MOIN Filmförderung is further expanding its project development division and has brought an experienced industry manager on board to lead it: Sonja Heinen will take up the newly created role of Development Executive for the NEST funding programme on 1 September.

Heinen most recently spent ten years as Managing Director of European Film Promotion (EFP), where she was responsible for the strategic and operational management of the European network for the international distribution of films. In this role, she worked closely with producers, directors, distributors, international sales agents, festivals and funding bodies, and coordinated collaboration between the European member organisations.

Prior to this, she headed the Berlinale Co-Production Market from 2003 to 2015 and was co-director of the World Cinema Fund. She began her career with roles at the Filmstiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen and at Cologne Gemini Film / International West Pictures. In total, Heinen brings more than 25 years’ experience in film funding, festival work and international co-production.

In her new role at MOIN Filmförderung, Heinen is to further develop the NEST programme and support funded projects at an early stage of their creative and structural development. This includes allocating tailored funding instruments (NEST Tools), expanding the NEST Community and strengthening the projects’ links with the international market. The aim is to develop storylines and ideas at an early stage so that they have a better chance of being exploited in cinemas, on TV and on streaming platforms.

„I am delighted to be joining the MOIN team and to help shape NEST as an innovative support programme,“ says Heinen. She finds the opportunity to support projects at an early stage particularly appealing, as well as the chance to work with authors, creators and producers to identify what they need for their further development.

MOIN’s Managing Director, Helge Albers, also emphasises the importance of this appointment. With her many years of international experience, Heinen is a real asset to the Hamburg/Schleswig-Holstein region. In NEST’s development division in particular, the aim is to connect projects with the right partners at an early stage in order to realise their full potential.

With this appointment, MOIN Filmförderung is strengthening its focus on early-stage project development and securing international distribution for promising projects.