Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, one of Germany’s financially largest regional film funds, has presented €8 million in awards in its most recent cycle. The total of 34 projects is comprised of funding for feature film production, series production, script development, pre-production support, sales and cinema/exhibitor support.

€1 million went to Panos Cosmatos’ Flesh of the Gods, produced by Cologne-based augenschein Filmproduktion and co-produced by US outifts Hyperobjects Industries and Mad Gene Media. With a screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker, the all-star cast includes Kristen Stewart, Oscar Isaac and Elizabeth Olsen. Cosmatos is best known for Mandy [+lire aussi :
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€500.000 went to 30 Bullets, produced by Cologne-based btf productions and co-produced by Austria’s Golden Girls, with participation from ZDF/Arte. Written and directed by Arash T. Riahi and Arman T. Riahi (Kinders [+lire aussi :
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Other projects by acclaimed auteurs have been funded, such as Maria Speth’s follow-up to her Silver Bear Jury Prize winner Mr Bachmann and His Class [+lire aussi :
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interview : Patrice Toye
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interview : Hlynur Pálmason
fiche film]), On Land and Sea.

Other supported films include €450,000 went to Marc Rothemund’s Das Gewisse Etwas produced by Constantin Film Produktion; the new film by Johannes Naber (Curveball [+lire aussi :
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Several documentaries were also funded, including Tamer Jandali’s Jugend Ohne Zukunft – Resistance with €250.000 about two women in search of new forms of climate activism, and Nikola Fegg’s Oh! You Pretty Things about a Black AI supermodel.

Three series were funded, including €2 million for Embassy, a six-episode series produced by Cologne’s Turbine Studios and co-produced by the UK’s Ascendant Fox, to stream on Amazon UK. Written by Rom Lotan and directed by John Strickland and Adolfo Kolmerer, the series starring JK Simmons follows a US diplomat and British SAS soldier – who are former lovers – forced to work together after an embassy attack in London. Consultants (€500.000, produced by Violet Pictures and co-produced by Real Film) and 3 Minuten (€300.000, produced by nuworx productions and co-produced by Veam and Readymade Films) were also funded.

The top funding prize for script development went to Kanwal Sethi’s Die Gejagten (lit. “The Hunted”), produced by Cologne’s Zeitsprung Pictures and tackling the fraught landscape of high-profile accusations in the media. Pre-production funding was presented to the 16-episode series Marxloh (€40.000) and Matthias Wissmann’s Das Leere Gesicht (€29.500).

Sales funding went to five films, including the Berlinale Europa Cinemas Label Award winner Hysteria [+lire aussi :
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fiche film] (€26.000), distributed by Rapid Eye Movies starting on 6 November and animated feature Stitch Head (Alles Voller Monster) (€80.000), distributed by Wild Bunch Germany starting on 16 October. The two awarded cinemas were Cologne’s Lichtspiele Kalk (€7.000) and Wuppertal’s Talflimmern (€1.000).