02/07/2015 - The Hamburg-based film fund is backing new feature films by Fatih Akin, Sandra Nettelbeck and several newcomers

Unexpected events, unusual relations and the longing for change are the subjects of new film projects for which well-known German directors and upcoming talents are receiving production support from the Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH). The Hamburg-based film fund has greenlighted the production of seven feature films, as well as TV projects, and is providing development, script and distribution support to the tune of around €3 million.

Among the filmmakers who will receive cash injections is Fatih Akin, who will produce and direct the children’s movie Die Geister aus dem 3. Stock. The script, about a ten-year-old boy and his unusual friend who is a ghost, was penned by German writer Ruth Toma (Solino, Same Same But Different [+see also:
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Another writer/director with an international reputation is Sandra Nettelbeck (Mostly Martha [+see also:
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film profile]), who will direct the tragicomedy Was uns nicht umbringt, about 12 people entering the second half of their lives. Produced by former Producer on the Move Jochen Laube, the Sommerhaus Filmproduktion has received €450,000 in support.

Danish Antboy [+see also:
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film profile] writer Anders Ølholm has written the script for the Danish-German psychodrama Letters for Amina [+see also:
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film profile] (working title Amina’s Letters). Directed by Jacob Bitsch, the story centres on a 21-year-old who is looking for the young woman whose fascinating letters kept him alive while he was being treated in a psychiatric ward. The trouble is that he cannot distinguish between reality, his wishes and his fears. Produced by Tamtam Film, the project has received €280,000 in support. 

Meanwhile, Angela Schanelec will direct the love story Der traumhafte Weg, about two young people who fall in love with each other on holiday but do not stay in touch afterwards. Thirty years later, when another couple breaks up in a different country, they are brought back together. Berlin-based production outfit Filmgalerie 451 will be backed with €70,000 for the feature.

The FFHSH is also supporting Sam Garbarski’s Es war einmal in Deutschland - David und die Teilacher to the tune of €150,000. The post-Holocaust drama is to be produced by the new, Berlin-based In Good Company, a joint venture by Jani Thiltges’ Samsa Film in Luxembourg and former Flying Moon producer Roshanak Behesht Nedjad. The partners of this international co-production are Samsa Film, Dor Film in Austria and Entre Chien et Loup in Belgium.

The Match Factory has received €70,000 for Beyond the Mountains and Hills [+see also:
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film profile] by Eran Kolirin. The drama features an Israeli soldier who feels unaccustomed to being a civilian in his altered home country after spending 22 years in the army.

Lastly, €200,000 has been allotted to the German revenge drama Tschiller a.D. - Der Kinotatort by Banklady [+see also:
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film profile] director Christian Alvart. Berlin-based Syrreal Entertainment has brought Til Schweiger’s Barefoot Films on board as a co-producer, which has added the leading actors, Til Schweiger and his daughter Luna (Head Full of Honey [+see also:
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