Member representation With more than 580 members, the BVR is the largest association of film and television directors in Germany, and represents the artistic, social, legal, economic, and labour interests of filmmakers from the areas of
cinema, television, documentary,
dubbing,
music video, and other areas. It has representatives on the boards of the (FFA; the German Federal Film Board) and the German Media Council (Deutschen Medienrat). It has regular contact with the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). It negotiates minimum rates of pay, as well as filming conditions and copyrights, with
streaming services, broadcasters, and producer associations. The BVR was signatory to the 2024 Declaration of Filmmakers (
Declaration des Cineastes /
Die Deklaration der Filmemacher:innen), a document drawn up collaboratively by 14 associations, which affirms the moral rights of filmmakers regarding the protection of their works by copyright.
Advocacy In 2007, the BVR called for a review of the , following the collapse of a production deal for
Jan de Bont's project
Stopping Power, which was due to be filmed in
Berlin. At the meeting of the BVR General Assembly in 2010, two major decisions were taken:
Awards In 2012, the BVR established a new award,), the biggest German film award for directors. Winners of the directing prize receive a "Metropolis" statuette as well as prize money worth more than US$60,000 (€55,000) (). A gala ceremony is held in November, where the awards are presented. The awards were expanded to include various categories.
Edward Berger's film
Jack won Best Director and Best Picture at the German Directors Guild Awards in 2015. In 2017, the Metropolis Best Director award was presented for the seventh time,
Roland Klick won the Lifetime Achievement Award, and a new award, the Jannet Fechner Award, was established, for an
assistant director for their life's work. Helga Asenbaum was the recipient of the inaugural prize. A German-Brazilian co-production directed by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck,
The Cleaners, won the Best Documentary Directors Award Metropolis. There does not appear to be evidence of the Metropolis awards continuing beyond 2018.
Oscars nomination jury In 2017, a representative of Directors Guild was one of nine members of the independent jury appointed by German Films to represent Germany in the
Oscars. The other members were representatives from the German Producers Association, the German Producers Alliance/Cinema Section, the Association of German Film Exporters, the Association of German Film Distributors, the Association of German Exhibitors, the , and the German Film Academy. In that year, they chose
In the Fade, directed by
Fatih Akin, as Germany's official submission for the
90th Academy Awards, in the
Best Foreign Language Film category.
Publications In 2014 the BRV published their first
diversity report, "Erster Regie-Diversitätsbericht des BVR, 2010-2013". Data and methodology from this report (among others) were used by the European Women's Audiovisual Network to compile a Europe-wide report on women in the film industry in 2015, as well as a 2020 report looking at international figures on women creatives. It has since published updated diversity reports, as well many others on topics such as copyright and funding. ==See also==