Germany

[DE] German-Turkish Producers’ Fund Agreed

IRIS 2011-4:1/22

Anne Yliniva-Hoffmann

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 11 February 2011, the creation of the first “German-Turkish Co-Production Development Fund” was announced in Berlin.

The parties to the film aid agreement are the two German regional film aid institutions Medienboard Berlin Brandenburg (MBB) and Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein (FFHSH), the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the co-production market of the Istanbul International Film Festival (IIFF), “Meetings on the Bridge” (MoB).

Under the agreement, joint film productions will be able to access financial support from the early stages of the film-making process. To this end, the fund will provide up to EUR 500,000 in support for German-Turkish co-productions each year.

The aid will be granted to feature or documentary films to be shown in cinemas, but only in exceptional circumstances to television film projects. The funding, to be granted as an interest-free loan where necessary, can represent up to 80% of production costs, in which the producers must invest at least 20% themselves. The co-producers’ contributions must therefore be between 20% and 80%.

The first round of funding applications had to be submitted by 15 March 2011.