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Film und Medien Stiftung NRW➝News➝News➝Jubilee: 150th meeting of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW’s funding committee

Jubilee: 150th meeting of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW’s funding committee

  • First meeting held on 24 April, 1991 – since then, a total of 7,300 projects funded with 742 million Euros 
  • Films by Tom Tykwer, Sönke Wortmann, Wolfgang Becker, Margarethe von Trotta, Ken Loach, Lars von Trier, Jim Jarmusch, Wim Wenders, Ron Howard, Oskar Roehler, Hans-Christian Schmid, Corinna Belz, Caroline Link, Wolfgang Groos, Peter Thorwarth, Fatih Akin, Feo Aladag, Heinrich Breloer, Dominik Graf, Jan Schomburg, Isabel Kleefeld, Sandra Nettelbeck, Christoph Hochhäusler, and many more.
  • Box-office successes like „Schtonk!“, „Farinelli“, „Run Lola Run“, „Good Bye, Lenin!“, „Buena Vista Social Club“, „Amélie from Montmartre“, „Dead Man“,„Knockin‘ on Heaven‘s Door“, „Aimée and Jaguar“, „Le Peuple Migrateur“, „The Miracle of Bern“, „Crazy“, „Bang Boom Bang“, „Manitou’s Shoe“, „Perfume: The Story of a Murderer“, „The Reader“, „When We Leave“, „Pina“, „Mostly Martha“, „Into Great Silence“, „Pettsson & Findus“, „Hannah Arendt“, „The Physician“, „Rush“, „Der Medicus“, „Stromberg“, and many more.
  • TV events like „The Manns – Novel of a Century“, „Dresden“, „The Clown“, „Jahrestage“, „Contergan“ or „Generation War“

The most important decision-making body of NRW’s film funding infastructure, the main jury of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, met this week for the 150th time in order to take decisions on the funding of film and TV projects from North Rhine-Westphalia. Of the total of 7,300 projects supported since the year of the Filmstiftung’s founding in 1991, the main jury has itself backed 5,645 projects with a total of 711 million Euros. 607 million Euros of this amount went into film and TV projects, the remainder was allocated to, among other things, film presentations, festivals, prizes or other events and projects.

Wolf Donner and Hans Vetter were succeeded as chair of the film funding committee in 1997 by  Prof. Dr. Norbert Schneider who shaped the film funding activities from NRW for some 15 years. CEO Petra Müller has presided over the committee since 2013.

„150 meetings, 5,645 projects and 711 million Euros for the funding of the film culture and the film industry in NRW, illustrious film titles and renowned directors – the Filmstiftung NRW has played a crucial role through its funding activities in the almost 25 years since its founding in the development of film-making in NRW, Germany and Europe“, says Petra Müller. „Film funding is a wonderful thing, but involves a lot of work!‘ And so we would like to say a big thank you to all of the chairpersons and members of the funding committee, the Filmstiftung staff, my predecessors as CEOs, to all of the film-makers who have delighted us with their films, and, not least of all, to our shareholders whose contributions made the success story of the film region of NRW possible in the first place.“

The nine-person film funding committee convenes as a rule five times each year and decides on the funding for large-scale cinema productions, TV films, project and script development, distribution and sales funding, cinema funding,etc.. The members are appointed for three years by the shareholders (WDR, Land NRW, ZDF, RTL, LfM). In addition to CEO Petra Müller, the funding jury currently consists of: Dr. Jürgen Brautmeier (LfM), Reinhold Elschot (ZDF), Gebhard Henke (WDR), Matthias Kremin (WDR; deputy chair), Sigrid Limprecht (Bonner Kinemathek/Kino in der Brotfabrik), Dr. Martina Richter (HMR International), Philipp Steffens (RTL) and Rainer Weiland (Land NRW).

Since its founding in 1991, the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW has supported around 7,300 projects with about 742 million Euros. These included films which have had national and international success at festivals and in the cinemas such as „Dancer in the Dark“, „Amélie From Montmartre“, „Good Bye, Lenin!“, „The Miracle of Bern“, „The Edge Of Heaven“, „The Reader“, „Pina“, „Perfume: The Story of a Murderer“, „Melancholia“, „Cloud Atlas“ or „Hannah Arendt“, as well as many international co-productions and works by renowned directors who shot extensively in the film region of NRW, incl. Lars von Trier („Nymphomaniac 1+2“), Jim Jarmusch („Only Lovers Left Alive“), Wim Wenders („Pina“), Ron Howard („Rush“), Philipp Stölzl („The Physician“), Sönke Wortmann („Frau Müller muss weg“), and Helmut Dietl („Schtonk!“).

In addition, the past 149 meetings have seen 244 TV projects being supported with a total of around 130 million Euros. TV highlights such as „The Manns – Novel of a Century“, „Dresden“, „The Clown“, „Contergan“, „George“, „Jahrestage“ or „Generation War“ were made possible thanks to backing from the Filmstiftung.

A further 983 projects were supported to date with around 17 million Euros in the area of the so-called Production II which was placed under the responsibility of the Filmstiftung in 2002. The juries for this funding category are appointed by the Filmbüro NW.

Other funding committees of the Film- und Medienstiftung are concerned with radio plays, the Gerd Ruge Scholarship, the Wim Wenders Scholarship and the graduation films. Since opening up to new media, the Film- und Medienstiftung has also been very successful – together with its team of advisors – in backing the development of interactive content, innovative TV and web formats. Since 2011, location marketing and development have become part of the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW’s portfolio alongside its film funding activities, transforming the funding institution into the central contact point for film and media in NRW.