The fact that Minister of State for Culture Claudia Roth (Greens) has still not presented a clear concept for a reform of film funding in Germany is met with criticism in Bavaria. “The time for exams is over,” says Judith Gerlach (CSU), who as Digital Minister in Bavaria is also responsible for film, television and streaming. “In order for the German film industry to remain competitive on the international market in the future, we need clear commitments, especially for the production industry. That’s why it would be important if the federal government finally made bold progress.”
Roth, who has her constituency in Augsburg and is therefore particularly in the focus of Bavaria’s cultural workers, only presented a list of points with goals this Thursday at the start of the Berlinale, but formulated few concrete measures in it.
In a guest post in the Süddeutsche Zeitung Roth wrote, “The funding instruments at federal and state level should be more closely interlinked. To this end, I am striving for an agreement between the federal and state governments on common principles of film funding. We can go ahead here by introducing a minimum funding quota for federal funding, the film projects a first , relevant financing base possible.” On the part of the federal states, “a pooling of resources is also conceivable”.
Judith Gerlach, on the other hand, specifically demands that fixed shares flow to smaller and independent producers in the “investment obligation for streaming service providers in German productions” promised by the federal government. In the case of a tax incentive model, special attention must be paid to clear and SME-friendly regulations.
However, the funding of film festivals has emerged as a point of contention. And in this matter, Gerlach even gets support from Claudia Roth’s party friend Katrin habenschaden, the mayor of the Greens in Munich.
In a joint letter to Roth, Gerlach and Haben Schaden not only ask for better financial resources for the Berlinale (the grant from the federal government was increased by 2.2 million to around 10.7 million euros), but also for the Munich to engage in a film festival.
“As you know, the Free State of Bavaria and the state capital finance the Munich Film Festival as joint shareholders. Despite great financial efforts, we can currently only provide the film festival with a third of the amount that the BKM supports the Berlinale from state and municipal funds.” , the letter says. So far, the Munich Film Festival has not received any federal funding.
With additional federal funds, however, the film festival could “gain in importance as an international platform for German film, which would ultimately represent a major contribution to Germany as a film location,” write Gerlach and habenschaden (the letter is in the Süddeutsche Zeitung before).
Gerlach alone becomes even clearer. She accuses Roth of “one-sidedness” in film festival funding. Anyone who wants to support the diversity of our film industry must also promote the diversity of the German film festivals. “There are over 400 film festivals in Germany, some of which are great,” says Gerlach. “It is hard to understand that Bavaria, as an important film location, is treated carelessly here.”