The Film Promotion Act created a legal basis for federal film promotion for the first time in 1967. This law, which came into force in 1968, already contained essential elements of the law in force today, for example the establishment of the Film Promotion Agency, reference film promotion, short film promotion, support for film theatre operators and the levying of a film tax. The producers of funded films were obliged to transfer the television exploitation rights to the Filmförderungsanstalt. The latest amendment was passed in May 2021 and came into force on 1 January 2022.This amendment is intended to make the Film Promotion Act more adaptable – also against the background of the Corona pandemic. In addition, the amendment included obligations on climate protection and gender equality. In future, for example, a CO2 balance sheet must be drawn up for film productions. Gender equality is to be taken more into account when appointing members to the boards of the Federal Film Board. Likewise, the interests of people with disabilities should be strengthened with regard to appropriate and fair working conditions. Due to the pandemic, the new version will only be valid for 2 years (instead of the usual 5 years).
The German Federal Film Board (FFA) is a federal agency under public law. It is Germany’s national film funding body and supports all aspects of German film. In addition to its role as a funding body, the organisation is a central service provider for the German film industry. It promotes cinema films in all phases of their creation and exploitation: from script development and production to distribution, sales and video. Further funds are used for the promotion of cinemas, the preservation of cinematic heritage, for the perception and dissemination of German film abroad and for the mediation of film education. In addition, the FFA is mandated to support cooperation between the film industry and television broadcasters in order to strengthen German cinema. Furthermore, the FFA regularly records, analyses and publishes the most important market data of the film, cinema and video industry in Germany. According to the FFA annual report, the FFA’s budget in 2020 was 109.9 million euros (compared to 83.9 million euros in 2019 and 74.2 million euros in 2018). The largest share of this is the film levy, which amounted to 55.5 million in 2020 (compared to 57.6 million in 2019). Those liable to pay the levy are exploiters of cinematographic works, including cinemas, companies in the video industry including providers of video-on-demand services, television broadcasters and marketers of pay-TV programmes.
In addition, the FFA administratively oversees the film promotion of film projects funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). This includes the “German Film Promotion Fund” (DFFF), the “German Motion Picture Fund” (GMPF) as well as the processing of project funding for feature-length and short films as well as the film and cinema-specific programmes within the framework of “NEUSTART KULTUR”.
The funding instruments also include, for example, numerous prizes (e.g. German Film Prize, German Screenplay Prize, German Short Film Prize). In addition, film festivals and symposia (e.g. The Berlin International Film Festival), international film productions (through bilateral film agreements), as well as institutions dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the cultural heritage of film (e.g. Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek in Berlin and the Deutsches Filminstitut in Frankfurt am Main) are also supported by the BKM.
The aim of cinema funding by the FFA is to strengthen and maintain the nationwide and diverse cinema structure and its quality both in cities and in rural regions. There is funding according to the project principle and funding according to the reference principle. Funding is granted, among other things, for modernisation, the creation of barrier-free access, for measures to strengthen competitiveness and for media education support.
In 2020, film funding (excluding Corona funding) totalled 460.6 million euros (see publication: Das Kinojahr 2020, published in February 2021). These funds are made up of 72.36 million euros from the FFA, 221.27 million euros from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and additional funding from the federal states. According to the report, 38.1 million cinema tickets were sold in 2020 – down 67.9 per cent from 118.6 million tickets sold the previous year.
In 2019, the BKM has launched an emergency aid programme of 5 million euros for the promotion of cinemas in rural areas, with which cinemas in towns with up to 25,000 inhabitants will be supported in their investments. In 2020 and 2021, a series of programmes were launched to support cinemas during the Corona pandemic – in particular Zukunftsprorgramm Kino I and Zukunftsprogramm Kino II.
Deutsche Welle is the foreign broadcasting service of the Federal Republic of Germany and a member of the ARD. It broadcasts in 32 languages. Today, Deutsche Welle works trimedially: television (DW-TV), radio and internet. According to § 4 of the Deutsche Welle Act, DW‘s task is to make Germany understandable as a cultural nation that has grown up in Europe and as a free democratic constitutional state – and to promote understanding and exchange between cultures and peoples.
This makes it one of the sponsors of the foreign cultural policy of the Federal Republic of Germany. DW‘s funding is largely financed with tax money from the federal budget. Deutsche Welle receives its subsidy via the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media 2020: 417.1 million euros for comparison in 2019: 365 million euros). Around 3,000 employees from 60 nations work at the headquarters in Bonn and the Berlin site. The multimedia content in 32 languages will reach more than 289 million people worldwide every week in 2021. DW’s online offerings account for 122 million and overtake TV formats for the first time. The latter are at 117 million, radio usage remains stable at 50 million contacts per week. (https://www.dw.com/de/profil/s- 30626) The Deutsche Welle Academy is Deutsche Welle’s centre for international media development, journalistic training and knowledge transfer. In 2018, Deutsche Welle celebrated its 65th anniversary. This year, DW also published a sustainability report for the first time. In September 2021, a climate protection strategy was published for the first time. Since 2015, DW has presented the annual Freedom of Speech Award, which recognises individuals or initiatives that have made a special contribution to promoting freedom.
According to the latest monitoring report “Cultural and Creative Industries 2020”, there were 17 091 companies in the broadcasting sector in 2019 (for comparison, 2009: 17,853, 2018: 17 808). The Turnover amounted to 10.9 billion euros in 2019 (2009: 7.4 billion, 2018: 10.4 billion). In the area of Broadcasting industry workers totalled 66 000 in 2019, including 23 000 Core workforce employed (2009: 39 000, 2018: 43 000), of which 25 000 are subject to social security contributions. employees (2009: 21 000, 2018: 25000). The gross value added in the broadcasting industry in 2019 amounted to 8.1 billion euros (2009: 6.3 billion euros, 2018: 7.7 billion euros). Within the broadcasting industry, the largest turnover (79 per cent) was achieved by private TV broadcasters.
Comments are closed.