The German government has committed an annual budget of €7.5m from next year to a dedicated production fund for first and second feature films.
The fund will be administered by Germany’s oldest film funding institution, the Curatorium Young German Cinema (Kuratorium junger deutscher Film), in cooperation with the Ministry of State for Culture and the Media (BKM), with funding decisions being taken by a jury of experts.
It will provide up to €500,000 for individual projects with production costs not exceeding €2m. The amount may be increased to €1m in exceptional cases.
In addition, the Curatorium will be receiving a total of €1.2m funding each year from Germany’s federal states (Länder) to support the development of film treatments and screenplays.
Separately, the Curatorium has appointed Christina Bentlage as its managing director from January 1, 2026. Bentlage has been head of film funding at the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW regional fund in Cologne since 2010.
The federal states have been backing the Curatorium’s activities since its inception in 1965 and has played a crucial role in launching the careers of Alexander Kluge, Edgar Reith, Wim Wenders, Tom Tykwer, and Veit Helmer.
Most recently, the Curatorium has backed films such as Asli Özarslan’s Elbow and Alissa Jung’s Paternal Leave, and Roderick Warich’s Bangkok-set Funeral Casino Blues which had its world premiere in Venice’s Orizzonti sidebar this September.
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