Constantin Film has been named the most successful Germanproducer and distributor of 2005 after picking up a total of $4.2m (Euros 3.5m)retroactive "reference funding" from the German Federal Film Board (FFA) to invest in new filmprojects and distribution campaigns.

Thiswas the second year running that Constantin hadreceived this double honour at the FFA's "IndustryTigers" event, the Munich company also took topspot in both categories in 2003.

Constantin Film Produktion wasjoined in the list of the Top 3 production companies by SamFilm(The Wild Soccer Bunch 2) and Babelsberg Film (AroundThe World in 80 Days), while distributor Constantin Film Verleih's poleposition was followed by X Verleih and Buena VistaInternational.

TheFFA's CEO Peter Dinges announced that a total of $23.8m (Euros 19.7m)"reference funding" - $19.7m (Euros 16.32m) for 87 featurefilms, $843,404 (Euros 697,000) for 59 shorts, and $4.04m (Euros 3.34m) for 80distributors - was being paid this year.

Henoted that the growing number of festival invitations and international prizesfor German productions in the past year had boosted the amounts many producerswould be receiving. Festivals and prizes now made up for 20% of the retroactiveproduction support to be invested in future projects - compared to only 6.15%in 2004.

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