21.04.2010 - 08:50 Uhr

Petra Müller named new CEO of Filmstiftung NRW

Minister Armin Lashet says, "This appointment strengthens North Rhine-Westphalia as the leading film and media location."

Petra Müller to get new CEO of Filmstiftung NRW / © medienboard

The film board of North Rhine-Westphalia is to get a new boss. On 1 August 2010, renowned media industry and film expert Petra Müller will take over the helm of the Filmstiftung NRW from Michael Schmid-Ospach. Ms Müller, who currently heads the Media Board Berlin-Brandenburg, the capital region's location marketing and film promotion agency, is looking forward to her new challenge. "The Fillmstiftung NRW is Germany's largest regional film funding agency, and it has an outstanding importance for the film industry. I'm looking forward to continuing to develop the Foundation and its work and thereby helping to strengthen the film and media sector of North Rhine-Westphalia in a sustainable manner," she says.

Media Minister Armin Laschet welcomes the decision. "The Filmstiftung's board members spent a long time debating the succession," he says. "After all, her predecessor, Michael Schmid-Ospach, had achieved a great deal in helping to increase the fame of North Rhine-Westphalia's film sector beyond regional and national borders. Petra Müller also has an excellent reputation within the industry. She is therefore eminently suitable to strengthen the leading position of the film and media industry of North Rhine-Westphalia."

As part of the change of leadership, the Filmstiftung NRW wants to provide targeted support for the ongoing development of the media industry of North Rhine-Westphalia and give new impetus to the strengthening of the media culture and media industry along the River Rhine and in the Ruhr Valley.

Petra Müller studied German language at university and began her career as a corporate consultant in Cologne before moving to the Adolf Grimme Institute in Marl. She gathered further film and television experience as the managing director of media consultancy HMR International, as the director of Cologne Conference, and as the head of the permanent office of the German Film Prize. Petra Müller has been the CEO of the Media Board Berlin-Brandenburg since January 2004, where she is responsible for strategy, marketing, communication and the presentation of the media sector of Berlin-Brandenburg, and for promoting innovative audiovisual content and location-based projects in the film and media industry.

The Filmstiftung NRW was founded in 1991 by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and broadcaster WDR Cologne. TV stations ZDF and RTL and the regional media agency subsequently joined the Foundation's list of board members. The Filmstiftung NRW has an annual budget of about €32 million, making it the largest regional foundation in Germany. It is also the first to combine economic and cultural objectives.

Michael Schmid-Ospach left the Filmstiftung in the end of March

Michael Schmid-Ospach led the Foundation for nine years. Having spent many years as the chairman of the supervisory board of the Düsseldorf Film Board, he took over the Filmstiftung NRW when Dieter Kosslick moved to the German capital to run the Berlin Film Festival; the Berlinale. Schmid-Ospach's contract as the managing director of the Filmstiftung NRW expired at the end of March, shortly before his 65th birthday. His deputy, Claudia Droste-Deselaers, will provisionally oversee the film board's activities until Ms Müller's arrival.

For further information, please contact:
Filmstiftung NRW, Tanja Gueß
Tel.: +49 (0)211 93050 0, Fax: +49 (0)211 93050 85, presse@filmstiftung.de
Beate Hoffmann
Regional Minister for Federal Affairs, Europe & the Media
Tel.: +49 (0)211 837 1399, beate.hoffmann@stk.nrw.de.