Archive notice: This article was originally published on August 28, 2008. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Producers from Bavaria and Québec are now planning joint projects. Minister Sinner and Minister St. Pierre agreed to deepen cooperation in the film sector.
Montréal’s film audience enthusiastically received the Bavarian festival entries. Moviegoers queued around the entire block to buy tickets for the screening of Cherry Blossoms – Hanami, and Hannelore Elsner answered questions for more than an hour during the Q&A. The other nine films from Bavaria also proved highly popular. “We are delighted by the success of our film presentation and especially by the tremendous response our films and filmmakers received,” said Dr. Klaus Schaefer, managing director of FilmFernsehFonds Bayern.
The location presentation organized by FFF Bayern with ARRI, Bavaria, Scanline and Trixter, as well as Christine Berg’s presentation of the DFFF, attracted keen interest among filmmakers from Québec. At the co-producer meeting organized by FFF and SODEC (Québec’s film funding agency), there was barely enough time to discuss all the requested topics. Producers remained together into the evening and agreed on projects: Trixter and Cinegroupe began negotiations for Gherkin King and 7 Dwarfs-animated. Lengthy negotiations between Kevin Lee Film and Vivavision for Jeremy and the Aunties were successfully concluded and resulted in a preliminary agreement on site. Bavaria is also now in talks with several Québec producers.
In their discussions, State Minister Eberhard Sinner, Dr. Klaus Schaefer and Minister of Culture and Communications Christine St. Pierre agreed to deepen film-sector cooperation between Bavaria and Québec. The two ministers arranged a follow-up meeting at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival, where they intend not only to discuss co-productions but also to make a political statement supporting film funding as an indispensable means of preserving the cinematic heritage and identity of both regions. They said it must be made clear to the EU and WTO that this “exception culturelle” is indispensable for film as well.
