German Film Service + Marketing
German Films Service + Marketing GmbH
German Films Service + Marketing GmbH is the national information and advisory center for the promotion of German films worldwide. It was established in 1954 under the name Export-Union of German Cinema as the umbrella association for the Association of German Feature Film Producers, the Association of New German Feature Film Producers and the Association of German Film Exporters, and operates today in the legal form of a limited company. In 2004, the company was reorganized and now operates under the name: German Films Service + Marketing GmbH.
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Shareholders are the Association of German Film Producers, the German Producers Alliance, the Association of German Film Exporters, the German Federal Film Board (FFA), the Stiftung Deutsche Kinemathek, the German Documentary Association, FilmFernsehFonds Bayern and Filmstiftung NRW representing the seven main regional film funds, and the German Short Film Association.
Members of the advisory board are:
Alfred Huermer (chairman)
Peter Dinges
Antonio Exacoustos
Roman Paul
Ulrike Schauz
Michael Schmid Ospach
German Films' members of staff are:
Christian Dorsch, managing director
Mariette Rissenbeek, deputy managing director/public relations
Petra Bader, office manager
Julia Basler, project coordinator/documentary film
Katherine Grzelak, assistant to the managing director
Barbie Heusinger, distribution support
Angela Hawkins, publications & website editor
Nicole Kaufmann, project coordinator
Michaela Kowal, accounts
Kim Liebeck, public relations assistant/festival coordinator
Martin Scheuring, project coordinator/short film
Konstanze Welz, project coordinator/television
Stephanie Wimmer, project coordinator
In addition, German Films has foreign representatives around the world.
German Films present budget of ca. EUR 4.8 million comes from film export levies, the office of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, and the FFA. In addition, the seven main regional film funds (FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Filmfoerderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein, Filmstiftung NRW, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, MFG Baden-Wuerttemberg, Mitteldeutsche Medienfoerderung, and Nordmedia) make a financial contribution currently amounting to EUR 324,000 towards the work of German Films.
German Films is a founding member of the European Film Promotion, a network of European film organizations (including Unifrance, Swiss Films, Austrian Film Commission, Holland Film, among others) with similar responsibilities to those of German Films. The organization, with its headquarters in Hamburg, aims to develop and realize joint projects for the presentation of European films on an international level.
German Films' range of activities includes:
- Close cooperation with major international film festivals
- Organization of umbrella stands for German sales companies and producers at international television and film markets
- Staging of "Festivals of German Film" worldwide
- Staging of the "German Premieres" industry screenings in New York and Rome
- Providing advice and information for representatives of the international press and buyers from the fields of cinema, video, and television
- Providing advice and information for German filmmakers and press on international festivals, conditions of participation, and German films being shown
- Organization of the annual "Next Generation" short film program, which presents a selection of shorts by students of German film schools and is premiered every year at Cannes
- Publication of informational literature about current German films and the German film industry ( German Films Quarterly)
- An Internet website ( www.german-films.de) offering information about new German films, a film archive, as well as information and links to German and international film festivals and institutions, international market analyses and special festival brochures
- Organization of the selection procedure for the German entry for the OSCAR for Best Foreign Language Film
- Collaboration with Deutsche Welle's-TV KINO program which features the latest German film releases and international productions in Germany
- Organization of the "German Films Previews" geared toward arthouse distributors and buyers of German films
- Selective financial support for the foreign releases of German films
- On behalf of the association Rendez-vous franco-allemands du cinéma, organization with Unifrance of the annual German-French film meeting
- In association and cooperation with its shareholders, German Films works to promote feature, documentary, television and short films.