The Film and Media Foundation NRW is funding 11 creative audio projects with a total of 70,000 euros

In its current funding round, the Film and Media Foundation NRW is supporting eleven audio projects with a total of 70,000 euros. Funding is being awarded to six scripts and five concepts across the genres of documentary, young-adult fantasy, near-future/YA drama, children’s radio plays and series, essayistic radio plays, and thrillers. The selection demonstrates the thematic and narrative breadth of the new audio funding program. Support is being provided for projects that open up new social perspectives, explore new narrative paths within the audio medium, and are increasingly conceived with a cross-media approach.

Walid Nakschbandi, Managing Director of the Film and Media Foundation NRW: “Audio is a highly dynamic field and has long been a fully-fledged, independent medium. The funded projects demonstrate just how diverse, relevant, and innovative audio storytelling is today—whether documentary, fictional, or aimed at young audiences. We support projects that open up new perspectives, take creative risks, and have the potential to evolve across different media. This not only strengthens the creative community in the state but also the media industry in NRW as a whole.”

One example of this trend is the Cologne-based company “Dully & Dax,” which combines literature, audio, and games with its children’s IP “Jeppe & Oswald.” The two founders have already developed a console game based on the book series, thereby capitalizing on growing cross-media markets in kids’ and family entertainment. Their audio drama series “Jeppe & Oswald – New Adventures from the Gnome World” is one of the projects now receiving funding and expands the narrative universe to include the two endearing gnome characters.

An overview of all funded projects

Documentary podcasts (4 projects)

Freiton (AT)
Dinah Rothenberg, Berlin – Concept, €5,000
This documentary podcast follows three people in detention via telephone, allowing them to share their stories and describe their daily lives. Listeners become part of a quiet, attentive long-term observation that focuses on the prisoners’ perspectives.

Gaddafi and the Puck
Jens Pfeifer, Bonn – Script, €7,500
This documentary podcast tells the curious story of the president of the ECD Iserlohn ice hockey club, who travels with his partner and an illustrious entourage from the Sauerland countryside to the Libyan desert to prevent his club’s financial collapse: A lifesaving deal with the revolutionary leader Gaddafi.

IMMERATH
Miku Sophie Kühmel & Angela Lehner, Berlin – Concept, €5,000
Over four episodes, the podcast tells the story of a village that was supposed to make way for open-pit lignite mining but managed to stay. A personal narrative about what “home” means when a place disappears yet lives on.

Forgotten GDR Children’s Books – An Emotional Journey Through Time
Tina Hammesfahr, Bergisch Gladbach – Concept, €5,000
A podcast about GDR children’s literature: As they search for clues, former GDR children not only discover a rich cultural heritage but also delve into the core of ideologically charged titles.

Radio Plays (5 Projects)

Eight Years
Gesa Luisa Bering, Hattingen – Manuscript, €7,500
A narrative-essay-style radio play about loneliness and species extinction: Eight years after the giant auk was officially declared extinct in 1844, a single, last specimen was sighted once more. Alone in the world, it knows that with its passing, the giant auk will vanish from the Earth. It can hold on a little longer—but why, exactly?

Better Me
Leonie Below & Helge Vogt, Potsdam – Script, €7,500
A coming-of-age/near-future radio play: Luna (17) is barely scraping by in high school and is letting her chatbot, Ava, make more and more decisions about her life in order to become the best version of herself. The positive changes soon take on horrendous proportions.

Instable
Julia Keller, Cologne – Screenplay, €7,500
A systemic thriller about a mother in a custody battle who is torn between personal conflicts and societal debates surrounding fathers’ rights. A two-part systemic thriller disguised as a gripping crime mystery, in which a mother fights for her child and finds herself caught between opposing forces both personally and professionally.

The Long-Eared Gang
Traudl Bünger, Cologne – Concept, €5,000
A children’s radio play about animal welfare, friendship, and a mystery—featuring a soundscape of real animal and nature sounds from an animal sanctuary. At Birkenhof, animals are allowed to live in a way that suits their nature. Ella and her friends are enjoying a wonderful vacation here until an injured chicken and a theft turn everything upside down.

Women Behind the Microphones: The Overlooked Pioneers of the 1930 Women’s Radio Conference
Katharina Mevissen, Hamburg – Concept, 5,000 €
A documentary radio play about the early female radio pioneers and their feminist programming. Nearly 100 years later, the radio play gives these women a chance to speak out once again.

Radio Drama Series (2 projects)

Jeppe & Oswald – New Adventures from the World of Elves
Eva-Maria Mesken & Sabine Dully, Cologne – Script, €7,500
A new children’s radio drama series set in the IP narrative universe of the “Jeppe & Oswald” read-aloud books. Jeppe the house gnome, Runkel the garden gnome, and Oswald the hamster embark on adventures with the forest gnomes from the neighboring Chestnut Forest. In addition to the audio drama series, a game is also being developed.

Whispering Trees
Benjamin Quabeck, Berlin – Manuscript, €7,500
A young adult fantasy audio series set in the Eifel region, about the impossible love between the teenagers Awen and Gŵydd, who—against all odds—find each other in the wilds of nature, recognize their connection, and never want to lose each other again.

Next Submission Round: 2026

The next submission deadline for audio funding is March 12, 2026. For more information on funding criteria, the submission process, and the individual funding modules, visit: www.filmstiftung.de/foerderung/audiofoerderung