Titel Kino 1/2002 - German Cinema

REGIONAL
FILM
FUNDING IN
GERMANY
German filmmakers are the envy of their colleagues around
Europe because of the plethora of film subsidy programs at
national and regional level.
In fact, in 2000, some Euro 190 million was at the public funds’
disposal to invest in all aspects of the film and television industry –
from the development of screenplays through production and
distribution to cinema modernization programs and the promotion
of German cinema and television abroad as well as running
location offices to promote their respective locations and local
infrastructures. The location offices offer a variety of information
on shooting in the area, including the organization of location
tours in the region.
In short, German cinema couldn’t survive without these film subsidy
programs which channeled some Euro 108 million of their
Euro 190 million total budget into production support. The essential
role played by the public funds becomes even more apparent
when one realizes that the production volume of the domestic
film production in Germany has been between Euro 179 million
and Euro 205 million - meaning that around two thirds of the
budgets for German feature films have come from the various film
subsidy programs.
Although this article will be focusing on the six major
economically-oriented regional funds – Filmboard Berlin
Brandenburg, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Film-
Förderung Hamburg, Filmstiftung NRW, MFG
Baden-Württemberg, and Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung
– one shouldn’t ignore the other players in this
complex funding landscape, whose support programs complement
and supplement those of the ”Big Six“ to provide financing
for domestic features and international co-productions.
The Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (Filmförderungsanstalt/FFA),
for example, is particularly popular
with producers since its production support is not tied to any
regional ”effect“. With an annual budget of around Euro 61
million, the FFA also awards retroactive ”reference“ funding
to producers whose films reach certain thresholds on their
theatrical release.
Moreover, State Minister of Culture Julian Nida-Rümelin,
whose ministry also finances the annual German Film Awards (with
Euro 2.8 million) and the German Short Film Awards (with Euro
150,000), has an additional Euro 3.6 million for backing culturally
innovative film projects and also makes a financial contribution to
the Council of Europe’s pan-European co-production fund
EURIMAGES, while the Kuratorium junger deutscher
Film, a public foundation funded by the states, places particular
emphasis on the backing of newcomer filmmakers and children’s
films.
In addition, first-time filmmakers, short films and more experimental
works are catered for by a network of regionally organized,
culturally-oriented film funds such as Filmbüro NW,
Filmbüro Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Kino &
Filmbüro Hessen.
Admittedly, Germany’s federal structure has both advantages and
disadvantages. On the one hand, a German filmmaker can travel
from Schleswig-Holstein in the far north of the country to Baden-
Württemberg in the deep south-west and stop off at all of the
various regional film funds in between to scrape his budget
together.
On the other hand, critics argue, the result can often be a hotchpotch
of compromises, a German road movie in the worst sense
of the word, the plot making sudden and unexplained relocations
just in order to meet a particular fund’s requirements.
Such aberrations, though, have become more of the exception
since the heads of the ”Big Six“ have taken various moves to
harmonize their guidelines and funding application forms as well
halting the spread of artificial road movies by coming to so-called
”bartering agreements“ in which the demand for proof of an
”economic effect“ in each region can be waived if there is
reciprocity between the funds.
The ”Big Six“ have also shown that cooperation makes sense
through their joint presence at the Berlin and Cannes Film
Festivals with FOCUS Germany providing a central meeting
point for foreign producers wanting to meet their German
6 Kino 1/2002