Open to film students
& fresh graduates
From all over the world
FOR
6 PROMISING
YOUNG
FILMMAKERS
A mentoring & residential Lab
MunichFilmUp! was founded to create an inspiring space for creativity and ideas, to enable young filmmakers to find their own personal way to evolve their stories into finished screenplays.
Our objective is to turn six film visions/ideas into an equal number of feature-length debut films.
Apply before 1ST September 2025
THE
PARTICIPANTS 2024/25

MunichFilmUp! 2024/25 participants
THE
PARTICIPANTS 24/25

Aizada Amangeldy
Aizada is a dramaturgist, producer, director, and queer feminist activist from Kyrgyzstan. She holds a master’s degree in Dramaturgy and completed an advanced apprenticeship in Dramaturgy at VGIK in Moscow, where she had the honor of being the last student of Cannes award-winning screenwriter Yuri Arabov. Throughout her career, Aizada has worked on several acclaimed TV series and documentaries, which were broadcast on the country’s main television channel. She is currently developing a screenplay trilogy based on her life experiences, exploring themes of love and Islam, titled 18th Birthday, Husband, and Wife.
18th Birthday
In a Muslim girls’ high school, popular student Daria learns a shocking secret about Alima, a quiet girl from a parallel class, who was born with both male and female reproductive organs. Determined to uncover the truth, Daria begins to manipulate Alima’s emotions to get closer to her.

Maximilian Bungarten
Maximilian Bungarten (b. 1993 in Mechernich NRW, Germany) studied production, media economics and documentary film directing at the University of Television and Film Munich. In 2019, he attended Université Paris VIII as a DAAD scholar. He co-founded Benedetta Films with Felix Herrmann and Camille Tricaud. Their documentary Eleven Tomorrows premiered at the 2024 Berlin Film Festival. His short film The Age of Innocence was nominated for Best Queer Short at Clermont-Ferrand 2023.
Bumper Cars
Summer in the suburbs: teenager Casper drifts aimlessly, experiments with drugs, gets involved with Jessica and meets unknown men at a highway rest stop. But an encounter on a bumper car ride forces him to get to the core of the origin of his restlessness.

Chheangkea
Chheangkea is a Phnom Penh-born filmmaker, currently based in Brooklyn, NY. He obtained his Bachelor’s degree in architecture from MIT and his MFA in filmmaking at the NYU Tisch Graduate Film Program, focusing on writing-directing and cinematography. Through his films, Chheangkea seeks to showcase the complexities and colors of queer and Cambodian stories.
Little Phnom Penh
Spanning two ever-changing decades, from post-Khmer Rouge Phnom Penh to early 2000s California, a Cambodian woman grapples with her identity, family, and love amidst profound cultural and historical upheavals.

Cristina Iliescu
Nothing Sadder than a Limo
An assistant director, two contestants, 26 surveillance cameras, and 18 working hours a day add up to one Romanian reality show filmed on an island in Southern Asia.

Jakub Jirásek
Jakub Jirásek is a writer, director and musician. Born in Prague in 1993, raised in Switzerland, currently based in Prague. He got a Master degree in Film directing at FAMU in Prague, spent one semester of Erasmus at Sorbonne Nouvelle – Paris 3. His fiction short Don’t Be a Pussy was premiered at Premiers Plans d’Angers, won a few prizes at festivals including YDA 2020 and was shortlisted for BAFTA Student Award in 2020.
The Delivery
A couple’s “cool parent” plan to supervise their teenage daughter’s first time trying marijuana spirals into chaos when the food delivery guy turns out to be her classmate, turning their afternoon into a cringe-fest of privilege, parenting fails, and secondhand embarrassment.

Hanna Stock
Hanna, born in 1995 in Bad Aibling, began her career with internships at production companies before starting vocational training in media design at Bavaria Film in 2015. There, she worked across various departments of fictional film production and directed her own short films. Since 2018, she has been studying screenwriting at the University of Television and Film Munich (HFF), while also working as a camera assistant. In addition to her writing, Hanna has gained experience in the documentary field, having directed short documentaries.
Delulu
In a small Bavarian village, 15-year-old Ina’s desperate need for affection leads her to mistake her best friend’s brother’s exploitation for love, blurring the lines of consent and triggering a series of events that devastate her friendships and unravel her grasp on reality.
The
SCHEDULE
The 6 promising young filmmakers are offered a 8-month journey that starts in Munich at the Film School Fest Munich and ends at the Cannes film festival in France with individual 3-week-long Pop Up Film Residencies in between.
15TH JULY - 1ST SEPTEMBER, 2024
Applications are open
1ST SEPTEMBER - 1ST OCTOBER, 2024
Time for the selection committee
1ST AND 2ND OCTOBER, 2024
Online interviews with finalist submissions & final selection
19TH - 24TH NOVEMBER, 2024
Kick-Off & First get-together at Filmschoolfest Munich 2024
DECEMBER 2024
Participants work together on their projects (online).
JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2025
Each participant travels to the individual residency for a three-week stay –
operated by the Pop Up Film Residency. The goal of the residency is discussed individually. The development work is structured and focused accordingly.
MARCH - APRIL 2025
Extra mentoring online by film & media representatives.
18th - 22nd of MAY 2025
Cannes
All six participants travel to Cannes for the award ceremony of the Kirch Foundation Award and to present their projects in one-to-one meetings to professionals from the international film industry.
APPLICATION
PACKAGE
APPLICATION FORM
TREATMENT
for feature film.
LOOK & FEEL
your project.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SHORT FILM
INTRODUCTION VIDEO
declaration of consent
Q&A – MUNICH FILM UP! IN
10 QUESTIONS
#1. Am I required to develop my film project in English?
#2. Can I submit more than one project per lab?
#3. Can I submit a short/mid-length project?
Each filmmaker may submit a feature-length project.
#4. Can I apply with an adaptation or documentary project?
Yes for both. We accept feature film projects only, but are open to hybrid formats.
However for an adaptation, you should be able to demonstrate proof of securing the adaptation rights for your project .
#5. What if the project has two screenwriters ? Can a second writer or producer take part?
Munich Film Up! will cover the expenses of the main writer/filmmaker (as detailed in the participant obligations).
A second writer/filmmaker may join the sessions at their own expense and share the same room assigned to the main writer/filmmaker.
#6. What is the attendance fee for the Lab?
The expenses for travel to Munich and local accommodation for both FILMSCHOOLFEST and CANNES FILM FESTIVAL, for the mentoring and networking sessions, as well as for the PopUp residencies are covered by the Lab program.
#7. If I am accepted, how and when will I be notified?
Online interviews will take place in the first week of October. Notification of acceptance will be sent out in mid October.
#9. Do I need to submit a copy of my graduation with my application?
Yes, we need to check the date of your graduation from film school. Candidates are eligible for up to three years after graduation.
#8. Can I apply with a project that has been submitted or supported elsewhere?
Yes.
#10. What video codec should I use for my application video?
We do not download video files. Please upload it online and send us the link.
READY TO
SUBMIT MY PROJECT
WANT TO
CONTACT US?
If you have any questions about your application, you can send us an email
at International@hff-muc.de.
Our teams will answer you as soon as possible!
TEAM
DIRECTORS
Diesbach
Co-director
Elena Diesbach heads the International Office of the HFF Munich, where she plans and implements international study and exchange programs together with professors of the university and (inter)national film industry experts, and advises and supports HFF students in their international activities. In 2018, she founded the HFF Summer School, which since then has stood for a high-quality, English-language advanced and continuing education program at the HFF Munich. The Young Talent Mentoring and Residency Program MunichFilmUp!, which she founded in 2021 and has since been leading together with her French colleague Matthieu Darras, supports the development of debuts of six outstanding international alumni*ae of a film school ( of which at least one*is from HFF Munich ) in a hybrid 9-month program, financially supported by the Kirch Foundation. Elena Diesbach was previously an editor at Primavista Film and Television Production and Acquisitions & Sales Manager at Helkon Media AG. She was Program Director of the Greek Film Week Munich and Co-Director of Hellas Filmbox Berlin, as well as working for major German film festivals in various positions. From 2005 to 2017 she was a lecturer and artistic-scientific assistant in the Department V Production & Media Business at HFF Munich, focusing on film and media festivals and markets, distribution & sales, and international co-productions. In 2023 Elena Diesbach founded the film production company ALAMODE FILMPRODUKTION GmbH together with Fabien Arséguel and Tobias Lehmann.


Darras
Co-director
Previously, he founded & directed the European Network NISI MASA, and later on co-founded and was the artistic director of the TorinoFilmLab. A writer for the film magazine Positif, Matthieu Darras has been working as festival programmer, notably for the Cannes Critics’ Week and the San Sebastian Film Festival (since 2010). He co-founded First Cut Lab in 2015 and serves as Director.
TEAM
HOSTS
All of them are to discover on its website. Let’s go!