COLOGNE, Germany -- Germany's Parliament on Friday unanimously passed a new film subsidy law that aims to boost funding for local-language films as well as increase support for German distributors. The law, which goes into effect Jan. 1, is designed to boost annual funding from Germany's Federal Film Board, the FFA, from about €46 million ($54.2 million) to €64 million ($75.4 million). Subsidies will go up across the board, but the emphasis of the new law will be on supporting commercially successful films and ones that achieve critical acclaim outside Germany's borders. To help more German films reach an audience, subsidies to support distributors in the marketing and promotion of German films will double to €14.5 million ($17.1 million). In addition, German movies that receive awards at internationally recognized film festivals will be rewarded at home with automatic subsidies. The new law comes at a time when German films are enjoying something of a renaissance internationally. Such local-language films as Michael Schorr's "Schultze Gets the Blues", Margarethe von Trotta's "Rosenstrasse" and Wolfgang Becker's "Good Bye, Lenin!" have followed up critical success with multiterritory sales, including U.S. domestic deals with Paramount Classics ("Schultze"), Sony Pictures Classics ("Lenin!") and Samuel Goldwyn Films ("Rosenstrasse").
- 11/14/2003
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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