$100m double boost for German film funding

Mediability and MDF funds launch in Germany, bringing new $100m revenue stream online

German media mogul Herbert Kloiber's CTM Concept TV & Merchandising is to serve as the production and international distribution partner for the new Munich-based media fund Mediability, which was launched last week.

The fund, which aims to raise up to $47.5m (Euro 56m) from private investors by the end of 2002, will concentrate on financing primarily animation series and films for the family entertainment market.

One of the first projects to be co-produced by Mediability will be an animated series based on the figure of Timm Thaler, from the popular German children's TV programme of the same name.

Meanwhile, in a separate development, a portfolio fund called Erste MedienDachFonds (MDF) has been launched on the market to collect up to $55m (Euro 65m) from private individuals by the end of this year to invest in films being financed by between five and seven German media funds.

The decision as to which funds MDF will back will be made with the help of an independent committee comprising financial consultants Michael Oehme and Stephan Engel, film director Marijan David Vajda, film school professor Manfred Heid, and fund specialist Alexander Betz.

Ahead of the fund's placement, MDF's management has identified and already held preliminary talks with ApolloMedia, IMF, ABN-Amro's Babelsberg Studios fund and the ALCAS Paramount and Hallmark funds as possible partner funds for the portfolio. MDF's concept envisages investment in an average 5-12 titles per fund, giving it an overall investment portfolio of up to 50 film productions.

In its strategy of "fund picking", MDF will aim for a mix of funds working with US majors and those specialising in projects by independent companies.