At the meat of the industry: Lunch at the Film-Television-Fonds Bayern – Munich

So, is this what a general debate looks like? While the chancellor and opposition leaders argue about the country’s future in Berlin on the last day of January, there is a lively debate in Munich about the coming film and media year. The setting is the “Schmock” restaurant in the Volkstheater, whose boss Christian Stückl stops by briefly – and then disappears again. The crowd at the annual press lunch is probably too big for him Bavarian Film-Television Fund (FFF), too many topics are being discussed here: it’s about films, series, games or extended reality, about streaming and location politics, about equality and green culture. In short: it’s all about everything, it simply doesn’t get any smaller in this industry.

The date for this lunch shortly after the Munich Film Week and before the Berlinale, which starts in February, is well chosen: this early in the year, some people can still talk about their past successes and others can talk about their future ones. Some guests brought money with them, but most are hoping for financial injections. You’ve come to the right place, after all the FFF Bayern approved 42.3 million euros in funding last year. FFF boss Dorothee Erpenstein announced this between the starter and main course, and the producers and directors, screenwriters and game developers, actresses and journalists present applauded. Sitting between all these media people is the Viennese pub poet Voodoo Jürgens, who you actually want to hear sing, but who has wisely forgotten his guitar.

But Erpenstein has even more success stories to announce, about the films with the highest audience numbers of the previous year (“The Three ???” and “Rehragout-Rendezvous”), about repaid funding (from “Checker Tobi” or “The Magic Flute”) or about the election of the Munich actress Katharina Stark as the “European Shooting Star” of the Berlinale. Then the boss gives the microphone to a man in a traditional jacket: “I’m the new one,” he says. Florian Herrmann isn’t all that new; we’ve known him as head of the State Chancellery for a few years. He has also been the Bavarian media minister for a few months now – and is therefore responsible for all the projects of the media people present.

In this respect, even the man without a guitar cannot ignore him: Voodoo Jürgens’ “Rickerl” is an Austrian-Bavarian co-production that was supported, among other things, with FFF money. The film premiered the evening before in a sold-out city cinema. The musician from Vienna could be seen not only on the screen but also in front of it. The cinema concert that followed was great, say people who were there. Many people also think he’s great at the FFF lunch, even though he doesn’t sing at all. Instead he talks about Beisln, which are called Boazn in Munich, and about words that are only understood in certain districts of Vienna.

Open detailed view

Constantin Film, or at least its headquarters, only exists in Munich. Oliver Berben will soon take over as CEO from Martin Moszkowicz. When asked about his new job, Berben reacts rather tight-lipped: “We’re here today because of the films.” And so that people can talk about these films, Berben brought their main actors with him. “I’m not a danger,” reveals Max von der Groeben about his role in the “Fack ju Göhte” spin-off “Chantal in Fairytale Land”. “I am not Hagen, but Siegfried,” explains Jannis Niewöhner about his role in the fantasy epic “Hagen,” a new interpretation of the Nibelungenlied.

So this isn’t a general debate, more of a dress rehearsal. The film year is still young, and in the coming weeks and months it will become clear whether all the great films and projects are really as fantastic as their makers claim. But that’s part of it – and it simply doesn’t get any smaller in this industry.