Berlinproduction powerhouse X Filme creative pool, whoserecent international production credits include Maria Schrader's Love Life and BilleAugust's Goodbye Bafana,has launched a subsidiary company X FilmeInternational to concentrate on the production of one to two internationalco-productions per year for the global market.

The newWolfsburg-based outfit, which will be managed by X-Filme'sHead of Business & Legal Affairs Andro Steinborn,has been granted a credit line and gap financing facility by the Commerzbank in Berlin, which will be secured by a stateguarantee from the state of Lower Saxony. Lower Saxony had itself approached X Filmecreative pool with the idea of a state guarantee which was a key element in theCommerzbank's decision to work with the new subsidiaryon the film financing model.

'Thisnew company offers an additional financing possibility to those alreadyavailable at X Filme, namely a gap/equity financingfacility,' Steinborn explained. 'However, the financing will besomewhat bigger than what one normally knows in Europe and canbe higher than the usual 20%.'

X Filme International's film financing model was developed bySteinborn with Christine Wehrmann and Peter-Uwe Maack of the Commerzbank'sMedia and Financial Engineering Center in Berlin andwill be aimed primarily at projects budgeted between $6.4m-$12.8m (Euros 5m-10m)and open for projects developed in-house at X Filmeas well as for those originating from third parties.

X Filme International has already committed asco-producer to its first project, Michael Haneke'sEnglish remake of his Funny Games,with France's Celluloid Dreams, the UK's Tartan Films and Halcyon Pictures, andpossibly an Italian partner.

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