The Filmwerkstatt Düsseldorf is a platform for the production, presentation, and mediation of film and time-based media. In addition to exhibitions, concerts, film screenings, and seminar series, they organize workshops, masterclasses, talks, and lectures for a diverse group of creators and audiences. It was originally founded in 1976, emerged from the "Filmgruppe Düsseldorf" at the Kunstakademie and later integrated into the newly established Film Institute of the City of Düsseldorf. While it was originally situated in the premises of the old Fliedner School in the Kaiserswerth district, the Filmwerkstatt is now set central around the Birkenstraße, Düsseldorf and frequently opened.

Since 1992, it has been a registered non-profit association, a collective of filmmakers that has managed itself independently since the organizational transformation of the Film Institute into the Düsseldorf Film Museum.