The 25th edition of the German Films Previews (GFP) took place this year in Hanover from June 30 to July 3. Every year, German Films invites international distributors and world sales companies that have German films in their program to this three-day trade show to negotiate the sale of new German films for the cinema.
German Films supported the German productions at the film festival in Karlovy Vary and, together with EFP, invited filmmakers and industry experts to the annual reception. The German director Simon Schneckenburger (SKIN ON SKIN) won the Allwyn Scholarship in Los Angeles as part of the Future Frames program at KIFF.
During the New Horizons International Film Festival and the Polish Days in Wroclaw, German Films, in cooperation with Connecting Cottbus and Film Festival Cottbus hosted a Polish-German Co-Production Meet & Greet Lunch bringing together Polish and German producers.
Jerusalem Film Festival took place in Israel from July 17 - 26, 2025. The German directors Julia von Heinz and Matthias Glasner were on the international jury and accompanied the festival on location. German Films also co-hosted a festival dinner for Israeli and international guests of the festival.
Actors Lea Drinda and Aaron Altaras, two FACE TO FACE ambassadors, celebrated the German and world premieres of their latest films - THANKS FOR NOTHING and RAVE ON - at Filmfest Munich.
On July 9, 2025, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® announced the 60 semifinalists of this year’s 52th edition of the Student Academy Awards®, selected from more than 2,000 submissions. 6 German productions are among the nominations.
The Franco-German Filmmeeting returns to the Goethe-Institut in Paris and will take place on October 8+9, 2025. The industry event brings together around 200 key players from France and Germany, including producers, distributors, writers, broadcasters, funding bodies, and policymakers. Registration is open now.
From January to June 2025, 388 German films reached cinema audiences in more than 80 countries, generating over 82.3 million euros in international box office revenue and attracting more than 10.8 million viewers.
The next session of KINO! FILM SALON online film club on August 17, 2025 will focus on the comprehensive portrait WERNER HERZOG: RADICAL DREAMER by Thomas von Steinaecker.
In our next episode of the SHORT TAKE podcast we will be talking to actor and director of photography Ngo The Chau, who is known for shooting and directing THE DOOR-TO-DOOR BOOKSTORE and recently shot the German version of CALL MY AGENT.
In the fifth and sixth episode of this season of the DEEP DIVE GENRE podcast, we discussed the topic POLITICAL DRAMA with writer Anette Hess, who wrote the scripts for the shows INTERPRETER OF SILENCE and WEISSENSEE, and with film critic and economics researcher Moritz Pfeifer.
Young Horizons Industry - Producers LINK 2025 Young Horizons and Cinekid for Professionals have now announced the selection for the fifth edition of Producers LINK. The program will start in Warsaw at Young Horizons Industry and continue during Cinekid for Professionals in Amsterdam this October. In total 21 producers from 15 countries were selected this year. Two producers from Germany were selected for the Producers LINK: Julia Dordel from Dorcon Film and Eliza Plocienniak-Alvarez from Blaue Pampelmuse.
Awards for German productions at FIDMarseille 2025 The international film festival FIDMarseille (Festival international de cinéma de Marseille), known for its documentary selections and avant-garde narrative features, awarded various German productions this year. Two films supported by German Films received top honors from the FID Marseille juries. MIRACULOUS ACCIDENT by Assaf Gruber earned a Special Mention from the High School Students’ Jury. FERNLICHT by Johanna Schorn Kalinsky was awarded the Fondazione Claudia Cardinale Prize, an award for a debut filmmaker that includes a one‑month creative residency near Fontainebleau. In addition, two German projects from the FIDLab co‑production platform also received prestigious awards: MARCELA (dir. Salka Tiziana; prod. Hannah Schwartz & Tom Otte ) won the Casa de Velázquez / ECAM Prize, offering a two‑month residency in Madrid and tailored mentoring via ECAM Impulso. THE CITY (dir. Helena Wittmann; prod. Julia Cöllen) secured the Label 42 Prize, with options for one week of color grading + cinema projection or a Dolby Atmos sound mix, valued at €10 000.
German short film candidates for the Academy Awards® 2026 German Films is planning to publish a list of all German short films submitted to the 99th Academy Awards® and asks all producers to inform us about their submission and film by October 1, 2025 by contacting Martin Scheuring (scheuring@german-films.de). The Academy’s deadline for live action, animation and documentary short films that qualified for submission through an award or theatrical release by June 30, 2025 will be on Thursday, August 14, 2025. The final deadline to submit shorts that qualified later is on Thursday, October 8, 2025.
Call for applications
ACE Training Days NL 2025: ACE Producers is pleased to announce the Call for Applications for the Training Days NL 2025, taking place in Leiden and Amsterdam, The Netherlands, on 14 + 15 October. The ACE Training Days NL is a tailor-made program designed for emerging producers at relatively early stages in their careers, who are looking to expand their network and learn more about the international context of the audiovisual industry. The workshop welcomes producers working in fiction, animation and documentary, and strives to make the industry more inclusive and diverse. Deadline is September 1, 2025. More information can be found here.
Warsaw Industry Days: Warsaw International Film Festival has announced the launch of the Warsaw Industry Days (October 13-18) — a new industry initiative at the 41st WFF. This platform is dedicated to fostering networking, collaboration, and partnerships within the Central and Eastern European film industry. As part of this initiative, the Warsaw Co-Production Forum has been introduced. Producers from Central and Eastern Europe with feature-length fiction projects in development and works in progress with international co-production and distribution potential are invited to submit their projects. Details on submission requirements and deadlines can be found here.
European Short Pitch 2025/2026: The European Short Pitch has been supporting the development of short film projects, young talents and European co-productions since 2007. Authors and creative teams should apply with their short narrative, animation, documentary or hybrid projects in development for participation in the next edition by September 12, 2025. The first 4-day workshop focusing on script development and further enhancing the projects is scheduled for January 12-16, 2026. This workshop will be followed by several individual online training sessions to prepare for the Coproduction Forum in May/June 2026 during Leiden Short Film Festival (Belgium), where the projects will be presented to the international short film industry. In November there will be another call to submit short films currently in post-production, which will be presented as works-in-progress. At the 2025 edition, the German-Indonesian project VATERLAND by Berthold Wahjudi received the European Short Pitch Award. More informationcan be found here. A list of more international training and pitching events for short films is available here.
Masterschool at Documentary Campus: Europe’s longest running documentary training program is back for its 25th year. The Masterschool is a one-stop-shop for non-fiction projects looking to thrive in international markets and successfully finance and produce original fact-based formats. The Documentary Campus encourages applications from diverse and underrepresented backgrounds. Deadline for submissions is December 1, 2025.More information about the application process can be found here.
#DocsConnect Conscious Filmmaking: #DocsConnect is a unique and holistic training initiative designed to empower filmmakers and creative professionals with the necessary tools, mindset, and industry access. Led by award-winning international mentors and developed from 25+ years of experience at Taskovski Films, one of the leading global documentary sales and production companies will offer this 3-module-training. Deadline was June 30, but 6 spots are still available. More information and application form can be found here.
