The struggle with historical truth, personal fate and the question of justice: Seven television films are competing for the Hamburg Producers Award ‘German Television Films’ at FILMFEST HAMBURG. The award, worth 25,000 euros, is sponsored by VFF Verwertungsgesellschaft der Film- und Fernsehproduzenten mbH and presented to the producers. Seven series projects are nominated for the VFF’s Hamburg Producers Award ‘German Series,’ worth 10,000 euros. Lars Jessen’s comedy Prange – Man ist ja Nachbar, starring Bjarne Mädel, Olli Dittrich and Katharina Marie Schubert, will be shown as the opening film of the Television section and out of competition. The international series The Kollective, directed by Assaf Bernstein and Randa Chahoud, will also be screened out of competition.

 

Ester Amrami directs Fang mich doch!, based on a screenplay by Elke Rössler, a tragicomedy inspired by true events. Georg (Jan Krauter), father of a daughter with epilepsy, pretends to be one of them in the hip Leipzig daycare environment: cool and generous. When he comes into a lot of money, his imposture takes its course. The television film was produced by Nina Tanneberger and Lasse Scharpen (Studio Zentral) for ZDF.

 

Director Rainer Kaufmann and screenwriter Ruth Thoma’s Die Frau in Blau (The Woman in Blue), produced by Heike Wiehle Timm (RELEVANT FILM for SWR), tells the story of the long-term consequences of guilt and shame and the paths to reconciliation. After a terrible accident resulting in death and serious injury, the perpetrator Denis (Jonas Nay) reluctantly contacts the victim (Joachim Król) for therapeutic reasons and becomes increasingly drawn into his world.

 

Katharina Wackernagel, Julia Becker and Sara Fazilat play three sisters with criminal energy and concentrated power in their fight for justice. Because behind their large-scale bank robbery is not money, but the search for evidence of their own right to an HIV vaccine. Gar kein Geld macht auch nicht glücklich directed by Jonas Grosch, was produced by Lydia-Maria Emrich and Bernd von Fehrn (Network Movie) for ZDF.

 

Olivia is a story about letting go and finding oneself again, about the right to be different: Till Endemann, based on a screenplay by David Ungureit and produced by Maren Knieling (Florida Film for ZDF), paints a deeply moving portrait of the drag artist Olivia Jones (Johannes Hegemann), who, with a big heart and despite all odds, has succeeded in establishing herself as a drag icon, entertainer and nightlife entrepreneur in Hamburg St. Pauli.

  

What if you can’t remember? According to the police report, 20-year-old Anton (Levy Rico Arcos) violently resisted arrest at the end of the coronavirus pandemic. He knows nothing about it. His mother (Petra Schmidt-Schaller) tries her best to help him clear his name. Polizei, directed by Buket Alakuș and based on a screenplay by Laila Stieler, is a thrilling social drama produced by Peter Hartwig (KINEO Film for NDR).

 

In the first part of the TATORT double episode Ein guter Tag, directed by Hans Steinbichler and produced by Katinka Seidt and Wiebke Andresen (Nordfilm for NDR), Thorsten Falke (Wotan Wilke Möhring) has to investigate in the Netherlands. He is assisted by cyber criminal investigator Mario Schmitt (Denis Moschitto) and Dutch police inspector Lynn de Baer (Gaite Jansen).

 

Berger (Ronald Zehrfeld) is a Michelin-starred chef and father to an adult daughter (Caroline Cousin). After a serious accident, he has to fight his way back into life. Director Catalina Molina stages Zutaten fürs Glück, produced by Ernst Ludwig Ganzert (eikon media), as a moving father-daughter story.

 

Competition Series

 

Things are also heating up in the third season of the ARD comedy series Almania. Stimpel (Phil Laude) has been nominated for ‘Teacher of the Year’ and, inspired by this award, wants to whip the school into shape. But he quickly reaches his limits. David Gruschka directs and also wrote the scripts together with Thomas Mielmann, Phil Laude and Melina Natale. The producers are Kirstin Wille, Ralph Schiller, Alexandra Bauermeister and Phil Laude (DCM Pictures in collaboration with DiggiTales for SWR).

 

The documentary series Herbertstraße – Geschichte einer Domina, produced by Nanni Erben, Gunnar Juncken and Henning Wagner (MadeFor Film for ZDF), is told from the perspective of Herbertstraße’s longest-serving dominatrix. The dramatic part depicts Manuela Freitag’s story from childhood to adulthood and is supplemented by interviews with her. In addition, companions and other voices from the milieu also have their say, broadening the view of Herbertstraße and prostitution in Germany. Archive footage provides a look back at the time. The role of Manuela at different ages is played by actresses Lilja van der Zwaag, Laeni Geiseler and Valentina Dörfler. The series is directed by Peter Dörfler, who also wrote the screenplay.

 

The docu-fiction series Nürnberg 45 focuses on two Auschwitz survivors during the Nuremberg Trials: the witness Seweryna Smaglewska (Katharina Stark) and the journalist Ernst Michel (Jonathan Berlin), whom Hermann Göring (Francis Fulton-Smith) wants to give a final interview to before his execution. Ernst struggles with whether he can face his parents’ murderer. The scenes in the docudrama, produced by Till Derenbach and Michael Souvignier (Zeitsprung Pictures for NDR) and directed by Carsten Gutschmidt, are supplemented by newly restored and colourised archive images and original interviews.

 

This summer is hot as hell: Black Sheep – The Series based on the film of the same name – presents a panopticon of bizarre characters from the capital, featuring Jella Haase, Jule Böwe, Yasin El Harrouk, Jobel Mokonzi and Martin Brambach, among others. The series, directed by Oliver Rihs, was produced by Jan Krüger and Roshanak Khodabakhsh (Port au Prince Film & Kultur Produktion).

 

The historical drama series Sternstunde der Mörder, based on a novel by Pavel Kohut and directed by Christopher Schier, features a star-studded cast including Jonas Nay, Nicholas Ofczarek, Jeanette Hain and Devid Striesow. It tells a profound parable about the mechanisms of violence, murder and hatred and their religious and nationalistic justification. The producers are Markus Kaatsch, Nina Poschinski and Michael Grudsky (Zeitgeist Filmproduktion in co-production with EPO-Film, ARD Degeto, NDR, ServusTV, Canal+ and HR).

 

The Constantin film adaptation of Smilla’s Sense of Snow, based on the bestseller by Peter Høeg, premiered in 1997. Now comes the series directed by BAFTA award winner Amma Asante, a near-future adaptation set in Copenhagen and Greenland in 2040. In addition to questions of identity and origin, the series focuses on social issues surrounding the energy crisis, surveillance, climate catastrophe and significant nationalisation at the political level. In this web of various power games, Smilla uses her extraordinary ability – deeply rooted within herself – as the key to finding the truth. Filippa Coster-Waldau and Elyas M’Barek play the leading roles in the six-part series produced by Alicia Remirez (Constantin Film) for Viaplay and ARD Degeto.

 

Directors Simon Ostermann and Elsa van Damke use humour and sensitivity to tell a romantic comedy set in the future, in which each character seeks and finds their place in this unusual space home. The galactic romantic comedy The Stardust Hotel was produced by Benedict Brandt and Wiebke Andresen (Letterbox Filmproduktion) for SWR.

 

Opening film and international series out of competition

 

Lars Jessen’s comedy Prange – Man ist ja Nachbar, based on a screenplay by Andreas Altenburg and produced by Maren Knieling (Florida Film for NDR), opens the TV section of FILMFEST HAMBURG and is running out of competition. Ralf Prange (Bjarne Mädel) is a loner who good-naturedly accepts parcels for everyone in his apartment building. His encounter with a pragmatic parcel delivery woman (Katharina Marie Schubert) throws him off track. The lovesick man comes up with all sorts of ideas to get closer to his Dörte. His neighbour Horst (Olli Dittrich) watches him suspiciously. A competition ensues.

 

Inspired by the real-life international research collective Bellingcat, the series The Kollective revolves around a group of committed young citizen journalists from all over Europe who, after the sudden death of one of their members, are drawn into a global web of lies and corruption. The series, which features German actors Felix Mayr and Moritz Bleibtreu, among others, was produced by the Dutch company Submarine, with screenplays by Leonardo Fasoli, Maddalena Ravagli and Edward Hemming. It is directed by Assaf Bernstein and Randa Chahoud.

 

The ‘Televisions’ section is presented by the German Television Lottery.

 

FILMFEST HAMBURG will take place from 25 September to 4 October 2025. More than 120 productions from around the world will be shown as world, European, German or Hamburg premieres. The festival cinemas are Abaton, CinemaxX Dammtor, Metropolis, Passage and Studio Kino. On 3 October, FILMFEST HAMBURG will celebrate the ‘Free Admission Day’. All festival films showing in the five festival cinemas on this day will be free of charge. The FILMFEST UMS ECK cinemas will also participate in the event with one free film screening each on 3 October 2025. The complete festival programme will be announced on 9 September 2025.