Kulturstaatsminister Wolfram Weimer (independent) aims to stimulate the German film industry. “We are currently facing significant economic problems in the film industry, we are losing market shares and working conditions are deteriorating” said Weimer to “Welt am Sonntag”.
“One solution could be increased state film funding. That’s why we have made a significant step forward with the Film Financing Act. Now we are trying to make a second step. But the more interesting question is: How can we mobilize much larger private investments? What opportunities are there for that?” He can imagine opening up studio infrastructure, such as the Bavaria Film Studios in Munich, to investors and developing them more broadly in a market-oriented way. “For this, internationally competitive framework conditions for the film location Germany are important.”
When it comes to potential investors, they are major media conglomerates that are currently investing little in Germany. “The global streaming providers from Netflix to Amazon Prime, from Disney to Apple, from Paramount to HBO should be encouraged to produce much more here. And if locations like the Bavaria Film Studios benefit from this, then that would be a great win for everyone.” Questions arise about how media diversity can be maintained and how the future digital media markets can be promoted and opened up. “American companies are increasingly canalizing our media markets so that we are moving in quasi-monopolies. That is not good. We must emancipate ourselves from the overwhelming power of American and, soon, Chinese conglomerates.”
Wolfram Weimer criticized US President Donald Trump’s plan for tariffs on foreign film productions as a “sad grotesque, an attack on cultural freedom. Films live especially from the free international exchange, from cultural encounters. Fortunately, there are now more conciliatory signals from the White House that good solutions can be found in the trade dispute. We must definitely prevent film tariffs.”