Film funding

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Under Film Fund is meant to support film projects through financial grants, loans, consulting, public relations, film awards and the like. Film funding is usually borne by public institutions (e.g. ministries) or by business associations. Film funding can encompass all phases of the production of a film, from planning and scriptwriting to production and post-production to distribution, distribution and theatrical release. In any case, it is part of the film financing .

The aim of film funding is often - in addition to location policy or general support for domestic film productions - to support artistically or culturally valuable feature and television films and genres that are disadvantaged by the market, such as. B. of documentaries and short films. A special focus of film funding is often the support of up-and-coming artists and first films.

Types of film funding

public film funding in Europe (2000)
country state
in million euros 		plus regional
in million euros
France 408.96 415.33
Great Britain 106.45 165.61
Germany 47.29 146.30
Ireland 88.35 88.35
Spain 31.79 65.89
Luxembourg 39.21 39.21
Sweden 29.11 36.67
Denmark 30.62 32.40
Netherlands 23.95 25.77
Belgium 9.67 20.13
Portugal 17.32 17.32
Austria 7.69 16.78
Finland 10.78 12.29
Greece 9.24 9.24

State film funding

State film funding and film funding from regional funding institutions pursue the motive of supporting domestic filmmaking. In addition to cultural motives, the introduction of film subsidies in Europe since the 1950s was also motivated to counter the displacement of European films by US productions, which were made in large numbers, most of which already earned their costs in the USA, and then with little Additional costs could also be spread in Europe.

A number of government funding programs exist in Europe, Canada and Australia, while none exist in the United States.

In Germany and Austria, film funding funds are operated by the federal and state governments. At the federal level, the (German or Austrian) Film Funding Act regulates the allocation of funding. Film funding funds are often granted as conditionally repayable and interest-free loans. In both countries there is also a film / television agreement , under which television broadcasters participate in the promotion of feature films.

There are also several transnational funding programs in the European Union . Such as the MEDIA program and the European film funding fund EURIMAGES of the Council of Europe .

The film industry in one or more countries is to be strengthened in terms of its cultural significance and its economic strength through film funding funds (see subsidies ).

history

While non-European film productions only have to raise a small part of their production costs on the European market, European films are particularly dependent on these, not least because of the lower prevalence of European languages ​​in the customer countries - apart from English. Since European productions are often not designed for international export, the mostly state-run film funding institutions represent an essential source of funding. Films produced in-house, especially in Germany, are almost without exception dependent on funding. Purely commissioned productions are usually 100% financed by the television companies and shown as television films (TV movies) exclusively on television. Films co-financed by the television companies, so-called cinema co-productions, are first sent to selected cinemas for pre-evaluation via the distribution and distribution system before they can be broadcast on television after a certain blocking period has expired.

In the United States, film producers are usually not dependent on subsidies, as the US market is large enough to distribute even more expensive productions at a profit. This can usually be achieved with appropriate marketing. The distribution of the films in Europe, Asia and South America then serves to further increase the financial profit.

The first film funding laws in Europe were enacted in Italy, France and Great Britain in the 1950s. Switzerland followed in 1962 and the Swedish Film Institute, founded in 1963, took over film funding in Sweden. Film funding began in Germany in 1967, and it wasn't until 1981 that film funding began in Austria.

Criticism of film funding in Germany

Since the intention of film funding in Germany was initially a different one, keyword location funding, the question has arisen more and more recently: " Why does the German taxpayer have to give millions to a Hollywood corporation that may end up making hundreds of millions of dollars in profit with its film? ". One example is the film Grand Budapest Hotel , in which over a fifth of the production costs were paid by the German taxpayer.

The German Cancer Aid Foundation also sharply criticized state film funding in Germany in 2017 . The chairman of the board, Gerd Nettekoven , urged state and institutional film funding to stop promoting “films that are smoked”. Films with smoke scenes are an advertisement for the cigarette. The film Fack ju Göhte 2 was cited as an example, which was the most commercially successful German film in 2015 with around 7.6 million viewers. He was supported with 1.24 million euros by the German Film Fund. A year later, around 3.5 million cinema-goers saw the film Willkommen bei den Hartmanns , which was funded by the FilmFernsehFonds Bayern with 900,000 euros. Both films contained "a lot of smoking scenes". The German Cancer Aid did not consider the use of public funds for films or other projects that are contrary to the health protection of the citizens to be acceptable, was affirmed in the criticism. After all, smoking is still a high risk factor for numerous cancers.

Further criticism comes from Die Linke and relates to the unequal distribution of funding. " That is why a target for gender-equitable film funding should be introduced. The target is that half of the film funding goes to projects in which women are represented either in the production, directing or scripting. "

Film funding in Europe

European Union

Cross-border film funding is possible in the European Union. a. supported by the following institutions:

  • MEDIA
  • EURIMAGES , since 1988
  • Shooting Star , a prize awarded annually at the Berlinale to young European actors. The prize is largely financed and coordinated by the EU's MEDIA program, but above all by the cross-border network European Film Promotion (EFP).

Germany

The history of film funding began in Germany with the founding of the UFA (1917), which - provided with funds from industry and banks - was supposed to produce pro-German propaganda films. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), the state indirectly supported the financing of film projects by setting up a film credit bank .

After the end of the Second World War , many films were initially supported by federal guarantees. However, film funding in its current form did not develop until the 1950s, when television began to displace cinema. In 1967, a film funding law was passed for the first time . The first major funding institution was founded in 1968 with the Berlin-based Film Funding Agency.

In 1979 the federal states also began to set up funding institutions, often with the intention of supporting their own production sites. Film funding by the federal states now makes up the largest share of film funding in Germany. In total, more than 200 million euros in grants are distributed annually, and the trend is rising.

Critics accuse film funding in Germany of its institutional fragmentation, which makes it practically impossible to coordinate all measures that ultimately benefit the quality of the productions. A nationwide distribution of subsidies will also suppress the incentive to produce films that recoup their production costs.

In 2015, the German Film Funding Fund of the German Federal Film Board was reduced from 60 million euros to 50 million euros. To compensate, Minister of Economics Gabriel has announced that he will compensate the difference from the budget of the Ministry of Economics. Funding from the Ministry of Economic Affairs should increasingly be used for international co-productions and top-class series. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’s film funding instrument should be ready in autumn 2015.

Film funding in Germany a. a. supported by the following institutions:

Nationwide:

Regional:

Local:

  • Film Office Franconia (City of Nuremberg)
  • Friends of Film Culture Bonn

Austria

In Austria, a film funding law has existed since 1980 as the basis for the Austrian Film Funding Fund (ÖFF) established in 1981. In 1994 the fund was transferred to the Austrian Film Institute (ÖFI). In 2005, the public funding agencies made a total of 36.6 million euros available to promote Austrian filmmaking, of which 31.8 million were paid out; of which 10.5 million for cinema films and 13.9 million for television films - the rest for television series and other film productions. The largest funding agencies are the Austrian Film Institute, the Vienna Film Fund and the Austrian Television Fund . In addition, the EU's MEDIA program in 2005 distributed 1.75 million euros to promote material development and lending in Austria.

A distinction can be made between federal and state funding agencies. Funding from federal funds cannot be cumulated with one another, but funding from the film funding agencies of the various federal states can. In addition to full-length films, “difficult subjects”, short and experimental films are also financed in Austria by the art film funding based at the Federal Ministry of Art and Culture.

Switzerland

As in other European countries, Swiss filmmaking is heavily dependent on funding from third parties, especially the public sector. The federal government plays a key role in this: its financial aid of CHF 36.2 million per year (as of 2011) averages 30 to 40 percent of the production costs of Swiss films. The federal benefits are substantially supplemented by the SRG SSR idée suisse (“ Pacte de l'audiovisuel ”) and, at the regional level, in particular by the Zurich Film Foundation and the Regio Films fund from Western Switzerland .

See also

literature

  • Dirk Eggers, Film Financing Basics and Examples, S + W Verlag, Hamburg ISBN 3-89161-783-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Data on Austrian films. Austrian Film Institute , June 2002, archived from the original on January 14, 2005 ; Retrieved February 23, 2009 .
  2. ^ Film funding in Germany: "Hollywood" between Spree and Elbe
  3. ↑ scandal? Why Germany is so popular with US film productions , by Claudio Kammerfeld, Finanzmarktwert, May 2015 (accessed on Feb. 16, 2019)
  4. ↑ Hollywood in Görlitz , by Hendrik Ankerbrand, FAZ, Feb. 2013 (accessed Feb. 16, 2019)
  5. ↑ Film funding from the tax office: How German tax law subsidizes Hollywood , Michael Schmid-Ospach, head of the Filmstiftung NRW in conversation, Deutschlandfunk, Feb. 2003 (accessed Feb. 16, 2019)
  6. ↑ Interview Gerd Nettekoven from December 6, 2017 (accessed December 7, 2017).
  7. ↑ Film funding , Die Linke im Bundestag, parliamentary group papers, (accessed 25 Feb 2019)
  8. ↑ Gender equitable film funding , application, printed matter no. 19/7706, PDF
  9. ↑ Gabriel pushes the film industry Handelsblatt, (December 11, 2014), last accessed: April 11, 2015.
  10. ↑ Minister of Economic Affairs Gabriel calls for fair conditions for the distribution of rights between producers and broadcasters , Producer Alliance, (February 10, 2015), last accessed: April 11, 2015.
  11. ↑ Homelang: Die CIA am Fernsehturm Tagesspiegel, (April 11, 2015), last accessed: April 11, 2015.
  12. ^ Austrian Film Industry Report 2007 (PDF) , Austrian Film Institute, June 2007, p. 9 (page accessed on February 25, 2009).
  13. ↑ Message from the Swiss Federal Council on the promotion of culture in the years 2012–2015 ( draft hearing from August 2010 ( memento of the original from August 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and Archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. ), P. 40 ff. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bak.admin.ch