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 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Veronika Franz, Severin Fi…
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
interview : Soleen Yusef
fiche film] 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Yasemin Şamdereli et Deka …
fiche film] and Almanya – Welcome to Germany [+lire aussi :
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interview : Yasemin Samderely
fiche film], 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 [+lire aussi :
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interview : Ali Soozandeh
fiche film]) 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 [+lire aussi :
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fiche film], the Hildegard Knef documentary I Want It All and Burhan Qurbani’s No Beast. So Fierce. [+lire aussi :
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interview : Burhan Qurbani
fiche film] The other films include the Locarno Special Mention winner Death Will Come [+lire aussi :
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interview : Christoph Hochhäusler
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interview : Pia Marais
fiche film], 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.