European Film Fund
The European Film Fund (EFF) was a non-profit organization founded by film agent Paul Kohner in 1938 with the aim of supporting European filmmakers who had emigrated to the United States in financial distress. The fund was financed by contributions from other European filmmakers in Hollywood. The fund was absorbed by the European Relief Fund in 1948 , as donations fell sharply after the end of the war.
history
The organization was founded on November 5, 1938 on the initiative of Paul Kohner. In addition to him, the founding members were William Dieterle , Bruno Frank , Felix Jackson and Ernst Lubitsch . The seat of the fund was the Kohners agency. Ernst Lubitsch was appointed president because he was the most famous European filmmaker in Hollywood at the time and the new fund needed a representative person at the top. Lubitsch held this position until his death in 1947.
founding
The basic idea behind the foundation was to coordinate and bundle the innumerable requests from filmmakers who were forced to emigrate in Europe or who had already emigrated to the United States to more or less successful emigrants in Hollywood in order to coordinate and bundle affidavits , money, jobs and other support. Since the situation worsened after the annexation of Austria , to which many German expellees had initially fled, Kohner was able to win over a number of European filmmakers in Hollywood to found this fund. All requests for help should now be submitted to the European Film Funds (EFF). Instead of individual support from filmmakers to other filmmakers, money should now be donated to the EFF, which in turn processed the numerous requests for assistance and provided assistance.
activity
The main task was the collection and distribution of funds. The fund reached out to successful European filmmakers in Hollywood in a variety of ways. The filmmakers were often asked to transfer one percent of their fee to the EFF - in the case of actors from the Kohner agency, this was already done by the agency. High-earning emigrants could often be obliged to transfer a larger amount each month. Michael Curtiz and William Wyler were some of the most avid donors from the start . Other sources of income were charity events and, on a regular basis, winnings from emigrants with a passion for gambling, for example from the popular “Gin Rummy”.
In addition to the willingness to help, an incentive for the donors was the tax deductibility of the donations, as the EFF was recognized by the tax office as a non-profit organization.
In its prime, the fund raised around $ 40,000 annually in the early 1940s. Since most of the work for the EFF was volunteer, the annual fixed costs were only a little over $ 1,000 and the rest was available for distribution.
The support was paid out partly as a loan and partly as a gift. In fact, only a small fraction of the loans were ever recoverable. In 1942/43 there were claims of around $ 40,000, on the other hand there were repayments of barely $ 2,000. The reason was that many European filmmakers after fleeing Europe found poorly paid or irregular work in Hollywood.
literature
- Martin Sauter: European Film Fund (EEF). Foundation and history , in: John M. Spalek , Konrad Feilchenfeldt , Sandra H. Hawrylchak (eds.): German-language exile literature since 1933. Volume 3. USA: Supplement 1 . Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2010 ISBN 978-3-11-024056-6 , pp. 449-480 (not yet used here)
- Helmut G. Asper: Something better than death ... - Filmexile in Hollywood. Schüren Verlag, Marburg 2002, pages 236–249.
- E. Bond Johnson: The European Film Fund and Hollywood Writers In Exile. In: #Spalek 1976 , pages 135-146.
- John M. Spalek (editor): German exile literature since 1933, Volume 1: California, part 1. Bern 1976.