Germany’s FFA launches minority co-production fund

The Berlin-based German Federal Film Board (FFA) is following the lead of other European countries and launching its dedicated minority co-production fund with an annual budget of €1m.

Producers based in Germany can apply to this fund if their financial participation is at least 10% and less than that of the foreign delegate producer.

The fund is open to feature-length fiction, animation and documentary films that have a high degree of festival potential, or could be commercially successful in Germany and abroad.

The projects applying for support must show that they have a German financing share of at least €350,000 (€150,000 for documentaries).

The minimum amount of funding that can be paid out as a conditionally repayable loan for fiction and animation films has been set at €200,000, while a successful application for a documentary can receive at least €100,000. The highest sum the fund can allocate for a single project has been set at €400,000.

According to the guidelines for the new fund, the foreign lead producer will be expected to have secured at least 50% of the project’s financing before the German co-producer submits the funding application.

This latest addition to the FFA’s funding portfolio comes in recognition of the involvement of German minority co-producers on such international co-productions as Triangle Of Sadness, Fallen Leaves, Four Daughters and The King’s Land, among many others.

Co-productions with minority German participation were also out in force at this year’s Berlinale.

They included the competition titles Tandem, My Favourite Cake, The Empire and Pepe as well as Sleep With our Eyes Open in the Encounters section and The Great Phuket screening in Generation 14plus.

Source： MARTIN BLANEY/screendaily