEST funding area.

Hamburg, 12.12.24 - As the red-green government factions announced today during the shooting of the Nordfilm production "Butterfly", the MOIN Film Fund budget is to increase by ten million euros in 2025 and 2026. The budget plans will be adopted in the Hamburg Parliament next week.

Hamburg, 07.11.2024 - At this year's meeting, the German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund of Medienboard, MOIN Film Fund and Istanbul Film Festival will award 70,000 euros for the development of seven new German-Turkish film projects.

Go to the cinema as often as you like: this is now possible with two new cinema subscriptions from Film-Norden. The Cineville card from Hamburg offers unlimited access to the entire film programme of many cinemas throughout Germany from 20 euros per month. The provider Cinfinity from Schleswig-Holstein will be launched later this year. Both projects were supported by the MOIN Film Fund.

Autumn in Hamburg is Filmfest time again: 19 MOIN-funded films and series are on the programme at the 32nd Filmfest Hamburg. Among others: the German Oscar candidate "The Seeds of the Sacred Fig" by Mohammad Rasoulof, "Der Buchspazierer" with Christoph Maria Herbst and "The Outrun" by Nora Fingscheidt.

The Explorer Konferenz kicks off this year's INDUSTRY DAYS at FILMFESTS HAMBURG and invites you to the Hanseatic city on 30 September under the motto "Risk & Reward" to shed light on the changes in producing for film, television and streaming.