The First Hand Fund is an intiative from Hansjürgen Schmölzer from BSX Graz and Esther van Messel from First Hand Films.

First Hand Films GmbH was founded 1998 by Esther van Messel in Zurich and Berlin as an international sales and production company.
We also release fiction and documentary films in Swiss theatres and produce one-offs and series for digital, TV and cinema. The company is known for working with ambitious and accessible stories well told for audiences everywhere, and on all media.
Today, First Hand Films have been seen by hundreds of millions of people.

BSX-Schmölzer GmbH was founded in 1990 by Hansjürgen Schmölzer and develops and produces film, media, cultural and municipal projects.

We develop, supervised and produced a large number of international cultural projects as well as films and print media products. We aim to make a constructive contribution to an open, democratic, tolerant and integrated society through our films, publications and projects.
A society in which freedom of expression and information and respect for human rights and dignity are not put at risk. We want to contribute creatively and critically to that society.

Since 2021, Hansjürgen Schmölzer is a shareholder in First Hand Films.