defilmtv1-6, Exercise 1: Funding

Model answer:

New German Cinema was paid for by public grants to young directors from the mid-1960s, a federal film subsidy system set up in the later 1960s, and, from the mid-1970s, an agreement under which the public broadcasters helped pay for films in return for the right to show them on television (check the dates). The directors also kept costs low by working in small groups with the same actors and technicians.

It is fair to say it depended on public money and television because many of the films were as much television co-productions as cinema releases. The directors were independent in style but dependent on the state for funding, which gave freedom to make unconventional films and also made them vulnerable to changes in policy.