The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, one of Germany’s largest funding bodies for public audiovisual funding – located in the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) – has just announced its first round of funding for 2025, which saw over €8.35 million presented to 29 projects. The selection includes six feature films, three television series, one film for television, three documentaries, three projects for script development, two projects for pre-production funding, eight projects for sales funding and three cinemas.

The diverse set of funded projects includes the next narrative feature by Austrian filmmaker Andreas Prochaska, titled Die Berufung (lit. “The Appeal”). Prochaska is next presenting Welcome Home Baby [+lee también:
crítica
ficha de la película] in the 75th Berlinale’s Panorama sidebar, which marks another entry in the winning streak of countryside-set Austrian-German horror films recently epitomised by the popularity of The Devil’s Bath [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Veronika Franz y Severin F…
ficha de la película] by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. With a script by Daniela Baumgärtl and Johannes Betz, Die Berufung is based on the true story of judge Jan-Robert von Renesse, who fought for the rights of Holocaust survivors against the NRW’s justice system in which he worked.

German filmmaker of Kurdish descent Soleen Yusef will make the follow-up to her Berlinale Generation title Winners [+lee también:
entrevista: Soleen Yusef
ficha de la película] with an adaptation of Saša Stanišić’s autobiographical bestseller Herkunft (lit. “Origins” or “Heritage”), featuring a screenplay by Senad Halilbašic. The film is billed as a tragicomedy about memory, storytelling and the uncontrollable part of our backgrounds: our ancestry. The other funded feature projects include Felix Stienz's Morgen Mehr, Constanze Klaue’s Superbusen, Philipp Lutz and Duc-Thi Bui’s Malibu, and Doris Dörrie's Frau Winkler verlässt das Haus.

Historical topics dominated the funded documentary film projects, which were Corinna Belz and Laurentia Genske's 12 Notizen, Jascha Hannover and Katharina Warda’s Schwarze Schwester Angela – Black Power in der DDR, and Jens Meurer’s Biermann. The TV series funded include the superhero show All Heroes Are Bastards, led by Sero el Mero (aka Kebir Sefer Sargin), a 26-year-old German rapper taking his first leap onto the screen after first gaining popularity in 2017. Westend Girl, produced by Flare Film, and The Comeback, staged by Network Movie, are the other two funded series, while MadeFor Film’s Für Euch was the sole television film project that received backing.

Sisters and artistic partners Yasemin Şamdereli and Nesrin Şamdereli, the writer-director and writer of Samia [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Yasemin Şamdereli y Deka M…
ficha de la película] and Almanya – Welcome to Germany [+lee también:
tráiler
entrevista: Yasemin Samderely
ficha de la película], respectively, received funding for the script development of their screenplay for Der Lappen (colloquial German for “Driver’s Licence”). The film is described as a feel-good comedy set in the 1980s about a Turkish-German housewife, Fidan, striving to obtain her driver’s licence, while language barriers and her self-doubt present themselves as obstacles. Iranian-born German animator and filmmaker Ali Soozandeh (writer-director of Tehran Taboo [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Ali Soozandeh
ficha de la película]) also received support for Fake It or Leave, while Cologne-based Alejandro Mathé earned support for his satirical black comedy Invasive Species.

In the category of funded pre-production projects, Die Unbeugsamen 3 (lit. “The Indomitable 3”) will be Torsten Körner’s third instalment documenting women’s struggles in post-World War II West Germany, while Bruno Manguen Sapiña plans his feature debut with Es ist immer noch heute.

Sales support will also be provided for multiple titles headed from the Berlinale Special section into their theatrical releases, including Ido Fluk’s The Girl from Köln, Tom Tywker’s The Light [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
ficha de la película], the Hildegard Knef documentary I Want It All and Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce. [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Burhan Qurbani
ficha de la película] The other films include the Locarno Special Mention winner Death Will Come [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Christoph Hochhäusler
ficha de la película], fellow Locarno pick Transamazonia [+lee también:
crítica
tráiler
entrevista: Pia Marais
ficha de la película], Memory Wars and Stasi FC. Cinema funding was bestowed upon Bonn’s WOKI! – Dein Kino!, Bielefeld’s Lichtwerk im Ravensberger Park and Westfalen-Lippe’s Kinderkinoförderabspielring initiative for cinemas dedicated to children and young audiences.