With Berlin currently experiencing a boom in national and international production thanks to such films as the Speed Racer, Der Baader Meinhof Komplex, Valkyrie and The International shooting in town, the Berlin Senate has announced plans to make $85m (Euros 60m) available until 2013 for state-backed guarantees to boost region's attractiveness for film productions.
Production companies including single-purpose companies with headquarters or operations in Berlin would be eligible to apply for the guarantees as securities against bank loans for film finance.
Announcing the expansion of the Senate's commitment, Senator for Economics Harald Wolf said that four guarantees with a total volume of $23m (Euros 16m) had been made available by the city of Berlin for feature film projects since 2000.
Berlin's expanded initiative follows the introduction of other state-backed guarantee schemes for the film industry in other German federal states. For example, Brandenburg provided a guarantee for Kevin Spacey's Beyond The Sea, Saxony has granted a $8.5m (Euros 6m) guarantee for Egoli Tossell Film's production of Michael Hoffman's $17m Tolstoy drama The Last Station with Meryl Streep and Anthony Hopkins, and a guarantee from Lower Saxony will secure the financing of projects from Peter Rommel and Thomas Haeberle's Hanover-based Waterfall Productions.
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