Berlin – Kirsten Niehuus has been electedโ president of the German Federal Film Board โค(FFA),taking the helm during a period of significant change for โthe country’s film industry. The appointment โคcomes after Germany revamped its film funding structure at the end of โlast year, expanding the FFA’sโ portfolio toโ encompass all federal film funding.
The FFA is a โkey financial force inโ Germanโค cinema, distributing 20 million euros โ($23.4 million) โขto 50 projects โคlast year alone – supporting โfilms ranging from Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and Christian Petzold’s “Miroirs No. 3″ to commercial โsuccesses like โข”School of Magical Animals 4” and arthouse titles such as Ruben รstlund’s “Theโ Entertainment System Is Down.”โฃ Niehuus’s leadership arrives as the industry pushes for โfurther reforms to boost Germany’s competitiveness against production hubs like Hungary and โขattract larger international productions.
Recent โฃlegislative changes have increased local production cost claims to up to 30%, a rise fromโฃ the previous 20% for feature films and 25% for TV productions. โคHowever,Niehuus has publicly stated that these changes don’t go โfar โenough. In May,she โขtold Variety,”I think the industry needs an automatic [production incentive] scheme that is competitive with โคthe other schemes,like in Hungary,” adding,”We seeโค lots of productions going to shoot in Hungary ratherโข than in โขGermanyโฆ weโ are not attractive enough to the larger American productions,and that obviously hits all over Germany.”
Niehuus expressed cautious optimism about the possibility of further legislationโข delivering a more competitive incentive scheme this year,stating,”Fingers crossed. I mean, I hope so. Optimism is, you knowโฃ โฆ after so many years in the business, we’ve seen all kinds of miracles โฃfor better or for worse.”