Productions currently being supported range from touching family histories and biographies of courageous individuals to humorous examinations of orderliness and growing old to a novel cultural-culinary TV entertainment format.
At its meeting on 28th June 2011, Committee 2 of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH), responsible for projects with production costs of up to 800,000 euros, allocated funding means totalling 503,000 euros to altogether 23 projects.


Production Support was granted to one feature film, four documentary films and five cinema short films:

DIE ORDNUNG DER DINGE features Jörg Haaßengier and Jürgen Bürger (70,000 euros, Filmtank, Hamburg) embarking on a quest for orderliness. The film’s protagonists take various approaches to restructuring the world: in front lawns and living rooms, in archives and Federal Offices, in congress halls, data centres and enterprise head offices. Orderliness as a challenge and a promise of salvation.

Stefan Gieren will shoot the greatest part of his new feature film THIS IS NOT WAR (64,000 euros, Fiction 2.0, Hamburg) on an iPhone, from the perspective of a fictitious witness of the Kunduz attack. Director and producer Gieren thus aims to contribute to a coming to terms with history: “I don’t want the film to look nice. It’s got to hurt.”

50,000 euros each are allocated to the documentary films AHMET TÜRK, DER KURDE by Yüksel Yavuz (Newa Film, Berlin) and FAMILIENRISS by Cathérine Menschner (ma.ja.de, Leipzig). While Yavuz portrays the Kurdish politician Ahmet Türk, who is fighting the ongoing Turkish-Kurdish conflict with political means rather than arms, filmmaker Cathérine Menschner examines her own family history. She is daughter to parents extremely moulded by public policy. Her communist family, which always valued politics higher than loyalty and affections, breaks apart for generations to come on account of differing political values.

Director Antje Hubert received an additional 17,000 euros to expand her concept and incorporate the current events in Fukushima into her documentary film DAS DING AM DEICH (Thede Filmproduktion, Hamburg) about the Brokdorf nuclear power station and the inhabitants of the Wilstermarsch area.

25,000 euros each were allocated to the short films DIE GESCHICHTE DES ST.PAULI THEATERS by Meike Fehre (Puppethotel, Hamburg), an animated homage to the traditional theatre on the Reeperbahn, and BEIGE by Sylvie Hohlbaum (Think Tank Filmproduktion, Hamburg), about the typically German phenomenon of beige-wearing senior citizens.

The short film INSPIRATIONEN AUS GAZAUPOUY by Ulrike Pfeiffer is a re-interpretation of the Frog King fairy tale, set in a small village in the South of France, and is supported with 10,000 euros.

Frank Müller’s documentary foto film HERR SCHULTZ STICHT IN SEE (9,000 euros, Doppelplusultra Film & TV Produktion, Hamburg) portrays its protagonist Kurt Schultz and revives his life in the 1950s and 1960s. Herr Schultz decides to flee the confines of his small wooden house and build a yacht for himself and his family. The experimental short film PARKWAY by Romeo Grünfelder is a continuation of his film anthology “Subversion d’images”, which is to encompass altogether ten films. PARKWAY (Felderfilm, Hamburg) marks the fourth episode and examines the work of the Japanese photographer Kohei Yoshiyuki.
Television funding amounting to altogether 50,000 euros is allocated as start-up funding to the innovative TV and Web 2.0 entertainment concept KONSPIRATIVE KÜCHENKONZERTE. A kitchen in Hamburg-Wilhelmsburg becomes a TV studio which further serves as a platform for new bands.

The documentary film THE SOUND OF CAIRO by Janek Romero (brave new work filmproductions, Hamburg) also centres on music and has been granted 20,000 euros for project development. The musician Adel Tawil (Ich & Ich) encounters various unusual musicians in Cairo. Project development support amounting to 18,000 has been allocated to Susan Gluth for her film Film I HAVE A DREAM about Urmilla, a former child slave who now works towards ridding her homeland of Nepal from child slavery.

Script Funding has been allocated to the feature films TOURISTINNEN by HfbK-graduates Katharina Duve and Tanja Schwerdorf (10,000 euros), about a three-way relationship with far-reaching consequences, and to WENN DIE SONNE UNTERGEHT by Aurel Bantzer and Steffen Tralles (8,000 Euro, Skalar Film, Hamburg), a psychological drama about death and guilt. Monika Treut (Hyena Films, Hamburg) receives development support amounting to 10,000 euros for her new documentary film DAS KINSEY VERMÄCHTNIS about the sexologist Alfred Kinsey. Dorothea Carl’s new project PERSONA NON DATA (Abbildungszentrum, Hamburg), about emigrants and asylum seekers who are willing to grant insight into their quest for a new existence, is supported with 6,000 euros.

Sales and Distribution Funding is granted to the feature film ABGEBRANNT by Verena S. Freytag (missingFilms) and the documentary film 20 GEIGEN AUF ST. PAULI by Alexandra Gramatke and Barbara Metzlaff (Die Thede e.V./Doris Bandhold Filmpromotion) with 20,000 euros each.

 

Cinema Funding goes to the 3001 cinema (5,000 euros) for special programmes and marketing measures regarding the open air cinema FILMNÄCHTE AM MILLERNTOR from 23rd June to 19th July in the St. Pauli stadium, as well as 2,000 euros for the CINE CUBANO series; to the Lichtmeß cinema (4,000 euros) for POSTKARTENAKTION 2011/2012 and to the B-Movie (3,000 euros) for the JOSEPH LOSEY RETRO film series.

 

Currently supported cinema projects include films by Vanessa Jopp, Vivian Naefe, Franziska Buch, Hermine Huntgeburth and Bettina Oberli as well as the international action thriller A MOST WANTED MAN by Anton Corbijn, after the bestselling novel by John le Carré, which is to be shot mostly in Hamburg. Documentary filmmakers Holger Preuße and Hannes Schuler look back ahead in their two-part S3D TV documentary about the great circumnavigators Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake.

Committee 1 of Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH), responsible for projects with production costs of more than 800,000 euros, allocated a total of 3,122,300 euros in funding means to altogether 18 projects on 15th June 2011.

Production Support is granted to three national and three international cinema feature films, two TV films and one TV documentary: When John le Carré's novel “A Most Wanted Man” was published in Germany, it immediately entered the bestseller lists. The thriller about a Chechen refugee suspected of terrorism inspired the photographer and filmmaker Anton Corbijn (CONTROL, THE AMERICAN) to direct the German-British co-production A MOST WANTED MAN (900,000 euros, Amusementpark Films, Hamburg). Another bestselling novel provides the basis for Vivian Naefe's new project: The Hamburg-born director (THE WILD CHICKS) will be shooting the greatest part of her cinema film DER GESCHMACK VON APFELKERNEN in Schleswig-Holstein (750,000 euros, Bavaria Filmverleih und Produktion, Hamburg). The script by Uschi Reich and Rochus Hahn is based on the novel of the same name by Katharina Hagena. Vanessa Jopp describes her new project DER PERFEKTE MANN (250,000 euros, Ufa Cinema, Berlin) as: “a wonderful mixture of black humour and deep emotions”. The film stars Benno Führmann and Jördis Triebel and shooting locations include Hamburg. The protagonist couple of the international co-production UPGRADE (200,000 euros, Wüste Filmproduktion, Hamburg) experience different ways of life, relationships, separations, death and transience. Franziska Buch is directing this complex tale of mourning, loss and new beginnings, starring Jessica Schwarz, Sandrine Bonnaire and Gérard Jugnot. André's mother has a well-kept secret that suddenly becomes something of a challenge as it appears at the front door, confronting him in the form of his half-brother: The international co-production LOVELY LOUISE (150,000 Euro, Corazón International, Hamburg) by Bettina Oberli (THE MURDER FARM, LATE BLOOMERS) is a tragic comedy about maternal love and fraternal strife. They tasted blood with "Tom Sawyer" and now they want to adapt Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn": Hermine Huntgeburth once more delves into the world of classic children's books and has adapted the adventurous tale of Huck and Jim on the run from Huck's violent father and a band of slave traders for the big screen, entitled HUCK FINN (120,000 euros, Neue Schönhauser Filmproduktion, Berlin), starring Heike Makatsch, Leon Seidel and Louis Hoffmann.
 

Television Support amounting to 200,000 euros is granted to DIE EROBERUNG DER WELT by Holger Preusse and Hannes Schuler about the true missions of the great navigators Ferdinand Magellan and Sir Francis Drake. Produced in S3D, this two-part documentary produced by Thomas Tielsch (Filmtank, Hamburg) aims at broadening standard narrative structures and means of distribution (e.g. by developing an Online game). 150,000 euros are granted to EIN WEITES HERZ by Thomas Berger (Network Movie, Hamburg) about Isa Vermehren, a cabaret artist who converted to Catholicism and became a nun. The full-length feature film stars Nadja Uhl, Iris Berben and Friedrich von Thun and shooting locations include Hamburg. The TV film AUSLANDSEINSATZ by Till Endemann (Relevant Film, Hamburg), about German soldiers in Afghanistan, is granted 100,000 euros. The film stars Max Riemelt, Hanno Koffler and Omar El-Saeidi.
 

Project Development Support with special means from the BWA Global Economic Network amounting to 95,300 euros are granted to the Launstein brothers for their animated cinema film LUIS UND DIE FREUNDE AUS DEM ALL (Ulysses Filmproduktion, Hamburg) about the deep and special friendship between a lonely eight-year-old and a group of crash-landed alien kids. The trailer production for the animated children's series WALRUS-PROJECT by Denis Chapon, about three walruses and a polar bear who leave the North Pole to travel to the Antarctic on their iceberg (Trikk 17, Hamburg), is supported with 25,000 euros.

Sinem Sakaoglu from Hamburg (DAS SANDMÄNNCHEN - ABENTEUER IM TRAUMLAND) describes her upcoming animation project KARA as an autobiographical fantasy quest for the treasure of Istanbul. The project has been granted 20,000 euros Script Support. ALLES AUF UMME by Sebastian Heeg (12,000 euros, Boje Buck Produktion, Berlin) tells the story of Umme, a bon vivant who must decide whether to return home after his father passes away.
 

Distribution Funding is granted to altogether five projects: Anna Justice's romantic drama DIE VERLORENE ZEIT (Movienet Film, Munich; German cinema release: 24.11.2011) and Asghar Farhadi's Iranian Berlinale winner A SEPARATION  (Alamode Filmdistribution, Munich; German cinema release: 14. 07.2011) each receive 40,000 euros. 30,000 euros are granted to the road movie ARSCHKALT by André Erkau (NFP Marketing & Distribution, Berlin; German cinema release: 21.07.2011). Xiaolu Guo's feature film production UFO IN HER EYES (Pandora Film Verleih, Cologne) and LOLLIPOP MONSTER by Ziska Riemann (Salzgeber & Co, Berlin; German cinema release: 25.08.2011) both receive 20,000 euros.
 

Altogether 43,497 euros from the TV Special Programme for Schleswig-Holstein are granted to the Joker-Pictures productions DIE BALLOONSAIL IN KIEL (21,265 euros) and WENN DAS MEER RUFT (22,232 euros).