Some of the expected changes currently being discussed by Parliament include the introduction of investment obligations and the cancellation of FFA's selective funding

Bérénice Honold during the talk

On 21 November, the Nordic Hotel Forum’s Capella hosted a presentation exploring Germany’s complex funding system and the potential changes imposed by an upcoming reform, slated for 2025. The event, part of this year’s Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event sidebar of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, began with opening remarks by Martin Blaney and Marge Liiske, who invited on stage Bérénice Honold, advisor to the CEO for international and European affairs at the German Federal Film Board (FFA).

Honold explained that German film funding at the federal level is made up of four main institutions: the aforementioned FFA, the German Film Fund, the German Motion Picture Fund, and BKM’s Cultural Film Funding, which targets smaller projects with budgets under €5 million. Meanwhile, regional funding is managed by nine major commissions, some overseeing two or three länder.

In total, funding allocated at the federal level amounts to €328 million, mostly directed towards films, with no regional spending requirements. Regional funding, on the other hand, spans films, series, cross-media, and other formats, mandating producers to spend regionally and totalling €205 million.

The combined total backing reaches €543 million. “It’s not as much as in France, but it’s close to that,” Honold highlighted. “€370 million is just aimed at funding production, and [regional and federal] funding can be combined. We call it the German puzzle, so you don’t have one stop where you can get everything you need.”

She also elaborated on the role of the FFA, a public agency founded in 1960, modelled on France’s CNC. Unlike other institutions, the FFA is financed through levies from exhibitors, video distributors, and broadcasters. Its annual funding budget is €84.12 million. The agency’s duties include improving the German film industry’s ecosystem, supporting the distribution and exploitation of German films domestically and worldwide, and encouraging co-productions and collaborations.

Production backing might change owing to the new reform under parliamentary discussion. Currently, a dual system exists: €18 million in selective funding, distributed by a committee assessing the commercial potential of applications, and automatic funding, allocated based on a reward system that considers the success of the applicant’s previous works.

“As we’re financed by the industry, our purpose is to look at the commercial potential of the film. Selective [funding] isn’t purely cultural like in other countries. The reform that should pass in the upcoming weeks in Parliament may entail the cancellation of selective funding – so all the money will be handed out automatically, though with lower thresholds to include more projects, but also increasing the project’s cultural potential and its festival success. So box office will still be important, but festivals are going to get a bigger share. This is something we hope may facilitate co-productions.”

Minor schemes, such as the Minority Co-Production Fund (worth €1 million and offering up to €400,000 in interest-free loans per project) and the bilateral funding agreement between France and Germany (worth €3 million and offering up to €500,000 in interest-free loans per project), are set to remain unchanged.

The 2025 reform will focus on three main pillars. The first entails closer co-operation—perhaps aiming at a full merger—between the FFA and BKM. The second seeks to modernise tax incentives, aiming to re-attract German producers who have been chasing “sexier money in Austria and the Czech Republic.” The third may involve implementing investment obligations, already in place in several European countries, including France.

"The whole idea is to make those who benefit from the market contribute more to the industry via sub-quotas and arrangements within the law. This would help our industry become more diverse, more sustainable. For example, language quotas may be part of this law, with 70% of the investment obligations going to independent producers," Honold signed off.