Berlin region gets film funding boost

Budget raised $1.3 million to $39.4 million

By ED MEZA

BERLIN -- Regional film subsidy org Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg is celebrating a budget increase of Euros1 million ($1.3 million), raising its annual funding pot to $39.4 million.

News comes on the eve of the German Film Awards, or Lolas, which will be handed out on Friday in Berlin.

This year's nominees include 14 films that received Medienboard coin, including Florian Gallenberger's Lola favorite "John Rabe" and fellow best picture contenders such as Uli Edel's "The Baader Meinhof Complex," Andreas Dresden's "Cloud 9," Caroline Link's "A Year Ago in Winter" and Christian Petzold's "Jerichow."

The fourth largest of Germany's nine federal and regional funding orgs, the Medienboard has also provided coin for three upcoming Cannes screeners: Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," Michael Haneke's "The White Ribbon" and "Jaffa," Keren Yedaya's Israeli-set romance between a Jewish woman and an Arab man.

In the U.S., Medienboard-financed productions have boasted three high-profile Oscar-winning films in the past three years, including "The Reader," "The Counterfeiters" and "The Lives of Others.

The budget increase comes at critical time in Germany, where the country's economy is expected to drop 6% this year due to falling exports and rising unemployment.

Yet the Berlin-Brandenburg region has become the country's most important film industry hub and film grants with a regional spend continue to keep plenty of local film crews, hotels, car rental companies, caterers and a plethora of other service providers in business.