10/03/2025 - The national fund has backed projects of different types, including shorts and XR, for a total amount of around €10.5 million

Director Govinda Van Maele, who is receiving support for Headless (© Vincent Courtois/Festival EntreVues)

In late February, Film Fund Luxembourg announced the results of its first funding session of 2025. On this occasion, the film agency backed the development and production of 17 of the 36 eligible projects, which include six live-action features, three animated features, one documentary feature, two documentary series, three shorts and two XR projects.

Among the projects receiving development support are two live-action features: Emile V Schlesser’s Mortal Beings, staged by 35M Films (€68,121), and Deal Productions’ Miniatur Wunderland (€60,000), under the direction of Félix Koch. In the animated category, two features secured development bursaries: Carlo Vogele and Jiyun Jeong’s Je ne voulais pas vous faire pleurer, a Doghouse Films production, which will be supported with €60,000; and Sarah Sutter’s Welcome to Earth (€75,000, a Zeilt Productions project). Meanwhile, the documentary series Love in Luxembourg, backed by Cohacy Studio and directed by Kim Schneider with multiple co-writers and directors, received €60,000, and the XR project Sila - Héroïnes Arctiques, produced by Poulpe Bleu Productions and co-directed by Laura Mannelli, secured €45,000.

Looking at production bursaries, four live-action features were granted substantial funding. Stephen Korytko’s Dead Dad Girl, with an estimated budget of €2,950,250, will receive €2,326,500 from the fund and will be staged by Samsa Film with additional Belgian backing. The film will enter production in May and promises to be a mix of comedy and drama, as confirmed by the logline: “Don't worry, the girl is not dead! She is alive and healthy. The father is indeed dead, but like... really dead.”

The Les Films Fauves presentation Headless, a psychological drama directed by Govinda Van Maele (which is receiving €3 million out of a €4,241,120 total budget), will also receive Belgian support and is set for a June start. The main character, Thelma, will be played by Vicky Krieps. Additionally, Grímur Hakonarson’s 200 Kopavogur, production for which will kick off in September, has secured €1.2 million out of its €4,861,297 budget. The period drama set in the 1960s (see the interview) is a co-production between Luxembourg, Iceland, Denmark and France, with the support of Iris Productions. The same month, João Pedro Rodrigues’ Afonso’s Smile (supported with €977,587, with an estimated budget of €2,597,500), a joint effort involving Luxembourg, Portugal and Italy, will enter production, telling the story of a young man’s personal revolt during the Portuguese Carnation Revolution. The production company behind the project is Joli Rideau Media.

On the animation front, Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s drama Dansker received the largest bursary in its category, €1.5 million. With a total cost of €6,767,275, the movie is a Luxembourgish-Danish-Dutch co-production, backed by Doghouse Films for Luxembourg, alongside Ja Film A/S (Denmark) and Submarine (Netherlands). Production is set to start in August. Meanwhile, the documentary feature Boxing Stories, helmed by Alain Tshinza (supported with €500,000 out of €859,250), will explore Luxembourg’s boxing heritage through a personal and historical lens. Deal Productions is producing it.

Two documentary projects also secured production support. Anne Schiltz’s doc series Service Logement, a product of Manufactura Pictures, delves into Luxembourg’s ongoing housing crisis, while Ken Rischard’s documentary short Wat Mer Ierwen, a production of Amour Fou Luxembourg, revisits the 1942 general strike as a defining act of resistance. The former will receive €124,500, which covers over 80% of its cost, estimated at €153,000, while the latter will see 95% of its budget covered, with €120,000 secured.

The short-film category also includes Raha Razavi Ghashghai’s drama Arms, supported by Les Films Fauves, following a woman’s turbulent return to her homeland, and the comedy-crime short Flick, a Six Letters production helmed by Anne Klein and Maurice Sinner, centring on two misfit detectives. Both projects are bringing home 94.86% of their cost – €120,000 and €119,925, respectively.

Rounding off the line-up, another joint production between Luxembourg and Belgium, the XR comedy project The Great Escape, will centre on three grumpy geraniums plotting their escape from a windowsill. a_BAHN will be behind Joren Vandenbrouck’s effort, which is set to be funded with €200,000 of the required €422,500.

Given its overall support of over €10.5 million, Film Fund Luxembourg evidently continues to show a keen interest in funding a diverse range of projects.