Berlin – Kirsten Niehuus has been elected president of the German Federal Film Board (FFA),taking the helm during a period of significant change for the country’s film industry. The appointment comes after Germany revamped its film funding structure at the end of last year, expanding the FFA’s portfolio to encompass all federal film funding.
The FFA is a key financial force in German cinema, distributing 20 million euros ($23.4 million) to 50 projects last year alone – supporting films ranging from Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” and Christian Petzold’s “Miroirs No. 3″ to commercial successes like ”School of Magical Animals 4” and arthouse titles such as Ruben Östlund’s “The Entertainment System Is Down.” Niehuus’s leadership arrives as the industry pushes for further reforms to boost Germany’s competitiveness against production hubs like Hungary and attract larger international productions.
Recent legislative changes have increased local production cost claims to up to 30%, a rise from the previous 20% for feature films and 25% for TV productions. However,Niehuus has publicly stated that these changes don’t go far enough. In May,she told Variety,”I think the industry needs an automatic [production incentive] scheme that is competitive with the other schemes,like in Hungary,” adding,”We see lots of productions going to shoot in Hungary rather than in Germany… we 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 legislation delivering a more competitive incentive scheme this year,stating,”Fingers crossed. I mean, I hope so. Optimism is, you know … after so many years in the business, we’ve seen all kinds of miracles for better or for worse.”
