Sponsorship Association „Friends of the German-Russian Film Academy“ constituted

In the run-up of an official German-Russian Cinema Agreement, on Wednesday (July 29th, 2009) night the sponsorship association “Friends of the German-Russian Film Academy” was founded in Berlin. Peter Dinges, head of board of the Filmförderungsanstalt (FFA) called this funding a historical act, underlining that the long preparations for German-Russian cinema relations had finally resulted in concrete activities.

The sponsorship association has the purpose to promote German-Russian cinema relations and to strenghten the exchange between German and Russian movie makers in terms of education, production and financing of movies. In this respect, the experience with the German-French Film Academy serves as a model. The association will have its residence in Cottbus, where also the Festival of East European film is taking place every year.

Constituting members are Member of Parliament Angelika Krüger-Leißner, Medienboard managing director Kirsten Niehuus, media manager Bernd Schiphorst and Cottbus festival director Roland Rust as well as the company pool production gmbh berlin cottbus and Rohfilm GmbH Berlin. The constituting meeting was also attended by members of the Russian embassy in Berlin, the Filmförderungsanstalt, the Ministry of Economy Brandenburg, the city of Cottbus, the Petersburg dialogue, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung Leipzig, film festivals Cottbus and Wiesbaden and the Week of Russian Film in Berlin.

On the German side, two heads of the managing committee were elected: Simone Baumann, Executive director of the LE Vision Film- und Fernsehproduktion GmbH Leipzig and representative for Eastern Europe German Films. Her deputy is Prof. Dr. Dieter Wiedemann, President of the HFF Film und Fernsehen “Konrad Wolff” in Potsdam. Jörg Ackermann, managing director of pool production gmbh and organizer of the FilmFestival Cottbus.

The next step will be the election of Russian representatives for the managing committee as well as acquiring of new members, both Russian and German. The first activities of this association can be observed at the 19th FilmFestival Cottbus – Festval of East European Cinema (Nov. 10th-15th, 2009), which includes a “Russian Day” on November 11th, 2009. On this day, German and Russian film makers will use the opportunities to discuss the possibilities of film funding in their countries.

The picture shows the constituting meeting of the “Friends of the German-Russian Film Academy”.