Germany

[DE] Reduction of Aid to German Federal Film Fund

IRIS 2015-2:1/13

Katrin Welker

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

On 13 November 2014, the Budgetary Committee of the German Bundestag (lower house of parliament) voted, in accordance with the Federal Finance Ministry’s 2015 finance report (see table 18 in the report), to reduce the level of aid to the Deutscher Filmförderfonds (German Federal Film Fund - DFFF) from EUR 60 million to EUR 50 million.

As a result, the original plans to make even greater cuts in 2015 and close the fund completely from 2017 were abandoned and the long-term future of the DFFF was secured.

The fund is used to support German film projects by reimbursing up to 20% of production costs spent in Germany, provided the project meets certain criteria.

According to a recent study conducted in September 2014 on the economic effects of film production in Germany, the DFFF is the most important source of funding for the film industry. According to media reports, since the DFFF was created in 2007, the average market share of German films has risen from 16% to 23%, which has resulted in follow-up investments of approximately EUR 2.5 billion.