In the third major funding round of the year, the expert jury convened by MFG Baden-Württemberg decided that 12 film projects will receive production funding totalling €3.645 million, with €150,000 going to projects for production preparation and €75,000 for development.

The highest funding award of €550,000 went to the tragicomedy Gestörte Gesellschaft (lit. “Disturbed Society”) by director Daniel Holzberg (a multihyphenate who’s also known as an actor) and Ludwigsburg-based production company Zum Goldenen Lamm Filmproduktion. The tragicomic screenplay by Hannah Vogel and Paul Bullinger tells of a young woman who learns how to cope with her depression, bringing her family into the fold during the therapeutic process.

€520,000 went to Keltenburg, a crime thriller series directed by Andreas Herzog, produced by Munich’s Amalia Film GmbH and set between the Black Forest and Alsace, with Kristin Derfler serving as screenwriter and creative producer. €515,000 went to Manuela Bastian’s Schatten an Schatten (lit. “Shadows on Shadows”), a psychological drama about twin sisters who fall in love with the same man, produced by Baden-Baden’s kurhaus production Film & Medien GmbH.

Bolzen, a comedy directed by Carly Coco and Nico Berse-Gilles, received €400,000. The film produced by Montavia Filmproduktion GmbH centres on a failed professional football player who attempts to make a local comeback in a small-time league. Several animated or partially animated projects also received funding, including Sandra Schießl's Minus Drei und die wilde Lucy (family animation, €420,000), Will Ashurst and Kjersti G Steinsbø’s Cocobanana und die Dinosuarierjagd (family animation, €310,000), Andrea Hykade's Olmütz (hybrid docufiction animation, €250,000) and Mogau Kekana’s Chiko (animated drama, €40,000).

Last but not least, Werner Herzog’s debut animated feature produced by Psyop Media Company Germany GmbH, The Twilight World (read news), was also granted €100,000 for production preparation support. The film is based on Herzog’s novel of the same name, telling the true story of a man who was a Japanese officer in World War II but who still believes the war is ongoing and who refuses to accept the reality of defeat, living in the jungles of the Philippines for thirty years.