Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
SUBMISSION DEADLINE
VOLUME
no stated ceiling
Conditionally repayable loan
PROJECT STAGE
Production
FORMATS
Feature film
Documentary
Animation
REGION
North Rhine-Westphalia
Nationwide
HOW TO APPLY
Online portal
The disqualifying questions first, so that nobody spends a month on an application they were never eligible for. The applicant is the production company, not the director: “Antragsberechtigt sind Produzenten” — producers may apply (Ziff. 4.1.2 of the Förderleitlinien, the funder's binding funding guidelines; Ziff. = Ziffer, paragraph) — and only undertakings or freelancers whose registered office (Sitz), place of business or branch is in North Rhine-Westphalia or in the Federal Republic of Germany are eligible (Ziff. 2.1.1). International projects require a German co-producer. The film must be programmfüllend (feature-length) under Ziff. 4.2.1. The applicant's own funds (Eigenmittel) must not fall below 5% of the Herstellungskosten — the total cost of producing the film (Ziff. 4.1.3). These are not to be confused with the Eigenanteil, the contractually agreed own contribution that must be covered out of exploitation revenues before repayment of the loan begins (Ziff. 4.1.10). Work on the project must not have started at the time of application (Ziff. 2.1.4). And the hardest condition is in Ziff. 4.2.3: at least 1.5 times the amount awarded must be spent in North Rhine-Westphalia. Apply for €400,000 and you must spend €600,000 in NRW — on a project with no NRW connection, that is where the application fails. The funder calls this the NRW-Effekt — a Regionaleffekt, meaning an obligation to spend a multiple of the award in the funder's own Land (federal state). What actually counts as spent in NRW — the tax domicile of whoever issues the invoice, the shooting location, crew fees — the Film- und Medienstiftung has never defined publicly; there is no Merkblatt (guidance sheet) on the NRW-Effekt. That is this record's most important open question, and it must be settled in the Beratungsgespräch (the compulsory advisory meeting) before you budget anything. Finally: the money is a conditionally repayable, interest-free loan, not a grant. And the calendar: the published submission date is 10 September 2026, but the date that binds in practice is 3 September 2026. The compulsory Beratungsgespräch must have taken place by then, because portal access is unlocked only afterwards. No meeting, no portal; no portal, no application. Anyone who makes contact only shortly before the submission date cannot be assured of being considered for 10 September 2026 — what then remains is 19 November 2026.
The theatrical production funding of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW is its Herstellungsförderung, the funding of the actual making of the film — and with a total funding volume of €38,215,701.07 in 2025 it is one of the largest Land (federal state) film funds in Germany (Jahresbericht 2025, the annual report). The Film- und Medienstiftung simply calls the line “Produktion” within the Kinofilm funding area; the legal basis is Ziff. 4 of the Förderleitlinien der Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH, “Förderung der Herstellung von Kinofilmen und Fernsehprojekten” (funding for the making of theatrical films and television projects), with the specific rules for theatrical films in Ziff. 4.2. Internally and in the annual report the area is called “Produktion I”, to distinguish it from the Vereinfachte Förderung (“Produktion II”), the simplified low-budget line, which is awarded as a grant and has its own committee. What is supported is the making of feature-length theatrical films; documentaries run in the same area and have their own funding officer. Nothing is automatic: the Filmförderungsausschuss (the funding committee) decides, and submission is possible only on fixed dates — the next is 10 September 2026, followed by 19 November 2026. Access is open nationwide, and that is the difference that matters most against some Land funds: a registered office in North Rhine-Westphalia is not required, one anywhere in Germany is enough (Ziff. 2.1.1; footnote 4 of the Leitlinien applies Art. 1(5)(a) of the AGVO, the EU General Block Exemption Regulation, so what counts is the registered office at the time the aid is paid out). This is not theory: in 2025 around 70% of the funded projects were led by producers from North Rhine-Westphalia — meaning the rest were not — and the 2026 funding rounds include awards to companies from Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Stuttgart, Krefeld and Ludwigshafen. What is tied to the region is the money, not the applicant's address: at least 1.5 times the amount awarded must be spent in NRW (Ziff. 4.2.3), or, where total production costs are up to €750,000, at least the amount awarded itself (Ziff. 4.2.4).
APPLY WITH
Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH
REGISTRATION TAKES A FEW WORKING DAYS
CHECKED 24 August 2026
The loan amounts to up to 50% of the budgeted total production costs (kalkulierte Gesamtherstellungskosten). On a specially reasoned decision of the Filmförderungsausschuss, films that are difficult to exploit and/or low-budget films may be funded at up to 70% — and, for projects with total production costs of up to €750,000, up to 80%, again only for those same films and again only on a specially reasoned committee decision (Ziff. 4.2.2 and 4.2.4). In both cases the standard rate remains 50%; the raised rates are discretionary decisions and no budget should be built on them. The Förderleitlinien name no ceiling in euros. The real order of magnitude: in 2025 theatrical films including low budget received 62 awards totalling €17.87m, an average of about €288,000; in the round of 11 May 2026 individual awards ran between €76,500 and €1.77m. Conditionally repayable means that repayment comes solely out of the film's exploitation revenues, and only once the contractually agreed Eigenanteil (the applicant's own contribution) has been covered — normally from 50% of the revenues flowing to the applicant, with the obligation ending, in the ordinary course, ten years after theatrical release or first broadcast (Ziff. 4.1.10). That still does not make it a grant: the loan appears as a loan in every financing plan and in the accounts. Repaid money is not lost — within a period set by the fund and running from the start of repayment, a new loan equal to the funds repaid may be applied for towards a further project, provided the production costs are spent predominantly, and at least in the amount of the loan, in NRW (Ziff. 4.1.11). Budget also for the audit fee payable to PwC / Deutsche Revision: 3% of the award where the award is between €50,000 and €525,000, and 1% above that.
The route into an application runs through the telephone, not through a form. If you still want the 10 September 2026 date, the first thing to do today is make a call, not a download: +49 221 260 30-313 (Isabel Krolla, theatrical funding applications) or +49 221 260 30-316 (Ivana Lalovic, documentary); theatrical funding contracts are handled by Martina Horbach on +49 221 260 30-314. Say that you need a Beratungsgespräch for the 10 September 2026 submission date. The meeting is compulsory, it must have taken place at the latest one week before the submission date — by 3 September 2026 — and only afterwards is access to the online portal unlocked. Which details and documents are required is expressly communicated only in that meeting; there is no published list of annexes for production funding, and the Film- und Medienstiftung does not publish e-mail addresses in plain text, so contact runs through the website's contact forms or by telephone. Only the Förderleitlinien in their currently valid version, any Merkblatt (guidance sheet), the individual Förderzusage (the written funding commitment, this funder's equivalent of a Bescheid) and the funding contract are binding, and these instruments complement one another (Ziff. 1.1.1). This summary replaces neither the Leitlinien nor the compulsory Beratungsgespräch.
The date that binds in practice is 3 September 2026, not 10 September 2026: before applying, a Beratungsgespräch (advisory meeting with the responsible funding officer) is compulsory, it must take place at the latest one week before the submission deadline, and only afterwards is access to the online application portal unlocked. The published submission deadline itself is Thursday 10 September 2026, covering “Produktion, Verleih, vorbereitende Förderarten (inkl. Serienpilot, Show & Entertainment)” — production, distribution and preparatory funding types — as published on the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW deadlines page. Anyone who makes contact only shortly before 10 September 2026 cannot be assured of being considered for that date; what then remains is 19 November 2026.
The next window is open for preparation, not for submission: as at 24 August 2026 the next published submission date is 10 September 2026, followed by 19 November 2026. Anyone still hoping to make the September date must have held the compulsory Beratungsgespräch by 3 September 2026 at the latest — ten days away, and the date that binds in practice, so the appointment should be requested immediately. No exhaustion of the year's volume and no intake stop has been published for the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW as at 24 August 2026 — unlike the federal DFFF (Deutscher Filmförderfonds), which has closed its intake for 2026 production starts because its funds are exhausted; the date of 20 August 2026 carried in this record is confirmed in substance but not to the day from a tier 1 or 2 source.
The legal basis remains in force, but is time-limited: the Förderleitlinien came into effect on 1 January 2024 and run until 30 June 2027, that is until the AGVO expires plus an adjustment period of six months (Ziff. 12). That has no consequences for the dates of 10 September 2026 and 19 November 2026, but it does for the dates from 16 September 2027 onwards; no successor version is published as at 24 August 2026. Note also that the Film- und Medienstiftung is currently rebuilding its funding strategy: on 14 April 2026 it announced six new programmes and said that in the course of 2026 it would additionally introduce a Distributionsförderung (distribution funding) and a funding format for AI- and technology-driven innovation.
On the published material, theatrical production funding itself has not been changed by this.
Not rolling submission but fixed submission dates; the programme page names four dates a year. The application must be submitted complete and on time for the relevant submission date, using the forms and online tools provided by the Film- und Medienstiftung (Ziff. 2.1.2 of the Förderleitlinien). It is preceded by a compulsory Beratungsgespräch (advisory meeting) with the responsible funding officer, which must take place at the latest one week before the submission date; the appointment has to be arranged in good time, and only after it is access to the application portal unlocked.
Which details and documents are required is expressly communicated only in that meeting — the Film- und Medienstiftung publishes no public list of annexes for production funding. Work on the project must not have started at the time of application (Ziff. 2.1.4). The Filmförderungsausschuss decides on applications.
Published submission dates: 10 September 2026 and 19 November 2026, and for 2027 4 March, 13 May, 16 September and 18 November. The Film- und Medienstiftung promises no processing time and does not publish the meeting dates of the Filmförderungsausschuss; roughly two months separated the funding announcements of 11 May 2026 and 22 July 2026, but which submission dates those announcements rest on is not published.
Funding may amount to up to 50% of the applicant's share of the expenditure, or 50% of the budgeted total production costs (kalkulierte Gesamtherstellungskosten); on a specially reasoned decision of the Filmförderungsausschuss (the funding committee), films that are difficult to exploit and/or low-budget films may be funded at up to 70% (Ziff. 4.2.2 of the Förderleitlinien der Film- und Medienstiftung NRW GmbH, in force since 1 January 2024; Ziff. = Ziffer, paragraph). A separate rule applies to projects with total production costs of up to €750,000: the loan may amount to up to 50% of the budgeted total production costs, or up to 80% for films that are difficult to exploit and/or low-budget films and, again, only on a specially reasoned decision of the Filmförderungsausschuss; and only at least the amount awarded — not 1.5 times it — has to be spent in North Rhine-Westphalia (Ziff. 4.2.4). In both cases the standard rate remains 50%; the raised rates are discretionary decisions and no budget should be built on them.
The Förderleitlinien publish no euro ceiling for theatrical production funding, so this record models the programme as having no published ceiling. The decisive point for classification: this is not a grant. The programme page describes the award as a bedingt rückzahlbares, zinsloses Darlehen (a conditionally repayable, interest-free loan).
It is repaid, once the applicant's contractually agreed Eigenanteil (own contribution) has been covered, out of the film's domestic and foreign exploitation revenues, as a rule from 50% of the revenues flowing to the applicant; where other German funding bodies are involved in the financing, repayment may be agreed in proportion to the respective funding shares, and the repayment obligation normally ends ten years after theatrical release or first broadcast (Ziff. 4.1.10). Repaid money is not lost: within a period set by the Film- und Medienstiftung, running from the start of repayment, the applicant may apply for a new loan equal to the funds repaid, to be used for preparing or producing a further film or series project, provided the production costs are spent predominantly — and at least in the amount of the loan applied for — in North Rhine-Westphalia; up to a loan of €25,000 the management establishes conformity with the Leitlinien, above that the Filmförderungsausschuss does (Ziff. 4.1.11). Payment is made in instalments against evidenced project progress; the final instalment only after the Verwendungsnachweis (final accounting proof) has been examined, archiving evidenced and the film accepted (Ziff. 4.1.4).
There is also an audit fee payable to PwC / Deutsche Revision, staggered by the size of the award: a flat €300 on awards up to €10,000, a flat €1,000 from €10,001 to €25,000, a flat €1,500 from €25,001 to €50,000, 3% of the award on awards from €50,000 to €525,000, and 1% of the award on awards above €525,000 (Merkblatt für Antragsteller “Prüfgebühren PwC / Deutsche Revision”). On a €400,000 award that is €12,000. The real order of magnitude: in 2025 theatrical films including low budget accounted for 62 awards totalling €17,869,346.27 — an average of about €288,000 per project (Jahresbericht 2025).
In the funding round of 11 May 2026 individual theatrical awards ran between €76,500 and €1,770,000, in the round of 22 July 2026 between €180,000 and €1,200,000, and for documentaries between €80,000 and €300,000. In State aid terms the funding rests on Art. 54 in conjunction with Art. 3 of the Allgemeine Gruppenfreistellungsverordnung (AGVO, the EU General Block Exemption Regulation); individual aid above €100,000 is published in the European Commission's aid transparency database within six months of being granted (Ziff. 1.1.4).
Selective funding decided by committee, with no legal entitlement: “Ein Rechtsanspruch auf Förderung besteht nicht” — there is no legal entitlement to funding (Ziff. 1.1.3 of the Förderleitlinien). Production funding decisions are taken by the Filmförderungsausschuss (the funding committee); funding commitments are made in writing (Ziff. 2.2.1 and 2.2.2, programme page). The committee is made up of representatives of the shareholders and of the industry and is chaired by the managing director of the Film- und Medienstiftung.
In specially reasoned exceptional cases a decision may depart from the provisions of Ziffern 3 to 5 — and so from the rules on own funds, on the amount that must be spent in North Rhine-Westphalia, on maximum amounts and on repayment obligations — where a project is of particular film and media cultural and/or economic interest to North Rhine-Westphalia; that requires a unanimous decision of the Filmförderungsausschuss on a proposal from the management (Ziff. 11.1). Up to a ceiling of €25,000 the management may decide alone, and then too only for film projects that are of particular film-cultural and/or film-economic interest to North Rhine-Westphalia (Ziff. 11.2).
The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW puts its average funding volume at €35m a year (press release of 9 February 2026 marking its 35th anniversary). In 2025 it was well above that: the Jahresbericht 2025 (annual report) records a total funding volume of €38,215,701.07 across 397 projects and calls 2025 one of the strongest funding years in the foundation's history. Production — Produktion I, Produktion II and graduation films together — accounted for 106 projects and €29,344,455.35, of which €17,869,346.27 went to 62 theatrical films including low budget and €10,910,587.08 to 19 series and television films.
The annual report puts the total production costs of the funded projects at €291,605,515 across 55 projects and the NRW-Effekt actually achieved at 323%, or €88,768,502, in each case in relation to Produktionsförderung I — so on average the funded productions spend considerably more in NRW than the 1.5x minimum requires. The foundation is financed by its shareholders: the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia (40%), WDR (40%), ZDF (10%) and RTL Deutschland (10%); in 2025 it had €21,516,300 in Land funds and €19,938,000 in broadcaster funds available, €41,454,300 in total. Individual funding rounds in 2026 ran in the order of roughly €9m to €12m: €11.5m for 30 projects (funding announcement of 11 February 2026), €11.8m for 32 projects (11 May 2026) and €9.08m for 37 projects (22 July 2026).
Nothing has been published as at 24 August 2026 about the year's volume being exhausted or about any intake stop. No funding volume for 2026 or 2027 has been published; trade media report planned cuts to the Land subsidy, but those figures rest on tier 3 sources only and are therefore recorded — attributed and dated — in verification.needsCheck rather than carried into this record.
The competition is decided in committee, not on the calendar: within one submission date all applications go to the same meeting of the Filmförderungsausschuss, so submitting early brings no advantage. What matters is first having portal access at all — without an advisory meeting held at the latest one week before the date there is none — and second completeness: the application must be submitted complete and on time (Ziff. 2.1.2). The order of magnitude: in 2025, 62 theatrical films including low budget were funded with €17.87m in total, an average of about €288,000.
Individual awards vary widely — from €76,500 to €1.77m in the round of 11 May 2026, and from €180,000 to €1.2m in the round of 22 July 2026. The Film- und Medienstiftung does not publish how many applications there are per award in production funding; for the new development initiative “Made in NRW” it names 73 submissions for five awards in the first round (18 June 2026), which gives a sense of the competition at development stage but cannot be transferred to production funding. A significant factor in the chances of success is regional anchoring: in 2025 around 70% of the funded projects were led by producers from North Rhine-Westphalia.
Applicants from outside are expressly eligible and are funded regularly, but they compete against a field in which the NRW connection is there anyway. Also relevant to the market situation: the federal DFFF (Deutscher Filmförderfonds) closed its intake in August 2026 because its funds were exhausted; producers switching to Land funding is likely to increase pressure on these sessions, though as at 24 August 2026 no figures on that have been published.
The stages before and after sit inside the same Förderleitlinien. Upstream is Creative Development funding in three stages up to screenplay development — treatment outline (Exposé) €5,000 (€3,000 for emerging talent without a production company), treatment €15,000, screenplay €20,000, and at most €45,000 per project in total; for project development in documentary and animation and for further screenplay development with a production company, up to 80% of the budgeted development costs and at most €70,000. It is awarded as a grant, but only to producers from North Rhine-Westphalia: producers based outside NRW receive it solely as a conditionally repayable loan. It has three submission dates a year (the next being 25 September 2026) and at stage 1 is aimed at writers and film school graduates whose main residence, place of business or branch is in NRW; the funding priorities for 2026/2027 are emerging talent, debut and second films, children's/family entertainment/animation, commercial mainstream and high-end material, and short form content. Also upstream is Produktionsvorbereitung (production preparation): up to 80% of the budgeted development costs and at most €100,000, conditional on submitting a screenplay and a budget. Producers with a company registered anywhere in Germany may apply; for applicants from North Rhine-Westphalia the funding takes the form of a grant — so an NRW base is not an eligibility bar but determines the form of the award. It shares its submission date with production. Downstream is distribution and sales funding, which uses the same submission date. If you do not meet the conditions of this funding area there are two realistic alternatives in-house: the Vereinfachte Förderung (“Produktion II”), the simplified low-budget line covering projects of all genres — short films, documentaries, fiction features, experimental films and animation — awarded as a grant, with committees appointed on the proposal of the Filmbüro NW e.V. and limited to projects whose budgeted total expenditure does not exceed €1.5m (Ziff. 10.1.2); producers, directors and distributors headquartered in North Rhine-Westphalia may apply there (students expressly excluded), but in specially reasoned exceptional cases applicants whose business or residence is outside North Rhine-Westphalia yet within the Federal Republic of Germany may also be funded (Ziff. 10.2.1); theatrical production funding in that line is capped at €100,000 (Ziff. 10.2.2.3). Or, for students, graduation film funding — in 2026 five projects at €20,000 each (funding announcement of 22 May 2026). Television films and series have their own Produktion area on different terms: as a rule up to 30% of the budgeted total production costs, up to 50% in justified exceptional cases, and at most 50% of the applicant's share of expenditure for international co-productions (Ziff. 4.3.2); the 1.5x NRW-Effekt applies there too (Ziff. 4.3.4). For innovative serial formats for non-linear exploitation with episodes of up to 30 minutes, funding is capped at €300,000 (Ziff. 4.3.5). As to federal funding: DFFF I does not preclude funding from the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW — the Leitlinien contain no bar on cumulation with other funding bodies and expressly permit it within the statutory ceilings (Ziff. 1.2.5); only the State aid limits of the AGVO apply.
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.
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.