19/10/2021 - Among the 9 films to be supported by the FFA commission are a new tragicomedy by Til Schweiger and a historical drama by Lars Kraume

Das Beste kommt noch! by Til Schweiger, which has received support of €600,000 (© Leonine Distribution)

The FFA commission decided during its recent deliberations to award nearly €3.9 million in funding to 20 new film projects. While around €3.4 million are earmarked for the production of nine feature films, up to €375,000 have been awarded for the development of 11 scripts. Existential themes all revolving around love, life and death are to be found in most of the stories that are told in the movies. Comedy and drama are both represented as well, however.

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One of the supported films is Das Beste kommt noch! (lit. “The Best Is Still to Come”) by acclaimed German director Til Schweiger, which will receive €600,000. The tragicomedy is about two friends who both believe the other is going to die, and they therefore try to spend the last few days they have together in the best way possible. The film is a production by Olga Film GmbH, and the script has been written by Maggie Peren (Hello Again [+see also:
trailer
film profile]). The same sum, €600,000, will go to the zero one film GmbH production Measures of Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Lars Kraume
film profile] by Lars Kraume (The Silent Revolution [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], The People vs. Fritz Bauer [+see also:
trailer
interview: Lars Kraume
film profile]). The film (see the news), for which Kraume wrote the screenplay himself, deals with a particularly thorny period in Germany's history – namely, the beginning of the 20^th century, when South West Africa was a German colony before the genocide on the Herero and Nama population.

Also set in Africa is the children's film Thabo – Das Nashornabenteuer (lit. “Thabo – The Rhino Adventure”) by Mara Eibl-Eibesfeldt, supported with an amount of €300,000. The screenplay has been adapted by Martin Gypkens and Ursula Gruber from the first book in the series of the same name by Kirsten Boie. The young protagonist, Thabo, witnesses an illegal rhino hunt and tries to get to the poachers with the help of his friends. The film is being produced by Desert Flower Filmproduktion GmbH.

Director Matthias Glasner (Mercy [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Matthias Glasner
film profile]), who has recently created a number of successful German series, such as Blochin and Das Boot, is preparing a new film that will star Lars Eidinger and Corinna Harfouch. Sterben (lit. “Dying”) deals with loss and the meaning of life as well as the concept of being able to die with dignity. The film has been awarded funding of €500,000 and is being produced by Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion GmbH. Featuring Ella, the first feature by Teresa Fritzi Hoerl, also deals with a protagonist who dreams of leading a fulfilled life. The film about a young singer is being produced by Neue Bioskop Film GmbH and will receive €497,000 in support.

A sum of €500,000 also goes to the love story Trauzeugen (lit. “Marriage Witnesses”) by Finn Christoph Stroeks and Lena May Graf, produced by Pantaleon Films GmbH. Hans Steinbichler’s A Whole Life is also a love story based on the bestseller by Robert Seethaler and is set in a remote Alpine village. The film is being produced by Bavaria Filmproduktion GmbH and will be supported with €300,000.

Funding is also being provided for the production of two documentaries. In Pulse, Felix Starck follows young parents trying to find an alternative way of life for their child by leaving the big city behind and moving to the countryside. The film is being supported to the tune of €100,000 and is being produced by Koryphaeenfilm GmbH. Around €74,000 go to the documentary The Young American, produced by Telekult Film- und Medienproduktion GmbH and directed by André Hörmann, which follows a young cowboy in Colorado over a period of seven years.

Among the screenplays and treatments receiving funding are Odessa, the new project by Christian Petzold (produced by Schramm Film Koerner), as well as the new documentary by Marc Bauder, Krieg gegen die Wahrheit (lit “War Against the Truth”), produced by bauderfilm GmbH, each receiving €30,000. Moreover, the love story The Passengers by Markus Richardt, produced by deutschfilm GmbH; the drama Pruning the Rosebush by Efthimis Filippou, produced by Match Factory Productions GmbH; the episodic film Sonder by Mariko Minoguchi, produced by Trimafilm GmbH; the pop novel adaptation Superbusen (lit. “Fantastic Breasts”) by Constanze Klaue, produced by Wüste Film GmbH; the comedy about German reunification Inside Ost by Ira Wedel, produced by Synergie Film Koerner; and the animated children's film Olmo by Valentin Mereutze, produced by Akkord Film Produktion, will all receive €25,000.

Finally, the FFA is supporting the scripts for the heist story Die Sterne oder der Tod (lit. “The Stars or Death”) by Moritz Binder, produced by Trimafilm GmbH, with €10,000; Kakerlakak – der Film (lit. “Kakerlakak – The Movie”) by John Chambers, produced by X Filme Creative Pool GmbH, with €75,000; and Geister weinen nicht (lit. “Ghosts Don't Cry”) by Ruth Toma, produced by bombero international GmbH, with €70,000.

The next FFA session to decide on new projects to be funded will be held at the end of January 2022.