VIP dons 'Jacket'
German fund also backs 'Family of the Year'
Munich-based fund also is in negotiations to back Gregory Hoblit's "Emperor Zehnder," starring Richard Gere as real-life adventure photographer Bruno Zehnder.
"Jacket," which co-stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Kelly Lynch and Kris Kristofferson, is being produced by Mandalay Pictures and Section Eight.
Comedy pic "Family of the Year" is set to topline Ray Liotta, Edie Falco and Famke Janssen; Armada Pictures is producing.
Projects will be financed via the VIP Medienfonds 3, which has raised e150 million ($181 million) from 3,000 local investors as Germany's high-bracket earners start looking for end-of-the-year investment writeoffs.
VIP, which has traditionally provided 50% to 100% financing on pics, could not say to what extent it would bankroll the films; budgets still are to be worked out.
The fund, set to close at the end of the year, is unaffected by new legislation regulating film funds, as it was launched in 2001.
Funds launched after September 2002 must comply with more stringent guidelines that have made their operation more complicated.
VIP, which claims to be Germany's largest bank-independent media fund group, also is backing Kevin Costner family drama "The Upside of Anger"; "Monster," starring Charlize Theron; Uli Edel's fantasy epic "The Ring of the Nibelungs"; and Thomas Jane and John Travolta starrer "The Punisher."
Separately, VIP is teaming up with Teutonic TV web RTL 2 to set up the Media Spirit record label, which will release soundtracks from VIP-funded pics.
