07/04/2008

During a gathering held on April 2 in Berlin, to which president Peter Dinges had invited around 200 professionals, the FFA (German film regulating body) presented awards to the producers and distributors who enjoyed the most success (artistically and commercially) last year, handing out a total of €18.3m (€15.3m for production and €3m for distribution).

The Golden Tiger for Best Producer went to SamFilm and the title of Best Distributor of German films went, for the fourth year running, to Constantin Film Verleih.

The following companies picked up awards for auteur films: Kordes & Kordes Film for Four Minutes [+see also:
trailer
film profile]; Wiedemann & Berg Filmproduktion for the Oscar-winning title The Lives of Others [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Florian Henckel von Donners…
interview: Ulrich Muehe
film profile]; and Boje Buck Produktion for the children’s film Hands off Mississippi [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

The biggest commercial hit of 2007 was the children’s film The Wild Soccer Bunch 4, which garnered 2.5m admissions and for which SamFilm were granted €1.5m of automatic support.

This is followed by Lissi and the Wild Emperor, produced by herbX film (2.2m admissions, €1.2m in backing), and Til Schweiger’s Rabbit Without Ears [+see also:
trailer
film profile], a Barefoot Films production which drew 1.5m viewers between its release on December 20, 2007 and New Year’s Eve (€0.9m).

The production company to have achieved the greatest success overall is SamFilm, who received almost €1,460,000 in financial backing. In second place is X-Filme (over €1m), who produced Dany Levi’s My Führer – The Truly Truest Truth about Adolf Hitler [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

Next in line is Constantin Film Produktion (who produced Warum Männer nich zuhören und Frauen schlecht einparken, Rosenmüller’s Heavyweights and Herr Bello), who were awarded €784,042.

Of the money granted by the FFA, 92.7% is intended for features, 4.5% for children’s films and 2.8% for documentaries.

As for distributors, Constantin Film Verleih comes out top with16 films distributed in 2007, securing them more than €750,000 in financial support.

This annual funding is attributed according to a points system which takes into account success among audiences and at festivals and enables dynamic companies to reinvest in new projects.

(Translated from French)