02/12/2025 - The latest “Minitraité” round sees €1.08 million allocated to six projects, including a total of three in production, while the remaining three receive development grants

Director Faouzi Bensaidi, who is receiving support for Histoire d’amour en 10 chansons, 3 mariages et 1 baiser

The German-French Co-production Committee has unveiled the results of its latest funding session in Paris, allocating a total of €1,084,500 to six projects. Three titles received €1,002,000 in production support, while another three were awarded €82,500 for project development. This “Minitraité” round includes four majority-French and two majority-German productions.

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Leading the selection is the noir-inspired drama Die Stadt, the new feature by German writer-director, cinematographer and editor Helena Wittmann, whose latest feature, Human Flowers of Flesh [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Helena Wittmann
film profile], was screened at Locarno. Produced by Hamburg-based Fünferfilm, in co-production with France’s Cinéphage!, it includes Spain as an additional partner. It secured €211,000 from the German side and €160,000 from France. Set in a rapidly expanding harbour city, the film follows Lou, a French woman tasked with locating Théo, a construction worker whose tender interactions with a colleague she discreetly observes. When she refuses to take a proof photo of Théo to her client, she loses both the job and her financial stability, and her life in the city becomes increasingly uncertain.

Following his Cannes Directors’ Fortnight-screened Deserts [+see also:
film review
interview: Faouzi Bensaïdi
film profile], Moroccan writer-director Faouzi Bensaïdi is receiving support for the wedding-set musical comedy Histoire d’amour en 10 chansons, 3 mariages et 1 baiser. Produced by Barney Productions and Nicole Gerhards for Germany’s NiKo Film, and having partners on board from Belgium and Morocco, the film was granted €160,000 from each side. Set in Marrakech, it centres on Lhajja, the leader of a popular wedding band. Alongside her are her son, dancers, musicians and friends from the neighbourhood. Ten songs accompany the stories of their loved ones, their disappointments and their dreams.

The third production to be funded is Ducks, the fiction debut by Franco-Cambodian filmmaker Neary Adeline Hay, following her acclaimed documentary works Eskape [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Angkar [+see also:
trailer
film profile]. The road movie is being staged by France’s Special Touch Studios with Vanessa Ciszewski for Germany’s Katuh Studio and Canada as a partner. It received €182,000 from France and €129,000 from Germany. The film follows Kerya, a French woman of Cambodian descent who travels to Cambodia to scatter her late father’s ashes. An unexpected twist turns her into the “mother” of 300 ducks, who accompany her and her young cousin on a journey across a country of striking contrasts.

On the development side, three projects shared €82,500, with each one receiving €27,500. In den Fängen des Autoscooters by Maximilian Bungarten is being produced by Benedetta Films with France’s Moderato. The drama focuses on a young trainee plumber haunted by the accidental death of his best friend, who attempts to recreate their lost connection after meeting Isaac, a Romanian fairground worker.

Katuh Studio also received support for Mystery Woman, an animated documentary by Aurélie Pollet, inspired by the real journey of Lillian Alling, a Polish immigrant who in 1926 set off from New York to return to Europe on foot across the continent and onwards through Siberia, in an act of resistance and self-determination. It is a co-production with France’s Kepler 22 Productions and sees Canada participating.

Finally, Prajd, written and directed by Elvire Muñoz, is being produced by France’s Mondina Films with Germany’s Achtung Panda! Media. The story follows Mira, a Serbian paediatrician working as a caregiver in Paris, who struggles to validate her medical qualifications while coping with pressure from her family back home. Her life takes a new turn through her relationship with Romane, a pianist and the daughter of one of her employers.