Germany's mediafunds have been thrown into disarray by speculation that the new governmentunder Chancellor Angela Merkel is intending to revive the previousadministration's tax reform plans in mid-November to put an end to theold-style media funds.

Until now, it had been assumed within the film industry and fund sectorthat the new German government would not proceed with legislation to curb taxrelief schemes until the New Year, either on January 1 or April 1.

As a result there has been active behind the scenes lobbying in recentweeks for alternative fund models with a "German spend"element to be phased in as replacements for the exisitingfunds.

This latest turn of events comes as three new media funds were launchedon the market to raise almost Euros 450m from private German individuals.

Hannover Leasing has launched itsthird Montranus leasing fund, MontranusIII, to raise Euros 241.5m for financing internationally marketable action andadventure feature films with Universal Studios International.

To date, HL has initiated and placed 12 media funds in the market withan overall investment volume of over Euros 1bn, with participation in suchfilms as Rush Hour II, I Am Sam andthe second and third instalments of TheLord Of The Rings trilogy.

Secondly, BOLU Filmproduktion- und Verleih is looking to attract Euros 100m from investors forfund manager/producer/director Uwe Boll's ninth fundplacement, Neunte Boll KG, which - like itspredecessor funds - will concentrate on the prodcutionof feature films based on video games. To date, Boll has financed and producedfeature films based on such games as HouseOf The Dead, Alone In The Dark and Bloodrayne.

Finally, veteran German animator Gerhard Hahn has entered the media fundsector with the fund entitled Deutsche Zeichentrick Erste Produktions GmbH & Co. KG with a projectedvolume of Euros 100m to invest primarily in animation feature films.

Hahn founded his animation studio in 1980 and has been responsible overthe last quarter of a century for such feature films as Werner - Beinhart, Werner - Volles Rooaaa!!!, and Asterix In Amerika aswell as the TV series Bibi Blocksberg, Simsalagrimm and Gnarfs.