The German-Nordic co-production initiative Nordic NEST is entering its second round. The aim of the programme is to bring together writers and producers from Germany and the Nordic countries at an early stage to develop projects jointly, thereby strengthening international film and TV series projects.
Following the initiative’s successful launch, eight German-Nordic development teams were formed during the very first edition. From these, three winning projects were selected at the Cannes Film Festival, each of which will receive script development funding of up to 60,000 euros. The projects will be presented to an international industry audience for the first time at the Hamburg Film Festival.
The programme is now continuing and expanding with its second edition. The official launch will take place as part of the Industry Days at Filmfest Hamburg, where 40 producers from Germany and the Nordic countries will gather for an initial networking event. The aim is to initiate new co-production partnerships and form suitable teams for further development.
In the next stage, a total of ten selected writers will meet at the Nordic NEST Space on the Baltic Sea coast of Schleswig-Holstein in January 2027. This will be followed by a joint visit to the Gothenburg Film Festival, where they will meet 20 producers and develop concrete project partnerships.
For every newly formed German-Nordic team, the MOIN Film Fund provides automatic treatment funding of up to 20,000 euros. Following the subsequent development of the material, three projects will be selected to receive additional screenplay funding of up to 60,000 euros each. The fully developed projects are to be presented once again at the Filmfest Hamburg in autumn 2027.
The application period for the second edition will begin in October 2026.
Through Nordic NEST, the participating funding bodies – including MOIN Filmförderung, the FFA and The Five Nordics initiative – are committed to strengthening the European co-production landscape in the long term and to the targeted development of marketable film and series projects.