Broadcaster and Funding Partnerships

Since 2004, Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) has been co-producing new rbb movies with the film schools in its broadcasting region: Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF and the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb). The series features innovative and original fiction formats – including hybrid formats – ranging from traditional short films to web series, with a maximum running time of 20 minutes. Their stories are set in Berlin and Brandenburg.

LEUCHTSTOFF is a joint funding initiative launched in 2012 by rbb (Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg) and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg to support emerging filmmakers in the region. It provides financial support for graduation films – both fiction and documentary, feature-length and short films – as well as mentoring by professional commissioning editors.

What visions do emerging filmmakers have for digital storytelling? What challenges and narrative possibilities does it offer? In 2016, Film University, together with the German Film and Television Academy Berlin (dffb) and Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, launched the DIGI.TALe pilot programme to explore the innovative narrative potential of digital media. The programme supports narrative audiovisual content that is innovative and experimental in nature. No restrictions are placed on genre, format, length or distribution channels. Anything is possible: from web series and apps to narrative games and interactive storyworlds; from virtual and augmented reality applications to transmedia hybrid formats – whether for YouTube, Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook or WhatsApp.

The theme of the projects is “PORTRAIT” in the broadest sense. We are looking for film concepts across the full spectrum of documentary filmmaking – from direct cinema to hybrid forms and performing documentaries. Distinctive creative voices and personal approaches are welcome. Applicants should demonstrate an awareness of the use of cinematic techniques and the dramaturgical challenges involved in short-form storytelling. In terms of subject matter, projects focusing on the German-speaking world are particularly welcome. International subjects are also eligible, provided they can be financed.

The theme of the projects is “PORTRAIT” in the broadest sense. We are looking for film concepts across the full spectrum of documentary filmmaking – from direct cinema to hybrid forms and performing documentaries. Distinctive creative voices and personal approaches are welcome. Applicants should demonstrate an awareness of the use of cinematic techniques and the dramaturgical challenges involved in short-form storytelling. In terms of subject matter, projects focusing on the German-speaking world are particularly welcome. International subjects are also eligible, provided they can be financed.

As part of the annual international film festival War on Screen, one or two Film University projects are selected for the WOS FABRIQUE. This professional script development programme supports the development and production of a 15-minute fiction short film. The projects are produced in co-production with production companies and address the themes of war and violent conflict.

Das kleine Fernsehspiel is ZDF's editorial department for emerging talent. The filmmakers and television professionals of tomorrow can realise their first films here, both in front of and behind the camera. Whether documentary, fiction or hybrid formats, the new productions – either commissioned productions or cinema co-productions – have a minimum running time of 40 minutes and are united by a distinctive, contemporary perspective on the world. Although Film University does not have a formal institutional partnership with the department of the kind described above, the University can look back on numerous successfully realised productions resulting from regular submissions, including: