02/11/2011

The German Federal Film Board FFA (which regulates German cinema) has allocated €3,235,000 in backing to 11 new projects, that is €2,830,000 in production funding, €350,000 in advance funding for distribution and €55,000 in development funding for two screenplays.

The most generously funded project is The Guardian, the latest film by highly popular German actor-director Til Schweiger. This thriller produced by his company Barefoot Films has received €600,000 plus €150,000 for its distribution (through Warner Bros). Schweiger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Maurice, plays a hitman in the film.

Cologne-based outfit Tradewind Pictures has obtained €400,000 for Ali Samadi Ahadi’s Pettersson & Findus: Kleiner Quälgeist – Grosse Freundschaft, based on the famous children’s books by Swedish author Sven Nordqvist. Meanwhile, Constantin Filmproduktion is pinning its hopes on an internationally-famed hero with Reinhard Klooss’s Tarzan 3D, for which it has received €300,000.

For its part, SyrrealEntertainment is plunging back into the 1960s and the story of Germany’s first female bank robber with Christian Alvart’s Banklady (€350,000), while 2Pilots Filmproduction is producing Julia von Heinz’s Love Is Real (€250,000 in production funding; €50,000 in distribution funding).

Looks Filmproduktionen has received €200,000 for French director Arnaud des Pallières’s co-production Michael Kohlhaas, featuring Danish star Mads Mikkelsen (see news). The film’s distributor will be backed to the tune of €50,000.

Other beneficiaries of financial support from the FFA include Markus Dietrich’s project Sputnik (produced by Hamster Film, €200,000); David Dietl’s debut feature König von Deutschland, which earned €180,000 for Berlin-based production company Frisbeefilms and €50,000 for distributor Zorro Film; and Haifaa Al Mansour’s Wajda, for which Razor Film Produktion has obtained €160,000 (and the first filming permit ever granted to a foreign company by Saudi Arabia) and distributor Koch Media Licensing €50,000.

(Translated from French)