New feature films by Joseph Vilsmaier, Margarethe von Trotta, Rainer Matsutani and Maria Blumencon are among the projects awarded a total $10m (Euros 6.26m) by the Bavarian regional fund FFF Bayern at its latest sitting.

The largest amount - $ 1.1m (Eu 700,000) - went to Phillip Stennert and Cyrill Boss’ action comedy Jerry Cotton by Rat Pack Filmproduktion and to Maria Blumencron’s Flucht Aus Tibet, starring Franka Potente and Dorka Gryllus, which is based on the real-life experiences of journalist and photographer Judy Cronenberg when the tragic fate of Tibetan refugee children nine years ago moved her to organise a trek across the Himalayas to freedom.

Meanwhile, the globe’s ninth highest peak, Pakistan’s 8,000 metre high Nanga Parbat, is the setting for Vilsmaier’s next feature of the same name based on legendary mountaineer Reinhold Messner’s 2002 book The Naked Mountain and the mysterious circumstances surrounding the death of his younger brother Guenther.

$480,000 (Euros 300,000) was allocated to the Perathon Film production which is being produced with the EMF Ephesus Filmbeteiligungs private investment company and will be headlined Florian Brueckner and Karl Markovics (The Counterfeiters).

Principal photography at an altitude of 5,000 metres on Nanga Parbat will begin in August, with Senator Film releasing the film theatrically in Germany.

In addition, FFF Bayern has granted production funding for such projects as von Trotta’s biopic Vision - Hildegard von Bingen, starring Barbara Sukowa, Joachim Krol and Alexander Held; Matsutani’s youth gang drama ROX!, with Wild Soccer Bunch stars brothers Jimi Blue and Wilson Gonzales Ochsenknecht; and feature debuts by Baran bo Odar (Das Schweigen), Michael Dreher (Das Zimmer) as well as Carlo Rola’s TV three-parter Krupp - Eine Familie Zwischen Krieg Und Frieden about the German industrialist dynasty of the last century.

Topics