NRW @Venice with Four Funded Productions

At the 83rd Venice International Film Festival (September 2–12, 2026), NRW will be represented by four funded productions.

In the Out of Competition section, “From Inside Out – The Architecture of Peter Zumthor” by Wim Wenders will be featured. The documentary is dedicated to Swiss architect Peter Zumthor and was filmed at numerous locations worldwide—including the Bruder Klaus Chapel in the Eifel region and the Kolumba Museum in Cologne. The film was produced by Road Movies in co-production with DCM and in collaboration with the Atelier Peter Zumthor. The German broadcast partners are WDR/Arte and SWR. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW provided 180,000 euros in funding for the project. HanWay Films handles worldwide distribution, and DCM is the German distributor.

Additionally, “OASE” by Jannis Lenz—a production funded by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW—has been invited to the Orizzonti competition. The feature film, which received 170,000 euros in funding, is a production by Zeitgeist Filmproduktion in co-production with Third Picture. Mindjazz Pictures is the distributor. Jannis Lenz’s feature film debut tells the story of three teenagers who, as outsiders, cannot find their place at school and create their own living space—with their own rules and values—in nature, far removed from society.

Alina Serban’s “I Matter” was also selected for the new Spotlight section. The German-Romanian-Belgian co-production by 2Pilots Filmproduktion, Microfilm (Romania), and Frakas (Belgium) tells the story of Rebeca, a nearly 18-year-old Roma girl who is set to be released from the orphanage shortly before her birthday and hopes to finally find a family once her father is released from prison. The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW supported the production with 80,000 euros.

Also represented in Venice is the XR project “The White Saboteur” by Cologne-based Actrio Studio (Barthélémy Antoine Loeff, Hugo Arcier), which received 40,000 euros in funding from the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW. It is being presented in the Venice Immersive / Biennale College Cinema section. Synopsis: In the UN Year of Glaciers, *The White Saboteur* focuses on the dwindling lifespan of a glacier. While visitors experience the landscape through a VR experience, viewers outside the virtual world follow its ongoing transformation on a screen. Both levels are interconnected and offer a powerful way to experience the consequences of climate change.