Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg chief Klaus Keil has called for a rethink of the German public film funding system in the light of German media companies' successful IPOs.

Writing a guest column for the German daily newspaper Die Welt, Keil asked whether films that that can now be "freely financed at any time", and which promise box office success, should be allowed to claim state funds. "I am of the opinion that they mustn't," Keil said.

Keil suggested that a film funding system targeted at the economic effect for a particular region is outdated and that regional film funds should concentrate on supporting first, second and third projects by "committed and talented young producers, authors and directors".

He added that public funding bodies should focus on genres such as documentaries and children's films which don't have an immediate commercial impact.

Commenting on the increasing amounts of private money flowing into the German film industry, Keil called for greater "professionalism" across the industry in the next six to eight years so that economically-oriented film funding can be dropped.