Ahead of next week's 'Alliance for Film' industry gathering in Cologne, producer-director and fund initiator Uwe Boll has added his voice to the debate about German media funds by proposing the adoption of the Canadian tax credit points system for the tax assessment of German funds.

As Boll pointed out, "in Canada, films are recognised as domestic productions if defined, important key positions are occupied by Canadians. For German media funds this would mean that they would be recognised for tax purposes as national productions if they received at least 7 of 14 possible points from a points system."

His proposed points system is structured as follows:

Germany as shooting location: 2 points
Post-production in Germany: 2 points
Producer: 2 points
Director: 2 points
Screenwriter: 2 points
Main actor: 2 points
Co-star: 1 point
Score composer: 1 point
Director of photography: 1 point
Art director/production designer: 1 point
Editor: 1 point

According to Boll, who last year raised Euros 24.2m and Euros 2.9m for his third and fourth funds respectively, such a model "would mean the immediate end for the transfer of billions of German tax money to Hollywood which has had no effect for Germany. It would also be the end for the film fund leasing models which had long been criticised by the German tax authorities."

It remains to be seen how the German State Minister of Culture Christina Weiss, the host of the "Alliance for Film" gathering, will react to the Boll proposal.

In a recent interview, she explained that it was her goal "in talks with the Federal Finance Ministry as well as the initiators of the media funds, the film funders from the Bund and the Laender and representatives of the film industry to come to a regulation which would mobilise more private capital in future for German film production. To reach this, the tax attractiveness of the media funds must be preserved on the one hand, but, at the same time there must be a guarantee that a considerable part of the fund investments flows into German productions and production locations. The previously self-imposed commitment by the fund initiators of a Germany "effect" of 20% is not sufficient for me."

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