30/03/2022 - Among the supported projects are features directed by Milo Rau, Julia von Heinz, Aslı Özarslan and Orkhan Aghazadeh, who will all receive production funding

Director Julia von Heinz, who has received €300,000 for Treasure (© La Biennale di Venezia/Foto ASAC/Jacopo Salvi)

All of the projects that the German-French film funding commission has just awarded funding to (for a total sum of €1.1 million) seem to have a common denominator, as they tell stories focusing on characters that are trying to overcome some kind of trauma. They are films about surviving, as is stated in the commission’s official press release.

Julia von Heinz is receiving €300,000 for Treasure [+see also:
film review
film profile]. The adaptation of the novel Too Many Men by Lily Brett is a co-production between Seven Elephants GmbH from Germany (majority producer) and Haïku Films SARL from France. It tells the story of a US journalist who, in 1990, travels with her father to Poland in order to find out about their family's past, which is revealed to be connected to the Holocaust. Von Heinz wrote the screenplay together with John Quester, with whom she previously worked on her latest feature, And Tomorrow the Entire World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Julia von Heinz
film profile], which already dealt with an inglorious chapter in Germany's past. Starring in the main roles will be US actors Lena Dunham and Mandy Patinkin as the daughter and the father.

Another Nazi crime lies at the heart of the documentary-drama Das Massaker (lit. “The Massacre”) by Swiss director Milo Rau. His topic is the mass murder of the inhabitants of the French village of Oradour-sur-Glane by a division of the SS, which took place in June 1944. Rau tries to visualise this event and talks to the families of the survivors. The film is a co-production between Fruitmarket Kultur und Medien GmbH from Germany and Les Contes Modernes from France. It has been awarded a total of €350,000.

The third production to be funded is The Projectionist by Orkhan Aghazadeh. The film is Aghazadeh’s directorial debut, and he sets his story in Azerbaijan, his country of origin. After the sudden death of his son, Samid decides to repair an old film projector from the Soviet era. He intends to give his village a cinema again. The film is being supported with a total of €80,000. It is being produced by Lichtblick Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH from Germany and Kidam from France.

As for the fourth production, it is another drama that takes the audience abroad. German director Aslı Özarslan, based in Berlin, tells the story of a young woman whose biggest wish is to make it in German society, despite her Turkish origins – but life has other plans for her. She is forced to flee from Berlin to Istanbul because of a tragic accident that happens on her 18^th birthday. Ellbogen (lit. “Elbow”) is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Fatma Aydemir. Claudia Schaefer wrote the screenplay. The drama is being co-produced by Achtung Panda! Media GmbH from Germany and Tripode Productions from France. It will receive €300,000 worth of production funding.

The last €40,000 of the budget are earmarked for the development of two more projects. Their stories focus on women who have to deal with foreign and hostile surroundings. US-Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir (Wajib [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) is receiving €10,000 for The Oblivion Theory, which tells the story of Ludi, who suffers from agoraphobia in Gaza City in 1987. While her neighbours are outside fighting for their survival, she observes the situation from her window. The film is a co-production between Germany’s One Two Films GmbH and France’s Incognito Films. The second project, in receipt of €30,000, is Die jüngste Tochter (lit. “The Youngest Daughter”) by Hafisa Herzi, produced by Katuh Studio GmbH from Germany and June Films from France. It focuses on Fatima, who is the youngest daughter in a family of Algerian migrants in France. She discovers her love for women, which brings her into conflict with her family, her faith and her own identity.

The commission provides funding in accordance with the German-French agreement and deliberates twice a year on the applications it receives. The next session will be held on 16 June, and the application deadline is 28 April.