New films by leading German comedian Michael Bully Herbig, Soenke Wortmann, and Oscar-nominated documentary film-maker Byambasuren Davaa (The Story Of The Weeping Camel and The Cave of The Yellow Dog) are among 25 film and TV projects supported with $9.4m (Euros 6.1m) by Bavaria's FFF Bayern regional fund at its latest sitting.

The largest amount - $ 2.1m (Euros 1.4m) - went to Herbig's family entertainment film Wickie Und Die Starken Maenner, based on the children's books about the adventures of Wickie, the timorous son of a Viking chief.

Herbig will co-write, direct and star alongside Juergen Vogel, Guenther Kaufmann, Christoph Maria Herbst and Anke Engelke.

In addition, $924,000 (Euros 600,000) apiece was allocated to Wortmann's adaptation of Donna Cross' bestselling novel Pope Joan, Die Paepstin, for Constantin Film and to Juraj Herz's Second World War drama Habermanns Muehle, with a cast headlined by Mark Waschke, Hannah Herzsprung, David Kross and Ben Becker.

Meanwhile, funding was awarded to Davaa's latest project The Two Horses of Genghis Khan (Die Zwei Pferde Des Dschingis Khan), which follows the popular Mongolian singer Urna as she searches for the origins of an old folk song entitled 'The Two Horses of Genghis Khan'.

Polyband will distribute the music documentary theatrically in Germany with Atrix Films handling international sales.

Other projects supported in this session included Lorenz Knauer's portrait of the world-famous researcher and environmental activist Dr. Jane Goodall in Jane's Journey; Vivian Naefe's third Wild Chicks film Die Wilden Huehner Und das Leben; and Torsten C. Fischer's biopic Romy about the actress Romy Schneider.

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