12th
Queer Short
Film Fund
OPEN FOR PROJECTS!
Deadline
08.05.2026
OPEN FOR PROJECTS!
12th
Queer Short
Film Fund
Deadline
08.05.2026
Facilitate Queer Film Projects
The Queer Short Film Fund was set up to facilitate annual development and production of Queer Film Projects that originate from Germany. Submissions are accepted for documentary, narrative, animated or experimental projects that are queer in content and or form. Projects should ideally challenge and question normative perspectives and simultaneously broaden their vision to topics beyond traditional LGBTQIA+ representation of the mainstream niche market.
Five projects will be pre-selected as our semi-finalists for 2026. The filmmakers of these projects will pitch their film on Saturday, the 30th of May at 16:00 in a public session at Aquarium. The Lolly Award Jury will select one project which will receive the fund and be announced during the Lolly Awards Ceremony on Sunday evening.
The winner of the fund will receive: a cash prize of 1,500 €, donated by XPOSED, and a voucher for filming equipment worth 2,000 €, provided by 25p.
In addition, the fund is accompanied by a mentoring programme: An industry expert advises the winner in five sessions from script development to the production phase and post-production.
This year’s mentor is Paulina Lorenz, Producer (JÜNGLINGE FILM).
Benefits
Cash Prize
The fund is awarded a cash prize of 1.500 €, donated by XPOSED and a voucher for filming equipment worth 2,000 €, provided by 25p.
Voucher
The fund is awarded a cash prize of 1.500 €, donated by XPOSED and a voucher for filming equipment worth 2,000 €, provided by 25p.
Mentoring Program
In addition, the fund is accompanied by a mentoring programme: An industry expert advises the winner in five sessions from script development to the production phase and post-production. Our mentor this year will be Jakob M. Erwa.
How to apply
Eligibility
- The Applicant must be the copyright holder of the project.
- The Applicant must have made at least 1 short film as a director to be eligible.
- The Applicant must live in Germany and be able to shoot in Germany.
- Student projects are eligible, as long as they retain the rights of the film.
- Projects must be no longer than 10 minutes / 15 pages in duration.
- Projects can be in any film/video/other format.
Required Materials
- To submit your project, please email through your submission with the following required materials to filmfund@xposedfilmfestival.com.
- All the elements should be gathered and delivered in one .pdf file
a one pager – that should include, title, synopsis, project length, contact details and short biography of the director and key creatives.
a script – created in final draft format
a visual document
a detailed budget
a page of links – to directors and or key creatives past work.
all materials must be provided or translated into English.
Deadlines & Dates
- Submissions – Deadline May 9th, 2025
- Announcement of the Semi-finalists – May 26th, 2025
- Semi-finalists public pitch – May 31st, 2025
- Winner Announcement at Lolly Awards – June 1st, 2025
🏆Winner 2025
Matti Ullrich
He/They
The 11th Queer Short Film Fund was received by Seç Ka & Besire Paralik for the project YOU DON’T KNOW ME
Semifinalists 2025
Lamin Leroy Gibba
She/They
Simon(e) Jaikiriuma Paetau is a German-Colombian interdisciplinary artist whose work spans video art, installations, experimental cinema, and performance, with a focus on decolonial themes and queer cultures. In recent years, Simon(e) has focused on inventing myths and utopias inspired by rural and urban cultures in Latin America, challenging hegemonic discourses. In this way, they have created interdisciplinary works and collaborations with racialized artists and historically marginalized communities, especially Emberá & Wayúu, non-binary sexual dissident bodies (including themselves), and rebellious LatinX trans women.
Matti Ullrich
He/They
Ahmed Awadalla aka Madi is a writer, historian, and transdisciplinary artist. Their work centers marginality as a site of insight, resistance, and imagination. Moving across writing, performance, and visual storytelling, Awadalla draws on personal and collective memory, archival fragments, and embodied experience to explore how queerness and exile generate alternative ways of knowing and being. Alongside their artistic and research practice, they have worked extensively in community care, education, and training, particularly around issues of health, sexuality, and displacement. Their award-winning debut short documentary film, Queer Exile, has been showcased at esteemed film festivals worldwide.
Matti Ullrich
He/They
Grant Gulczynski is a filmmaker, whose work has screened internationally at festivals such as CPH:DOX, Molodist and the Singapore International Film Festival. Outside of filmmaking Grant was the Head of Festival for the Fringe! Queer Film & Arts Fest, and volunteers in the queer sexual health sector. Grant has been a recipient of the Leverhulme Trust’s Scholarship, as well as being selected for Berlin Talent Campus and MIDPOINT Intensive Queer among other development labs.
Najwa Ahmed
Seç Ka (they/them) Queer feminist activist, freelance journalist writes in different media platforms, sociologist, and social worker based in Berlin, creates content, produces videos and events motivated by queer and migration experience. They have produced a interview series for LGBTIQ+ news channel Lubunya Haber (the 10th anniversary of O-Platz, a serie about Jin Jiyan Azadi movement…). They were the second director and line producer of Berlin-based queer group Gazino Neukölln’s music video Koli Tutmaz. Their first short film debut No Matter What (2024) will be shown in 48 Stunden Neukölln Festival in June.
Misi Hoogvliets
Misi Hoogvliets is a 23-year-old performer, writer and filmmaker based in Berlin. A recent graduate of Bard College Berlin with a BA in Arts & Aesthetics, she was born and raised in the Netherlands and draws deeply from her Surinamese heritage, trans and queer identity.
Her work is grounded in care and extends into her role as community organizer in Berlin’s vibrant ballroom scene.
Previous
Recipients
- The 1st Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Doireann O’Malley for the project PROTOTYPES
- The 2nd Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Zara Zandieh for the project THE SEAS RUNS THROUGH MY VEINS
- The 3rd Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Pol Merchan for the project PIRATEBOYS
- The 4th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Popo Fan for the project BEER! BEER!
- The 5th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Tonina Matamalas for the project AMIGAS… MUY AMAIGAS
- The 6th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Sarnt Utamachote for the project SONIC REVERBS
- The 7th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: João Carvalho for the project WAIT YOUR TURN
- The 8th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Eric Bitencourt for the project UNCANNY HOME
- The 9th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Katrina Singleton for the project CABIN FEVER
- The 10th Queer Short Film Fund was received by: Wellington Almeida for the project MASCQUERADE
