Written by David Lewis on Sep 18, 2009. Posted in Incentive News

DFF goes from strength to strength

The German Federal Film Fund (DFFF) was launched at the start of January 2007 and was a tremendous New Year’s present for the German film industry. When it’s generous (16 to 20%) cash subsidies were viewed in combination with a sophisticated national industry and infrastructure, numerous co-production treaties, and an additional USD300 million annually from a ton of regional subsidy boards (like Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg and Filmstiftung NRW) producers started listening. Germany rapidly became the place to shoot your blockbuster, art-house masterpiece or domestic comedy- and get your money back. Since then the DFFF has pumped up to USD100 million each year, supporting a mix of German domestic filmmaking, and large scale Hollywood co-productions.

Less than three years later studios are still booked to capacity, as large-scale producers cash in to contribute to a genuinely astounding production roster, which so far includes Valkyrie, Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, The International, The Reader, The Baader Meinhof Complex, The Last Station and Inglourious Basterds. One of the main studios to profit from this stream of work is Studio Babelsburg in Berlin, which was quick off the blocks to create an alliance with Joel Silver’s Dark Castle Films. Eike Wolfe, Head of Corporate Communications at Babelburg, explains:

“We have reclaimed our status as one of the most popular addresses for production in the world! The fund is effective, reliable and not at all bureaucratic. We’re finding that it has offered so many new possibilities for international film projects. Co-productions are happening all the time with France, Great Britain, Belgium, and of course Hollywood, as people realize what we can offer.”

Babelsburg is thanking its lucky stars that the DFFF launched, as their revenue shot up from USD23 million before the fund, to USD140 million per year after it. 2009 is clearly going to be a banner year for Babelsburg, and other studios like Media City Aldershof, and CCC Studios, both also in Berlin. But the 1300 other production and production services companies in Germany have also benefitted to the tune of an estimated USD590 million in total production spending since the fund launched.

However, it’s not just big Hollywood features that have benefitted. Last month it was announced that the first half of 2009’s ticket sales are up by 13.4% across the country, due in no small part to the success of smaller, homegrown German films. Leander Haussmann's upcoming comedy caper for the German market Dinosaurier, produced by Constantin Film, scored some funding. Executive Producer Martin Moszkowicz explains:

"Receiving DFFF funding was vital for shooting this picture in Germany. Pre-DFFF, we shot approximately 80% of our pictures outside of Germany -- today we shoot 80% in Germany."

As Germany is now routinely poaching productions that were bound for Poland, Romania and the rest of Eastern Europe, for now at least, it looks like German filmmaking will continue to break boundaries, particularly as the government have just announced an extension of the DFFF’s budgets for subsidies, at the same levels, for another three years until 2012.

The next round of global releases include Polanski’s The Ghost, starring Ewen McGregor and Peirce Brosnan, and James McTeigue’s Ninja Assassin, as well as Liebe Mauer, Peter Timm’s romantic comedy set at the fall of the Berlin Wall, which has just been awarded USD1million by the DFFF.