10/10/2012 - The first German/Dutch Producers Meeting aims to lauch a co-production treaty between the two countries

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship," said Peter Dinges (photo), CEO of the German Federal Film Board FFA after the first German/Dutch producers meeting, 'The New Generation', at the Holland Film Meeting in Utrecht, which was organized in close co-operation with the Netherlands Film Fund.

The goal of the new initiative is to launch a German/Dutch co-production treaty. "In the Netherlands, we have a co-production tradition. There are often partners from three or four different countries involved in a production," said Doreen Boonekamp (photo), CEO of the Netherlands Film Fund. "We would like to expand our network and make sure that the films also find distribution in the partner countries."

Due to the crisis the pressure for producers keeps growing so they have more need for co-productions. "There is a lot of work to do," underlined Dinges. "We don‘t know so much about our direct neighbours. That is what this is all about." The New Generation meeting will continue in Germany next year. The next step will be to bring together the film schools of both countries and to build up some programmes. "We should be inspired by the producers rather than by the politicians."

In the Netherlands, producers can only apply for film funding money if they already have a track record as a producer of at least two films. Young und upcoming producers need to get an experienced producer on board in order to get development support for a project. At the first German/Dutch Producers Meeting, aspiring producers had the opportunity to meet and greet, to talk about projects and to explore the co-production potential. "We locked them up in a room and hoped for a productive outcome," said Ellis Driessen, co-ordinator of the meeting.

In total, the six German and six Dutch participating production companies talked about ten concrete projects with a co-production potential. The producers Jonas Katzenstein and Maximilian Leo from the Cologne-based augenschein Filmproduktion are looking for a Dutch co-producer for their project Father, in which life in 1990s in Kosovo is experienced through the eyes of a 10-year-old. The perspective of war from inside a tank in Lebanon [+see also:
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Berlin-based producer Fabian Massah has already partnered with his Endorphine Production in several Dutch co-productions, such as the upcoming Land and the internationally acclaimed drama Men on the Bridge [+see also:
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film profile] that was produced in co-operation between Germany, Turkey and the Netherlands. The team of Jonas and Jakob Weydemann from the Cologne company Weydemann Bros. were also selected to pitch their new film project Europe's Borderland by Jakob Preuss to a group of film professionals and potential film financiers at the Netherlands Production Platform (NPP) in Utrecht.

During this co-production market, 20 European film projects from 14 different countries were presented to industry representatives. An expert jury with members from Cineco, Binger and Filmmore gave out three awards. Europe's Borderland received the Filmmore Innovation Cinema Prize, which includes a cash award of €5,000. Additional winners were the Dutch director Jos de Putter and producer Wink de Putter, who received the Cineco Digital Post Production Award for their feature documentary Knuckle's Last Tape, about the relationship between chimpanzees and human beings. The Binger Award for the development of a Dutch film plan was awared to the humorous road movie Kessels by Erik de Bruijn and producer Sander Verdonk from CTM LEV Picture in Hilversum.