Bavaria Film GmbH is a German

film production Filmmaking or film production is the process by which a Film, motion picture is produced. Filmmaking involves a number of complex and discrete stages, beginning with an initial story, idea, or commission. Production then continues through screen ...

and

distribution Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

company located in

Grünwald, Bavaria Grünwald (German language, German for ''green forest'') is a Municipalities of Germany, municipality in the Munich (district), district of Munich, in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is located on the right bank of the Isar, 12 km southwest ...

at the district of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. It is one of Europe's largest film production companies and one of the leading production and distribution companies in the German film and television industry service, with some 30 subsidiaries.

History

Bavaria Film and their studios goes back to where it all started to were the company was founded in 1919, when Munich-raised film producer

Peter Ostermayr Peter Ostermayr (18 July 1882 – 7 May 1967) was a German film producer, screenwriter and film director. Ostermayr was a pioneer during the early years of German cinema, with his brothers Franz Osten and Ottmar Ostermayr.Bock & Bergfelder p.350 I ...

converted the private film company he had founded in 1907, Münchener Lichtspielkunst GmbH, to the

public company A public company is a company whose ownership is organized via shares of share capital, stock which are intended to be freely traded on a stock exchange or in over-the-counter (finance), over-the-counter markets. A public (publicly traded) co ...

Münchener Lichtspielkunst AG (Emelka), and acquired a large area (ca. 356.000 m²) for the studios in Geiselgasteig, a district of Munich's southern suburb Grünwald. The company was a direct competitor to

UFA Ufa is a city in Russia and the capital of the republic of Bashkortostan. UFA or Ufa may also refer to: Places * Ufa (river), a river in Russia; a tributary of the Belaya * Ufa International Airport, near the Russian city * Ufa railway statio ...

, which had begun operations in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

in 1917, and quickly absorbed several other film industry companies in the region. From the year 1920 onwards as an reaction to Berlin's film monopoly position and in order to be independent, the company's former name counterparted the founding of UFA and Emilika was expanded to become the Emilika Group. One year later in 1921, the group announced that they've acquired its own copying facility, Süddeutsche Filmwerke Geyer in order to expand their operations outside of film making. By September 24, 1930, in addition to producing films, Emelka also produced a newsreel with music, the “Sounding Emelka Newsreel”. In 1930, investor Wilhelm Kraus and a consortium of banks bought a majority stake in the company, and on 21 September 1932 the group took full control and renamed it Bavaria Film AG. In 1938, Bavaria Film was nationalised by the Nazi regime as a production unit subsidiary of UFA. After a period of dormancy following World War II, it was re-established as a private company in 1956. On August 1, 1959, Bavaria announced that they're restructuring their studios with the founding of Bavaria Atelier GmbH. Until the fall of

Berlin Wall The Berlin Wall (, ) was a guarded concrete Separation barrier, barrier that encircled West Berlin from 1961 to 1989, separating it from East Berlin and the East Germany, German Democratic Republic (GDR; East Germany). Construction of the B ...

, Geiselgasteig was the largest film studio in all of West Germany, in addition to Bavaria Filmkunst GmbH. In August 1987, Bavarita Atelier was renamed Bavaria Film. On September 23, 2011, the company's international division, Bavaria Film International, entered a joint venture with German distributor Telepool by merging their world sales operations into one new joint venture European distribution based in Munich, named Global Screen, to handle worldwide distribution from two firms. In April 2012, Bavaria Film announced that they entered a partnership with Berlin-based Senator Entertainment. In February 2021, Bavaria Film expanded their operations into factual and unscripted television programming by acquiring two domestic production companies Story House Pictures and Story House Productions.

Bavaria Film GmbH

Bavaria Film GmbH is a film production company known for television films such as

Rainer Werner Fassbinder Rainer Werner Fassbinder (; 31 May 1945 – 10 June 1982), sometimes credited as R. W. Fassbinder, was a German filmmaker, dramatist and actor. He is widely regarded as one of the major figures and catalysts of the New German Cinema moveme ...

's ''

Berlin Alexanderplatz ''Berlin Alexanderplatz'' () is a 1929 novel by Alfred Döblin. It is considered one of the most important and innovative works of the Weimar culture, Weimar Republic. In a 2002 poll of 100 noted writers, the book was named among the top 100 bo ...

'' (1980) and Wolfgang Petersen's ''

Das Boot (; ) is a 1981 West Germany, West German war film written and directed by Wolfgang Petersen, produced by Günter Rohrbach, and starring Jürgen Prochnow, Herbert Grönemeyer and Klaus Wennemann. An Film adaptation, adaptation of Lothar-Günthe ...

'' (1981), both also shown theatrically. Also producing the ''

Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus ''Monty Python's Fliegender Zirkus'' (''Monty Python's Flying Circus'') is a pair of 45-minute Monty Python German television comedy specials produced by WDR for West German television. The two episodes were respectively first broadcast in Janua ...

'' specials for German and Austrian television in Geiselgasteig in 1971 and 1972.

Bavaria Studios

The company owns the

Bavaria Studios Bavaria Studios are film production studios located in Munich, the capital of the region of Bavaria in Germany, and a subsidiary of Bavaria Film. History The studios were constructed in the suburb of Geiselgasteig in 1919 shortly after the Firs ...

, Germany, where many of its films have been produced, and utilised by a number of notable directors and films. Other German production companies have also produced films in the studios, including

Constantin Film Constantin Film AG is a German film production company based in Munich. The company, which belongs to Swiss media conglomerate Highlight Communications AG, is a large independent German maker and distributor of productions. Constantin has releas ...

with ''

The Neverending Story ''The Neverending Story'' () is a fantasy novel by German writer Michael Ende, published in 1979. The first English translation, by Ralph Manheim, was published in 1983. It was later adapted into a film series and a television series. Plot T ...

'', '' Downfall'' and '' Perfume: The Story of a Murderer''.

Bavaria Filmstadt

The Filmstadt is an attraction for tourists that offers visitors a studio tour to see sets and props from ''

'', ''

'', '' Marienhof'' and other productions.

References

External links

Bavaria Film GmbH

Bavaria Studios & Production Services GmbH

Bavaria Filmstadt
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bavaria Film Mass media companies established in 1919 German film studios Film production companies of Germany Mass media in Munich Tourist attractions in Munich Companies based in Munich German brands 1919 establishments in Germany