German production incentive schemes in the spotlight after 2026 funding runs out

After government money earmarked for German production incentives ran out in August, the state of film funding in the country was in the spotlight at FilmFest Hamburg’s Industry Days event last week.

The issue has taken on particular urgency for Germany’s production community after it was announced in August  the combined €250m budget for the country’s two key production incentive schemes – the German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) and the German Motion Picture Fund (GMPF) – had been exhausted.

No more funding applications are being accepted for projects which had been planning to start principal photography this year.

Speaking on a panel titled ‘Made in Germany’, Jolinde Sawahn, head of film funding at the German Federal Film Board (FFA) – which administers the funds – explained  230 applications had been submitted for the DFFF and GMPF’s automatic grants up until the funding stop in August.

She said this was 40% higher than the number of applications the FFA had received before the funding rate for DFFF and GMPF grants for approved German production costs was raised from 25% to 30% at the beginning of 2025.

Among the projects supported this year by the two schemes are David Wnendt’s sci-fi drama Athos 2643, Aoife McArdle’s Foxfinder, Andy Sommer’s Gould Lover, Netflix’s The Boys From Brazil and Apple TV’s Wild Things.

“We have had more applications than funds, so we’re carrying over the projects we can no longer approve this year into next year,” Sawahn said, admitting that “we’re aware that there are projects that were on the verge of starting shooting and are now facing additional costs because they have to be postponed until 2027.”

The carryover may be a consolation for producers of projects who couldn’t access the incentives in time for their shoots this year, but there is likely to be even more pressure on the funding available next year. The German coalition government has proposed, under its package of austerity measures, to cut the incentive schemes’ total budget from €250m to €200m from 2027.

Producer Jakob Weydemann of Weydemann Bros, whose company’s credits include System Crasher and The Outrun, said the uncertain situation surrounding the incentive schemes “significantly alters how one can even plan the financing of film projects”.

He added that being faced with a 30% funding gap due to the absence of the incentive as part of a film financing structure “can be a matter of survival” for small, medium-sized as well as larger production companies and might “theoretically lead to insolvency”.

“Some colleagues are already experiencing existential fear the moment they realise that they won’t get the funding,” Weydemann said.

However, one positive note for film producers came when Sawahn revealed amended guidelines for the two incentive schemes are set to be published next month, which would see up to €70m of next year’s budget reserved for grants for feature films. The programmes also support high-end series.