How it all started:
a film world on the rise
After the Second World War in 1946, Erich Pommer, then the highest film officer in the American sector, grants director Harald Braun, screenwriter Jacob Geis and lawyer Wolf Schwarz the licence to produce films as the first German company.
The ndF: neue deutsche Filmgesellschaft is founded and entered in the commercial register on 13 August 1947.
In the same year, "Zwischen Gestern und Morgen", the first film directed by founder Harald Braun and starring Hildegard Knef and Viktor de Kowa, is produced. ndF: quickly becomes one of the most successful film producers in Germany. Two films by Harald Braun are shown as German entries at the Cannes Film Festival: "Herz der Welt" and "Solange du da bist" with Maria Schell, O.W. Fischer and Hardy Krüger. The biggest film stars of the time appear in front of the camera for ndF: including Romy Schneider for "The Last Man" (1955), "Fireworks" (1954) and "Robinson Shall Not Die" (1956), together with Horst Buchholz.
A new era of entertainment begins
At the end of the 1950s, television also found its way to viewers and thus into many living rooms. ndF: recognises the signs of the times and brings the expertise it has gained over 15 years to the new medium. In 1963, "Das Unbrauchbare an Anna Winters" is the first ndF: television play to be shown - just eight weeks after the official start of broadcasting by ZDF.
ndF: writes TV history and produces the most popular family series on the market: in 1985, for example, it produced the series "Das Erbe der Guldenburgs" - the German answer to "Dallas" and "Der Denver-Clan".
In the same year, the ZDF series "Forsthaus Falkenau" became a ratings hit in domestic living rooms and was broadcast for over 24 years.
The series "All My Daughters", "Friends for Life", "Adelheid and Her Murderers" and "For Heaven's Sake" are also particularly popular, all of which achieved top ratings.
In 1967, "Aktenzeichen XY" was broadcast on ZDF for the first time - the mother of all true crime shows. To this day, with over 580 episodes, it is one of ZDF's most popular primetime programmes. In addition, the format is still an important tool for the German investigating authorities with a clear-up rate of a good 40% of cases. The ndF mountain series "Der Bergdoktor" and "Die Bergretter" have a special cult status and a huge fan community. The award-winning production "Der Bergdoktor" (on ZDF since 2008) is one of the most-watched family entertainment series on German television and ZDF's primetime winner with a market share of 21 per cent and regularly over 7 million viewers. And the "Bergretter", with a market share of 20 per cent, has also been inspiring the younger target group in particular since 2009, both on ZDF and on various streaming platforms. Thousands of fans flock to the "Bergdoktor" and "Bergretter" fan days every year to experience their stars up close.
For some years now, "Der Alte" has also been a ratings hit from the ndF: group. The series has been part of German television history for a good 50 years and knows how to reinvent itself time and again. With "Morden im Norden", another crime series from ndF: has been established since 2012, which impresses with its strong viewer numbers and the highest ARD market share of 16.8 per cent in the early evening.
The magical world of WunderWerk:
animated films for young and old
ndF's children's and family entertainment productions are also very popular: the animated series "Briefe von Felix" (2002, 2005), for example, gives KiKA an average market share of 25 per cent in the 3 - 13 age group. And the animated films "Prinzessin Lillifee" (2009, 2011), "Yakari" (2020) and "Die Olchis - Willkommen in Schmuddelfing" (2021, nominated for the Grimme Award 2024) are also taking the hearts of young and old cinema-goers by storm.
Beyond borders:
Successes in international co-production
Since 2020, ndF has been producing the crime series "Dan Sommerdahl" (ZDF, TV2), which is equally popular in Germany and Denmark, in addition to other international co-productions with the Danish production company Sequoia Global Alliance.
In 2023, ndF: is responsible for the film adaptation of the global bestseller "The Swarm" by Frank Schätzing, which until then was considered unfilmable. Together with Intaglio Film and ZDF, a large number of international partners such as France TV, RAI Italy, Hulu Japan and Viaplay were attracted to the project, creating a global buzz. With a budget of 44 million euros and more than 18 million viewers on ZDF after just 2 weeks and 30 million viewers to date, "The Swarm" is one of the most ambitious international co-productions and the most streamed series on the ZDF media library.
Behin the scenes:
Our company structure
Entrepreneurial thinking, independence and a passion for great stories are firmly anchored in ndF's DNA. Founded by three ambitious film-makers after the Second World War, it has since become part of Taurus Film and thus of the Kirch Group. But in April 2003, the two managing directors at the time, Claudia Sihler-Rosei and Hansjörg Füting, together with author Michael Baier, the family of company founder Schwarz and other investors, took over the shares in Taurus Film via a management buyout. Since then, ndF is once again the largest independent producer of fictional programmes in Germany. The current management is in the hands of Viola Fischer-Weiss and Matthias Walther.