ndF establishes subsidiary in Halle (Saale)
ndF neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft ends 2025 full of positive energy.
At the Televisionale in Weimar, ndF managing directors Viola Fischer-Weiss and Matthias Walther presented their newly founded subsidiary East Gate Filmproduction GmbH, based in Halle (Saale). Producer Michael Luda took over the management of East Gate in the summer of this year and started work together with producer Theresa Bacza (formerly AKZENTE Film). Under the motto “We love local,” East Gate wants to produce programs for everyone with the flair and stories of central Germany. Fischer-Weiss and Walther agree that Michael Luda is the right man at the right time: “We have known Michael for a long time and have followed his career with great interest. His expertise in both fiction and animation is perfect for us. Not to mention that he is also a great fit for the ndF family on a personal level.”
Matthias Walther says of the new venture: “With East Gate, we want to contribute to sophisticated, socially relevant, emotional, and innovative storytelling from the East, and we believe that now is absolutely the right time for it.”
East Gate is already in promising talks with various broadcasters and will certainly be able to score points with its first concrete projects soon. The focus is on stories that address topics and perspectives from the filming regions, while at the same time strengthening people’s positive self-image and making audiences curious about the country and its people.
This is a focus that Michael Luda has firmly in mind, because “Central Germany is rich in moments when people have shown courage and new things have been created. Our goal is to produce high-quality film and series projects with a clear artistic signature – regionally rooted, nationally relevant, and internationally compatible.”
At a lively reception at the Hotel Elephant in Weimar, the ndF celebrated not only the founding of East Gate with representatives from broadcasters, associations, numerous authors, and directors, but also the great success of the ZDFneo series “Tschappel.” After nominations for the German Television Award and the DAfFNE, the “Tschappel” team can also look forward to a nomination for “best series” at the Televisionale.
The series, produced by ndF subsidiary LAX Entertainment in collaboration with Apollonia Film, will enter its second season in 2026. The production team led by Charlotte Groth (LAX Entertainment), Paul and Marius Beck (Apollonia Film), and ZDFneo editor Berit Teschner is already hard at work on the scripts for the second season, which will be filmed in the summer of 2026.