The German regional fund Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg (MBB) has awarded more than €5.8 million to a total of 20 projects at various stages of production and development in its first funding round of the year. A total of 49 applications were submitted, representing a combined funding request of €14.2 million. Of the selected projects, 12 feature films and three series will receive production support, while five films have been granted development funding.

Among the standout titles is Toter Mann (“Dead Man”), the new feature by Sebastian Schipper, internationally known for his single-take thriller Victoria (2015). The project has received €600,000 in production funding. The screenplay is written by Eike Schulz, and the cast will be led by Slavko Popadic, known for the Apple TV+ series Berlin ER. The film is being produced by Iconoclast Films Germany.

Another supported project is Bilingual by Alexandre Koberidze, which has secured €200,000 in funding. It will be the filmmaker’s next work following the Locarno prizewinner Dry Leaf. The Franco-German co-production follows two women, one in Georgia and one in France, in a story described as a blend of detective narrative and romance. The film is being produced by New Matter Films on the German side and Tripode Productions in France.

Berlin-based Palestinian filmmaker Kamal Aljafari, known for With Hasan in Gaza and A Fidai Film, has received €50,000 in production funding for Beirut 1931, a fiction feature expected to be shot in Jaffa, with the director also attached as a producer. Meanwhile, Iranian-born German actress Maryam Zaree will make her directorial debut with Opfer (“Victims”), produced by Komplizen Film. Zaree also wrote the screenplay and will work with actor Jonas Dassler in the cast. The project was awarded €300,000.

In the series category, MBB granted €400,000 to Die Barmherzigen, directed by Vietnamese-German filmmaker and cinematographer Ngo The Chau. Produced by UFA Fiction, the series will star and be co-written by Minh-Khai Phan-Thi. Sebastian Schipper is also set to direct the series Zwei vernünftige Erwachsene, die sich mal nackt gesehen haben (“Two Sensible Adults Who Have Seen Each Other Naked”), which received €800,000 in funding. The production is based on the novel of the same name by Anika Decker, who will also serve as showrunner. The story follows a divorced mother who falls in love with a man 20 years younger than her.

In the development funding strand, Tobis Filmproduktion received €500,000 for Das Kind in dir muss Heimat finden (“The Child Within You Must Find a Home”) by Julia von Heinz, an adaptation of Stefanie Stahl’s best-selling self-help book of the same name. The screenplay is written by the director together with her husband John Quester, and the cast includes Hannah Herzsprung, Fahri Yardim, Mala Emde, Emilio Sakraya, Martina Gedeck and Ulrich Tukur.

Finally, Jugend, produced by Lupa Film, will reunite Ina Weisse with actresses Nina Hoss and Saskia Rosendahl, who starred in Cicadas, presented in the Panorama section of the Berlinale last year. The project received €100,000 in development funding, marking a new collaboration between the director and the leading duo.