This is the largest single jury-based cultural award the federal government makes for a feature film, and it is tied to no region: up to €1m for producing a feature-length fiction film, decided by an independent jury. The legal basis is the Richtlinie für die jurybasierte kulturelle Filmförderung des Bundes (guideline for the federal government's jury-based cultural film funding) of 31 March 2025, issued by the BKM (the federal government commissioner for culture and the media) and the FFA, in force since 31 March 2025 and valid until 31 December 2028 (§ 75 (1)). It is financed from the federal culture budget's tax revenue rather than from the FFA's film levy, and since 1 January 2025 it has been administered entirely by the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA). In 2025 the FFA approved around €20.4m for jury-based cultural production funding for feature-length films — by a wide margin the largest item under this Richtlinie.
This record covers two funding stages, because the FFA runs them under one deadline and one jury: production funding and project development funding for fiction features, both closing on 29 September 2026 and both decided by the Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme (§ 12). Production funding gives up to €1m for making the film and is aimed in principle at projects with total production costs of up to €6m (§ 67). Project development funding gives up to €100,000 — or up to €150,000 in a justified exceptional case for particularly elaborate animation productions — for acquiring material, acquiring or developing a screenplay, or other measures preparing the production (§§ 46, 47). At both stages the applicant is the Hersteller, that is the production company or the producer in person, not the writer. A writer looking for money to write belongs in the jurybasierte kulturelle Treatment- und Drehbuchförderung under the same Richtlinie; Filmlotse keeps a separate record for that.
The barriers are editorial and formal rather than regional. There is no Regionaleffekt (an obligation to spend a multiple of the grant in the funding region) of the kind the Land schemes impose. What is required is residence or a registered office in Germany, or a German establishment for applicants based in the EU or the EEA (§ 23 (1)); an erhebliche deutsche kulturelle Prägung (substantial German cultural character) under the four criteria of § 3 (3); and a regular first cinema release in Germany. For production funding the applicant must specifically not meet the eligibility criteria of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film (§ 52 sentence 4, § 53 (1)) — Talentfilme belong in the Kuratorium's own Talentfilmförderung, and the suspension of that exclusion under § 75 (5) ended when the Kuratorium's new Talentfilm guideline came into force on 1 January 2026. Projects to be financed with university money are excluded (§ 52). Project development funding requires a Referenzfilm (a prior qualifying film that establishes eligibility): at least one fiction, documentary or short film, or a series, produced and released (§ 48 (1)). On top of that come an own contribution of at least 5%, a Beihilfeintensität (aid intensity — the maximum share of the film's costs that public money may cover) of in principle no more than 50% of total production costs (§ 21 (1)), the FFA's ecological standards, accessible final versions of the film, and pay at or close to collectively agreed rates (§§ 32, 33, 56, 66).
Competition is sharp, and the FFA publishes the figures itself. At the session of 10 July 2026 there were 25 production applications and four fiction features were funded with €1,950,000 between them; in project development there were 24 applications and three awards totalling €260,000. At the session of 10 April 2026, 37 production applications produced four awards totalling €2,300,000, and 20 project development applications produced three awards totalling €245,000. Those are success rates in the region of 11% to 16%. Only the Richtlinie as currently in force and the FFA's own statements are binding; there is no legal entitlement to funding, and § 24 (1) makes every award subject to the funds available. This summary replaces neither the Richtlinie nor a conversation with the responsible funding officer at the FFA.
Submission deadline 23:59 on 29 September 2026 — for production funding and project development funding for fiction features together. These applications are decided by the Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme at its session on 8–9 December 2026 (§ 12). The previous deadline of 7 July 2026 has passed; those applications go to the session on 10–11 September 2026.
Submission is through the FFA-Serviceportal and all documents must be in German. This date does not apply to documentaries — there the deadline is 8 September 2026 before a separate jury (§ 13) — nor to feature-length children's films, where it is 1 September 2026 before the Förderjury für Kinderfilme (§ 14). Filmlotse keeps a separate record for the documentary strand.
From the children's film strand it carries two records on that same 1 September 2026 date: the jury-based cultural treatment and screenplay funding for children's films, and the jury-based cultural production funding for short films — Kinderkurzfilm (up to 30 minutes), both before the Förderjury für Kinderfilme (§ 14). The only part not yet covered is production and project development funding for the feature-length children's film; by the FFA's own deadline table its submission date is likewise 1 September 2026. The FFA has published all of these dates.
Open. As at 26 August 2026 the 29 September 2026 deadline is still 34 days away — the longest run-up of the three strands of this scheme, but tight for a production application: what is required is a screenplay, a shooting schedule, a budget, a financing plan with evidence for every component, letters of intent for crew and cast, and the confirmation that the ecological standards are met, which the FFA expressly says must be applied for early. Project-specific individual advice is offered only „bis spätestens 2 Wochen vor dem jeweiligen Einreichtermin" (until two weeks before the deadline at the latest), so for 29 September 2026 that window closes around 15 September 2026.
The FFA webinar „Projektentwicklungs- und Produktionsförderung (Spielfilm und Dokumentarfilm)" runs at 12:00 on 26 August 2026, and the deck of 24 June 2026 is in the downloads area of the programme page. No submission deadlines for 2027 have been published as at 26 August 2026, so anyone who misses 29 September 2026 has no published next date. The budget reservation applies: § 24 (1) of the Richtlinie makes every award subject to the funds available.
The intake stop announced on 20 August 2026 for the Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF) and the German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) does not affect this scheme: they are separate procedures with their own money, and the FFA has published no such notice for the jury-based cultural film funding. The tightened application requirements that take effect on 14 September 2026 — a 5-to-6-page Exposé in place of the former 3-page Idee, and page limits on the covering letter, writer's note, synopsis and dialogue scene — apply expressly to treatment and screenplay funding, not to this strand; the document list for production and project development is unaffected.
Fixed submission deadlines, not rolling. The jury for feature-length fiction films sits up to five times a year (§ 12 (2)); the FFA publishes deadlines and session dates on its „Einreich- und Sitzungstermine" page. Applications are filed digitally through the FFA-Serviceportal's application tool; registering and having the account activated can take several days and must be planned for.
The papers must be complete by the submission date — incomplete applications cannot be considered (§ 23 (2)). According to the FFA, applications arriving after 23:59 can be withdrawn without consequence and resubmitted for the next session. Only write-protected PDF files are accepted.
Additional essential documents whose timely delivery is outside the applicant's control — for instance funding decisions by other bodies — can be uploaded during a two-day supplementary window roughly two weeks before the session; screenplays may not be supplemented or exchanged. The hard rule is § 54 (2): shooting or animation work may not begin before the Zuwendungsbescheid has been issued, and the first real or virtual shooting day counts as the start. The FFA can consent to an early start only in a justified exceptional case and only after a funding commitment has been given.
If an application is refused, a Widerspruch may be lodged (§ 36); the one-month period after notification comes from general German administrative law, not from the Richtlinie; the revised application must be resubmitted within one of the regular deadlines for a coming session, failing which the jury decides on the file as it stands after two years.
One record, two funding stages with very different figures. Produktionsförderung (production funding): up to €1m may be awarded for producing a feature-length fiction film (§ 67 (1)). The scheme is aimed in principle at projects with Gesamtherstellungskosten (total production costs) of up to €6m; in justified cases animation films with higher total costs may be considered, and in particularly justified exceptional cases other films too (§ 67 (2)).
Projektentwicklungsförderung (project development funding): up to €100,000 may be granted for acquiring material, acquiring or developing a screenplay, or other measures preparing the production, rising to €150,000 in a justified exceptional case for particularly elaborate animation productions (§ 47). So anyone arriving with material and no closed financing is in the €100,000 tier, not in the million. The sums actually awarded sit below the ceiling: at the session of 10 July 2026 four fiction features received €1,950,000 of production funding (€600,000, €500,000, €450,000, €400,000) and on 10 April 2026 four features shared €2,300,000; project development awards on 10 July 2026 were €100,000, €100,000 and €60,000.
At both stages this is a non-repayable Zuwendung in the form of a Zuschuss (grant), paid as Anteilfinanzierung (a percentage share of eligible costs) under § 25 — not a loan. According to the FFA the Eigenanteil (own contribution) is at least 5% of total costs, calculated on the German financing share for international projects (§ 56 (2) in conjunction with § 17 of the Richtlinie D.2 für Referenzfilmförderung zum FFG (the FFG reference-film funding guideline); § 50 (4) for project development). Cash, third-party cash investments and recognised deferrals of the applicant's own services count towards it; provided services and other deferrals do not.
Errors in the own contribution cannot be corrected after the deadline, and falling below the 5% minimum means exclusion from the round. On Beihilfeintensität (aid intensity — the maximum share of the film's costs that public money may cover) the Richtlinie and the FFA's own pages disagree: § 21 (1) sets a general limit of 50% of total production costs, up to 60% for cross-border EU productions, and allows an increase to up to 100% for difficult audiovisual works under § 3 (8); the FFA programme page and the webinar deck of 24 June 2026 give 95% at the same point. This record follows the Richtlinie and flags the discrepancy.
Project development funding already granted is set off: the costs it covered cannot be recognised again as production costs in a later production award, and its amount is taken into account when aid intensity is examined (§ 51 (2)). Two further budgeting limits apply: the Herstellerhonorar (producer's fee — at most 5% of total production costs before the fee itself is entered, and at most €250,000) and the Handlungskosten (overheads — at most 10% where production costs are up to €5m, 5% above that, capped at €650,000). These maxima are stated by the FFA's own programme page for the jury-based cultural production funding for feature-length films, under „Hinweise zur Kalkulation" (retrieved 26 August 2026); that page in turn refers to the Richtlinie für die Herstellung von programmfüllenden Filmen zum FFG (the FFG guideline on producing feature-length films), which was not consulted in full for this record — so the figures rest on the FFA's statement rather than on the FFG instrument itself.
Jury-based selection with no legal entitlement: project development and production applications for feature-length fiction films are decided by one and the same Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme (funding jury for feature-length fiction films) of five independent members who take no instructions, with a quorum of three (§ 9, § 12). The FFA then awards by Zuwendungsbescheid (formal funding decision) within the available budget and in the proper exercise of its discretion (§ 24 (1), § 29). A refusal must give reasons; a Widerspruch (formal objection) may be lodged and is decided by the same jury at a future session (§ 36); the one-month period for it comes from general German administrative law, not from the Richtlinie.
01The applicant is the Hersteller (producer), not the writer and not the director in that capacity. For production funding it is the producer, provided the eligibility criteria of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film are not met (§ 53 (1)); for project development funding it is likewise the producer (§ 48 (1)). In a co-production only one of the producers may file the application (§ 53 (2)). In the fiction feature area writers and directors — unlike in documentary — cannot apply in their own right.
02The Talentfilm exclusion is a real fork in the road and is often missed: anyone who meets the eligibility criteria of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film is not eligible for production funding under this Richtlinie (§ 52 sentence 4, § 53 (1)). By the FFA's definition a Talentfilm is a fiction or documentary production up to the second feature-length film after completing a degree or vocational training, where the criteria apply to at least two of the three roles of screenplay, direction and production, and total production costs are below €2m. The exclusion is in force for the deadline of 29 September 2026: the suspension under § 75 (5) ran only until the Kuratorium's new Talentfilm guideline entered into force; that guideline has applied since 1 January 2026, so the condition on which the suspension depended has been met and the suspension has ended. As at 26 August 2026 the FFA programme page still carries the transitional note even though its condition is satisfied — this record follows the Richtlinie and logs the divergence in its open questions; settle it with the FFA before submitting. Talentfilme belong in the Talentfilmförderung of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film; Filmlotse keeps a separate record for that.
03Project development funding requires a Referenzfilm (a prior qualifying film that establishes eligibility): before applying, the applicant must have produced and released at least one fiction, documentary or short film, or a series, in Germany, another EU member state, another EEA contracting state or an equivalent state (§ 48 (1)). On the wording of the Richtlinie a short film is therefore enough; the FFA's project development page names a children's film in place of the short film at that point — this record follows the Richtlinie and logs the divergence in its open questions. According to the FFA a fiction or documentary film counts as feature-length from 79 minutes, and a series format from 120 minutes total running time with at least two consecutive episodes; entertainment formats such as dailies, reality and true crime are not recognised. Release means a cinema, TV or streaming showing or a festival appearance, evidenced for instance by a distributor's release confirmation, a broadcaster's confirmation, a festival invitation or equivalent; a self-declaration is not accepted. The applicant must hold the rights in the material, at least in the form of a current option (§ 48 (3)).
01The first step is registering, not writing. Applications must be filed through the FFA-Serviceportal's application tool, which requires registration and activation of the account by the FFA; according to the FFA, activation and linking to the projects can take several days. The master data requested cover the company's name, registered office and legal form, and its VAT identification number. For technical problems the FFA hotline is open Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 15:00 on 030 27577-599, or portalservice@ffa.de.
02Content documents for production funding (uploads as write-protected PDFs): a persuasive covering letter (optional), a short synopsis of no more than 1,000 characters, where applicable details of the literary source with year of publication and German sales figures, the screenplay in German, and proof of the filming rights — screenplay contract, filming contract, option contracts and where relevant further contracts in the chain of title.
03Crew and cast for production funding: details of the writers, the director, the cinematographer and the lead producer, each with a letter of intent and filmography and where relevant significant awards, plus a company profile for the lead producer; a crew list; where relevant details of co-producers with letter of intent, deal memo or contract, company profile and where relevant a joint-and-several liability declaration; details of lead and supporting cast with letter of intent, filmography, where relevant awards and a character photo; a cast list.
04Other information for production funding: shooting period and location, shooting schedule, details of the production process, details of the distributor with letter of intent or contract, expected admissions and target audience, a marketing concept or commercial assessment, where relevant details of the world sales agent and of broadcasters each with letter of intent, deal memo or contract, the confirmation that the ecological standards are met — which the FFA expressly asks applicants to apply for early — and where relevant producer's, writer's and director's statements, moodboards, a teaser, a trailer or links to comparable films.
26 August 2026, 12:00FFA webinar on project development and production funding (fiction feature and documentary)An online group advice session over Microsoft Teams; the FFA expressly recommends attending. General questions about the scheme and technical questions about the FFA-Serviceportal are answered, but not project content, for data protection reasons. Anyone who misses it will find the deck of 24 June 2026 in the downloads area of the programme page.
Until around 15 September 2026Last window for project-specific individual adviceThe FFA offers individual advice only „bis spätestens 2 Wochen vor dem jeweiligen Einreichtermin" (until two weeks before the relevant deadline at the latest). For the 29 September 2026 deadline that window therefore closes around 15 September 2026. After that only general information and the webinar material remain.
By 23:59 on 29 September 2026Submission deadline for production and project development funding, fiction featureThe complete application must have been sent through the FFA-Serviceportal by this point. Incomplete applications cannot be considered. According to the FFA, applications arriving after 23:59 can be withdrawn without consequence and resubmitted for the next session.
Roughly two to four weeks after the deadlineFormal examination by the FFAAfter the deadline all projects are checked formally, which the FFA says takes roughly two to four weeks. Where something needs adjusting, applicants receive a notification and a short window in which to make the change.
There is no separate published annual budget for this strand, but there is an annual tally: according to the press release on the 2025 funding and business report, dated 12 August 2026, the total for tax-financed jury-based cultural production funding for feature-length films came to around €20.4m, with around €689,000 for short films, around €1.5m for jury-based cultural distribution funding, around €2.4m for screenplay funding and around €1.2m for project development funding. Production funding for feature-length films is therefore by a wide margin the largest item under this Richtlinie — and this record describes its fiction feature strand. How the €20.4m splits between fiction feature, documentary and children's film is not published.
The individual 2026 sessions show for fiction features: €2,300,000 of production funding for four films and €245,000 of project development funding for three projects on 10 April 2026; €1,950,000 for four films and €260,000 for three projects on 10 July 2026. The jury for feature-length fiction films sits up to five times a year (§ 12 (2)) — more often than the documentary and children's film juries, which sit up to three times. Every award is subject to the funds available (§ 24 (1)).
The FFA publishes application and award figures for every session, and they are sobering. Production funding for fiction features: 37 applications and four awards at the session of 10 April 2026; 25 applications and four awards on 10 July 2026 — roughly 11% and 16%. Project development funding for fiction features: 20 applications and three awards on 10 April 2026; 24 applications and three awards on 10 July 2026 — roughly 15% and 13%.
The rates are calculated from the figures the FFA publishes; the FFA itself states no success rate. The individual sums awarded sit well below the ceiling: the highest single production award for a fiction feature published in 2026 is €600,000 („Arbeit und Struktur" by Maria Schrader, 10 July 2026), with the others at €500,000, €450,000 and €400,000. Budgeting on €1m means budgeting against the published award behaviour.
The FFA publishes gender statistics for every round: on 10 July 2026, of 25 production applications 13 involved a female writer, 11 a female director and 15 a female producer; of the four funded projects the figures were three, two and two. On 10 April 2026 there were 37 production applications, 14 with a female writer, 11 with a female director and 19 with a female producer; four projects were funded, two with a female writer, two with a female director and two with a female producer.
The FFA runs the jury-based cultural production and project development funding for feature-length films on one programme page, but with three separate deadline tables and three separate juries: fiction feature closing 29 September 2026 before the jury for feature-length fiction films (§ 12); documentary closing 8 September 2026 before the jury for feature-length documentaries (§ 13); and children's film closing 1 September 2026 before the children's film jury (§ 14). Filmlotse keeps separate records for fiction feature and documentary, because one record can carry only one date. From the children's film strand it carries treatment and screenplay funding for children's films and production funding for children's short films (up to 30 minutes) as records of their own, both likewise closing on 1 September 2026; what has no record yet is production and project development funding for the feature-length children's film. Submitting to the wrong deadline means landing in front of the wrong jury. Within the same Richtlinie, the stage before this one is the jurybasierte kulturelle Treatment- und Drehbuchförderung, where the writer is the applicant (§ 43) — a different programme with its own deadline (14 September 2026) and its own jury (§ 11). Talentfilme are the province of the Talentfilmförderung of the Kuratorium junger deutscher Film; anyone meeting its eligibility criteria is excluded here (§ 52 sentence 4, § 53 (1)). The transitional suspension under § 75 (5) ended when the Kuratorium's new Talentfilm guideline entered into force on 1 January 2026. The Deutscher Filmförderfonds (DFFF I) is not a competition but an automatic incentive with different conditions; it can be combined with this funding but counts towards aid intensity. Land schemes can be combined and must be disclosed under § 34 (2); they are set off against project costs.
These notes stay in German on purpose: they quote the conflicting sources word for word, and a caveat is the first thing lost in translation.
01Widerspruch zur Beihilfeintensität zwischen Tier 1 und Tier 2: § 21 Abs. 1 der Richtlinie erlaubt bei schwierigen audiovisuellen Werken nach § 3 Abs. 8 eine Erhöhung der Beihilfeintensität auf bis zu 100 % der beihilfefähigen Kosten. Die FFA-Programmseite und die Webinar-Präsentation vom 24.06.2026 nennen an derselben Stelle bis zu 95 %. Der Datensatz folgt der Richtlinie (100 %) und weist die abweichende FFA-Angabe (95 %) ausdrücklich aus. Bei der FFA klären, welche Zahl im Bescheid angewendet wird.
02Tier-1/Tier-2-Konflikt zum Talentfilm-Ausschluss: § 75 Abs. 5 knüpft die Aussetzung von § 52 Satz 4 und § 53 Abs. 1 an das Inkrafttreten der neuen Richtlinie für die Talentfilmförderung des Kuratoriums junger deutscher Film; diese ist seit dem 01.01.2026 in Kraft, die Bedingung ist eingetreten und die Aussetzung damit beendet. Die FFA-Programmseite trägt den Übergangshinweis am 26.08.2026 unverändert weiter. Der Datensatz folgt Tier 1 – der Ausschluss gilt zum Einreichtermin 29.09.2026 – und weist die abweichende FFA-Angabe aus. Bei jedem Check erneut prüfen, ob die FFA den Hinweis entfernt hat.
03Zuständige Ansprechperson: Die FFA-Programmseite führt Elisabeth Bartels, Barbara Groben, Nadja Jumah, Greta Kallsen und Romy Roolf einheitlich als Förderreferentinnen für „Spielfilm, Dokumentarfilm" auf. Die Webinar-Präsentation vom 24.06.2026 ordnet dagegen den Spielfilm Elisabeth Bartels und Nadja Jumah zu und den Dokumentarfilm Barbara Groben. Der Datensatz führt als contactEmail Elisabeth Bartels (bartels@ffa.de), weil sie in beiden Quellen dem Spielfilm zugeordnet ist, und nennt in requirements alle Ansprechpersonen samt Teamleitung. Personenbezogene Adressen veralten schneller als Funktionsadressen – bei jedem Check gegen die Programmseite abgleichen.
04Keine Einreichfristen für 2027 veröffentlicht: Am 26.08.2026 endet die veröffentlichte Terminliste der jurybasierten kulturellen Filmförderung mit den Sitzungen im November und Dezember 2026. Der Datensatz projiziert keinen Termin für 2027. Sobald die FFA die Termine 2027 veröffentlicht – in den Vorjahren geschah das im Herbst –, ist der nächste Termin nachzutragen.
Payment is in instalments tracking production: as a rule up to 40% at the start of shooting, up to 35% at the mid-point, up to 15% at rough cut and 10% after the production costs have been examined, the film has an age rating and a viewing copy has been supplied (§ 58 (4)). Money paid out must be spent promptly — within six weeks for awards of €50,000 and above (§ 58 (3)).
04No shooting before the decision — this rule governs the whole schedule. Shooting or animation work may not begin until the Zuwendungsbescheid has been issued, and the first real or virtual shooting day counts as the start (§ 54 (2)). The FFA can consent to an early start in a justified exceptional case on request, but only after a funding commitment has been given, and consent creates no entitlement to funding or to any particular amount; starting is at the applicant's own risk. The same applies to the start of the measure under project development funding.
05Residence or registered office: applicants must be producers with residence or a registered office in Germany. Those based in another EU member state, another EEA contracting state or Switzerland need an establishment in Germany (§ 23 (1)). There is no Regionaleffekt and no tie to a particular Land.
06Substantial German cultural character: only films intended and suitable for public screening in German cinemas, whose focus is on artistic expression and ambition, and which meet all four criteria of § 3 (3) are funded — German original language, or a director with German, EU, EEA or Swiss nationality or permanent residence; at least one lead producer with such nationality or permanent residence; a German producer share at least as large as the largest foreign one; and a regular first cinema release in Germany, a festival premiere being irrelevant for this purpose. For project development funding, criteria 1 to 3 suffice for other preparatory measures (§ 46 (2)).
07Feature-length here means a running time of at least 79 minutes (§ 3 (6)). For animation films this minute count may be departed from in particularly justified exceptional cases. The funding expressly includes animation and experimental films and hybrid forms of the named film genres (§ 51 (1)). Series are not a subject of funding under this Richtlinie; they appear only as possible evidence of eligibility in project development.
08University projects are excluded: projects to be financed with university money — for example as exercise or graduation films — cannot be funded (§ 52). According to the FFA, projects that were finally or twice refused under the former BKM production funding are also excluded (§ 75 (3)).
09Regular first cinema release: a regular first release in cinemas must be secured for funded films (§ 31). According to the FFA, the regular first showing of a funded fiction feature must take place in Germany on seven consecutive days in at least one cinema; a festival premiere does not count. For subsequent exploitation the holdback periods of the Filmförderungsgesetz (FFG, the film funding act) apply accordingly.
10Accessibility is a funding condition, not a recommendation: production funding may only be granted if all final versions of the film are made in an accessible version and made accessible in that version at every domestic exploitation stage by the time of each first release — a fully subtitled version for people with hearing impairments and audio description for people with visual impairments (§ 32). The costs are recognised. An exception is possible on a reasoned application where an overall assessment of the project justifies it.
11Ecological standards: funding for producing feature-length fiction, children's and documentary films is granted only where effective measures for ecological sustainability are taken; this is assumed where the ecological standards published on the FFA website, in their current version, are met (§ 66). The confirmation must be applied for early through the FFA's online tool and forms part of the application documents. Short and experimental film productions and productions with production costs below €50,000 are exempt.
12Appropriate employment conditions: the pay of staff employed on the production must follow collective agreements or be based on them; for the self-employed, joint remuneration rules apply, or in their absence conditions at least comparable to collective agreements (§ 33). The FFA expressly flags the social minimum standards as new for budgeting in its webinar deck of 24 June 2026.
13Own contribution: recipients must show an Eigenanteil of at least 5% of total costs, calculated on the German financing share for international projects (§ 56 (2), § 50 (4)). Cash, third-party cash investments and recognised deferrals of the applicant's own services as producer, production manager, director, lead actor, cinematographer, or the right in their own work, are accepted. Provided services and other deferrals are not. Errors in the own contribution cannot be corrected after the deadline; if they take the contribution below the minimum, that generally means exclusion from the round.
14Content exclusions: films or film projects with anti-constitutional or unlawful content, with a pornographic or violence-glorifying focus, or which manifestly and inappropriately offend religious feelings deeply, cannot be funded (§ 26).
15Duty to disclose other funding: applicants must state whether and from which other funding institutions they have applied for, or received, funding for the same measure and in what amount; such funding is set off against project costs (§ 34 (2)). On submission the current status of every financing component must be indicated, with the relevant submission and session dates for funding already applied for.
16No legal entitlement: awards are made subject to the budget funds provided; the FFA decides in the proper exercise of its discretion within the funds available (§ 24 (1)). The selection is made by the independent five-member Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme (§ 12); members with a close relationship to a project, or who are themselves involved in it, may not take part in the deliberation or the decision (§ 19).
17How much of the film this funding may carry at all: under § 21 (1) of the Richtlinie the Beihilfeintensität (aid intensity — the maximum share of the film's costs that public money may cover) is in principle at most 50% of total production costs, rising to 60% for cross-border EU productions. Unlike documentaries and children's films, fiction features do not automatically count as difficult audiovisual works under § 3 (8), for which an increase to up to 100% of eligible costs is possible — though a director's first and second films, experimental films and low-budget productions do. Anyone outside those categories must raise at least half the financing elsewhere before this grant is of any use. The FFA programme page and the webinar deck of 24 June 2026 give 95% at the same point; this record follows the Richtlinie and flags the discrepancy.
05Costs and financing for production funding: an industry-standard budget using the FFA's pre- and post-costing template or a comparable system such as Sesam or Movie Magic Budgeting; details of multiple roles and own services; where relevant proof of discounts; and a financing plan with evidence for every financing component so far in place. The total of the financing plan and the total production costs in the budget must match to the cent. Cash must be evidenced by a statement from the project account or a bank confirmation; the FFA does not accept digital transaction details from online banking.
06Documents for project development funding — a different list, the same deadline: a covering letter greeting the panel and introducing the application; a one-page synopsis; for fiction and children's films the current draft screenplay, for documentaries at least a project description of 10 to 35 pages; a description of the measure; a material or project development plan; a plan for realising the film once the measure is complete; where relevant a writer's statement, the director's filmography, a crew list and a list of protagonists; evidence of the rights in the material; a company profile; the writers' filmographies; evidence of eligibility; a financing plan with the own-contribution calculation and the state of the financing; financing evidence; and a costing. The FFA's webinar deck of 24 June 2026 additionally names a schedule and a concept or Exposé of at least 10 pages as an alternative to a treatment or screenplay.
07Formal requirements that can lead to exclusion: in principle only write-protected PDF files can be uploaded, for reasons of forgery protection and data security. All application documents must be submitted in German (§ 23 (3)); there is no English-language route, and a screenplay in another language must be translated. The FFA asks for an appropriate font size, well-structured paragraphs and a clear layout. Incomplete applications cannot be considered.
08Late additions are tightly limited: additional essential documents whose timely delivery is outside the applicant's control — for instance funding decisions by other institutions issued only after the deadline — can be uploaded in a two-day supplementary window roughly two weeks before the session, and the FFA sends an automatic reminder. Supplementing or exchanging screenplays is excluded, and no changes to the underlying material are permitted once the deadline has passed.
09To be settled before the decision, not after: a preliminary project certificate from the Bundesamt für Wirtschaft, Außenhandel und Klimaschutz (BAFA, the federal office for economic affairs, foreign trade and climate protection) must be submitted as a precondition for issuing the Zuwendungsbescheid; this does not apply where there are obviously no concerns, for example on projects without foreign co-producers. The final BAFA certificate must be submitted before the closing instalment is paid (§ 57). The FFA also requires a tax clearance certificate from the competent tax office, no more than three months old when submitted, and a separate project account with project-specific bookkeeping for administering the award; overnight deposit accounts are not permitted.
10Advice, but only within a window: the FFA runs online group advice sessions (webinars) in which, for data protection reasons, no project content may be discussed. Project-specific individual advice with the responsible funding officer is available only „bis spätestens 2 Wochen vor dem jeweiligen Einreichtermin" (until two weeks before the relevant deadline at the latest) — so for 29 September 2026, until around 15 September 2026. According to the FFA programme page the contacts for fiction feature and documentary are Elisabeth Bartels (030 27577-150, bartels@ffa.de), Barbara Groben (030 27577-183, groben@ffa.de), Nadja Jumah (030 27577-419, jumah@ffa.de), Greta Kallsen (030 27577-403, kallsen@ffa.de) and Romy Roolf (030 27577-159, roolf@ffa.de); the team leader is Sonja Halbherr (030 27577-429, halbherr@ffa.de). The webinar deck of 24 June 2026 assigns fiction features to Elisabeth Bartels and Nadja Jumah, and documentaries to Barbara Groben.
11After project development, before applying for production: the results of a funded project development measure must be submitted to the FFA for examination by the jury within one year of the funding decision at the latest, an extension being possible in justified cases (§ 49 (1)). Anyone then entering the project for production funding must also present the final version for formal acceptance by the submission deadline — here 29 September 2026 — and must do so additionally by email as a PDF to the responsible funding officer, not merely as the underlying material in the new application. If the Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme refuses formal acceptance, the submission must be withdrawn. Where production funding follows, the development measure must be completed before shooting begins.
Roughly two weeks before the session, for two daysSupplementary upload window in the FFA-ServiceportalOnly for additional essential documents whose timely delivery was outside the applicant's control — for instance funding decisions by other institutions. The FFA sends an automatic reminder. Screenplays may neither be supplemented nor exchanged.
8–9 December 2026Session of the funding jury for feature-length fiction filmsFive independent members decide production and project development applications in the same sitting (§ 12). Sessions are not public. Afterwards the FFA gives written notice of the decision, and a refusal must give reasons (§ 29 (1)).
Once the funding decision has become finalEarliest possible start of shootingShooting or animation work may not begin until the Zuwendungsbescheid has been issued (§ 54 (2)). The FFA can consent to an early start only in a justified exceptional case and only after a funding commitment; the start is then at the applicant's own risk and creates no entitlement to funding. Anyone planning to shoot in spring 2027 should build in this gap.
Within 12 months of the funding commitmentProof that the financing is closedThe FFA can issue a funding commitment where the sources named in the financing plan appear plausible. The commitment lapses if proof of secured financing is not provided within 12 months; in justified exceptional cases the FFA can extend the period at most twice, by up to 12 months each time (§ 54 (1)).
Within one year of the funding decision at the latest (project development)Submission of the results for acceptance by the juryThe results of a funded project development measure must be submitted to the FFA for examination by the Förderjury für programmfüllende Spielfilme; an extension is possible in justified cases (§ 49 (1)). If the project is then entered for production funding, the final version must also be available for acceptance by the submission deadline — additionally by email as a PDF to the responsible funding officer. If the jury refuses acceptance, the submission must be withdrawn.
05Kein veröffentlichter Etat je Zweig: Die FFA veröffentlicht für 2025 rund 20,4 Mio. € jurybasierte kulturelle Produktionsförderung für Langfilme insgesamt, aber keine Aufteilung auf Spielfilm, Dokumentarfilm und Kinderfilm. Die Webinar-Präsentation vom 24.06.2026 enthält ein Tortendiagramm zur Verteilung der Mittel auf die Förderjurys, dessen Beschriftungen sich aus der PDF-Textextraktion nur teilweise auslesen lassen (lesbar sind 30 % für Produktion und Projektentwicklung Spielfilm sowie je 5 % für Kurzfilm und Verleih). Der Datensatz übernimmt daraus bewusst keine Zahl. Bei Bedarf die Präsentation visuell prüfen oder bei der FFA nachfragen.
06Mindestförderquoten nicht veröffentlicht: § 67 Abs. 3 erlaubt der FFA, im Einvernehmen mit der BKM Mindestförderquoten für die jurybasierte Filmförderung festzulegen. Ob solche Quoten festgelegt wurden und wie sie lauten, ist weder der Richtlinie noch den ausgewerteten FFA-Seiten zu entnehmen. Der Datensatz trifft dazu keine Aussage.
07Struktur des Datensatzes – bewusste Abweichung von der Ein-Phasen-Konvention: Die FFA führt Produktions- und Projektentwicklungsförderung für programmfüllende Filme auf einer Programmseite, aber mit getrennten Einreichtabellen und getrennten Jurys je Filmgattung – Spielfilm 29.09.2026 (§ 12), Dokumentarfilm 08.09.2026 (§ 13), Kinderfilm 01.09.2026 (§ 14). Da ein Datensatz nur ein date tragen kann, ist der Spielfilm-Zweig ein eigener Datensatz. Produktion und Projektentwicklung sind dagegen bewusst nicht getrennt worden, obwohl das strukturell eine Abweichung ist: Alle bisher in data.json geführten Datensätze tragen genau eine Phase, und die FFA unterhält für Produktion und Projektentwicklung zwei getrennte Programmseiten mit eigenen Unterlagenlisten. Dafür sprechen eine gemeinsame Einreichfrist, eine gemeinsame Jury und der Programmname, der „Produktions- und Projektentwicklungsförderung" bis in die Listenzeile trägt. Der Preis ist, dass amountMax (1.000.000 €) die Produktionsstufe abbildet, während die Projektentwicklung bei 100.000 € endet (150.000 € nur bei besonders aufwändiger Animation); amountLabel führt diese Grenze deshalb voran. Für /check-programmes: prüfen, ob die FFA die Struktur beibehält, und entscheiden, ob die Bündelung zugunsten je eines Datensatzes pro Förderart aufgelöst wird.
08Programmname: Der Datensatz kombiniert die Familienbezeichnung der FFA-Programmseite („Jurybasierte kulturelle Produktionsförderung für programmfüllende Filme") mit der Zweigbezeichnung der Termintabelle („Produktions- und Projektentwicklungsförderung Spielfilm"), weil die FFA für den einzelnen Zweig keinen eigenen Seitentitel führt. Bei jedem Check gegen die literale Seitenüberschrift abgleichen.
09Die zum 14.09.2026 geänderten Antragsanforderungen betreffen diesen Datensatz nicht: Der Hinweis der FFA steht auf der Seite der Treatment- und Drehbuchförderung und nennt ausdrücklich „die jurybasierte kulturelle Treatment- und Drehbuchförderung" sowie die Treatment- und Drehbuchförderung für Kinderfilme. Für Produktions- und Projektentwicklungsförderung hat die FFA am 26.08.2026 keine geänderten Antragsanforderungen veröffentlicht; die Unterlagenlisten auf der Produktions- und der Projektentwicklungsseite tragen kein Änderungsdatum. Bei jedem Check erneut prüfen, ob die FFA die Vorgaben auch für diesen Zweig anpasst.
10Abweichung zwischen Unterlagenliste der Website und Webinar-Präsentation bei der Projektentwicklung: Die Website nennt für Spiel- und Kinderfilme die „aktuelle Drehbuchfassung", die Webinar-Präsentation vom 24.06.2026 dagegen „Konzept / Exposé (mind. 10 Seiten) oder Treatment / Drehbuch" sowie zusätzlich einen Zeitplan. Der Datensatz gibt beide Fassungen wieder. Gegen das Antragsformular im FFA-Serviceportal abgleichen.
11Bescheinigung in Steuersachen und Projektkonto sind in der Richtlinie nicht ausdrücklich als Antragsvoraussetzung genannt; sie stammen aus dem FAQ-Bereich der FFA-Programmseite. Der Datensatz schreibt sie deshalb der FFA zu und nicht der Richtlinie.
12Tier-1/Tier-2-Konflikt zum Referenzfilm nach § 48 Abs. 1: Die Richtlinie nennt „Spiel-, Dokumentar-, Kurzfilm oder eine Serie"; die FFA-Seite zur Projektentwicklungsförderung nennt „Spiel-, Dokumentar-, Kinderfilm oder ein Serienformat". Der Datensatz folgt Tier 1. Praktisch heißt das: Ein Kurzfilm genügt als Nachweis der Antragsberechtigung, obwohl die FFA-Formulierung ihn nicht nennt, und ein Kinderfilm ist nach dem Wortlaut der Richtlinie an dieser Stelle gerade nicht genannt. Vor der Einreichung mit der FFA klären.
13Kalkulationsvorgaben – woher die Zahlen stammen und was offen bleibt: Die Höchstansätze für Herstellerhonorar (5 % der Gesamtherstellungskosten ohne vorherigen Ansatz der Gage, höchstens 250.000 €) und Handlungskosten (10 % bei Fertigungskosten bis 5 Mio. €, darüber 5 %, gedeckelt bei 650.000 €) stehen wörtlich auf der FFA-Programmseite zur jurybasierten kulturellen Produktionsförderung für programmfüllende Filme unter „Hinweise zur Kalkulation"; der Datensatz zitiert sie seit dem 26.08.2026 dort und nicht mehr bei einem FFG-Instrument, das nicht ausgewertet wurde. Offen bleibt, welches FFG-Instrument dahintersteht: Die Richtlinie selbst nennt für den Eigenanteil § 17 der Richtlinie D.2 für Referenzfilmförderung zum FFG, die FFA-Produktionsseite spricht von der Richtlinie für die Herstellung von programmfüllenden Filmen zum FFG, die FFA-Seite zur Projektentwicklungsförderung von der Richtlinie für Produktionsfilmförderung zum FFG. Keines dieser Instrumente lag diesem Lauf im Volltext vor. In einem künftigen Lauf beschaffen, die Höchstansätze gegen das Original prüfen, es als eigene Quelle aufnehmen und in beiden Datensätzen dieser Richtlinie einheitlich zitieren.
FFA – Jurybasierte kulturelle Projektentwicklungsförderung (Förderhöhe bis 100.000 €, Antragsberechtigung mit Referenzfilm, Unterlagenliste, Abnahme, Einreichtermine)
Only the funder's guideline in its currently valid version and the institution's own statements are binding. This page summarises; it replaces neither the guideline nor the advisory call.