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Apart from the rubbish John Thompson produces in Munich and the niche Infraganti stuff made in Berlin, there appears to be very little being made in Germany at the present time. As I look through various distributors web pages, they seem to be dominated by dvds of late 1990's videos which have been recently transferred to disc. Is this the case, or am I mistaken?

Hi David,

My impression is similar. But I am happy to see late 90s movies to be released on DVD, at least when they are not edited.

One reason of this lack of new releases may be as Hardware pointed out that there are much more American movies being released than European ones, all the more as some European actresses start their career in Europe, then go in the US. So the new releases with these actresses are American - a kind of "breast drain" !wink!

Another reason could be that the market for American movies is much larger, it includes both the US and Europe, while European studios often only have a national market (try to find a DVD made in Germany in a French store and conversely). As a result, American movies are usually much cheaper; I have even seen new American movies selling for almost twice as less as equivalent European movies.

Finally, there is maybe a problem of marketing from some European producers to convince online shops, wholesalers to sell their products: this means a well-done cover with information on the cast. I usually buy movies based upon actresses, but how can I know that the latest release of MMV (to name one among others) features this or that actress when her name, and sometimes even her picture, is not on the cover?

Your views mirror my own Ben. I really cannot understand why German companies do not market their films better. Incidentally, I have discovered that you have to be cautious buying MMV dvds as they seem occasionally to re-market them under a different title and you can end up with two copies of the same film. Compared with other companies their dvds seem overpriced too.

Good thread. There's no question of the U.S. domination, which started in the 70's, when porn became legal in America, and just keeps growing. U.S. films are cheaper, better marketed (including heavy promotion of the models) and easy to get hold of.

As for the internet, my deduction is that Germany has suffered quite a bit because of the Jugendschutz ("youth protection") laws, including the German law of banning mail-order porn. Today, with the internet being the No 1 resource for adult films, Germany cannot partake the same way other countries do, which must set them back considerably, at least as an international force. They still have the domestic market, of course, but they put out a number of American films as well, with succesful returns, especially if they offer German-synchronized versions of these films. It all lashes back on the domestic production.

There might also be other problems. I have laughed many times at this report on marketing philosophies from the 2000 Venus fair in Berlin. It's written by Danish reporter Nicolas Barbano, and recounts the story of when he tried to get an interview with Dolly Buster:

"I met Dolly with her husband Dino Baumberger, who also acts as her director and manager. I asked for an interview, but as soon as the couple heard that it was for a website, the said "No! Impossible!"

Here is the following conversation between me and Mister Buster:

- You can't interview my wife. The internet rights to Dolly Buster has been sold.
- Sold how? To whom?
- To me. Bye-bye!
- Eh, I don't quite follow you. If you mean that you own her official website, that's one thing. But you must have an interest in that there are other places on the internet where one can read about her, and also link oneself to your site.
- No, all rights are sold. Bye-bye!
- Which rights? This is plain nonsense. Anyone can write about Dolly Buster on the internet.
- No, you can't write about her. The rights are sold. Bye-bye!"

Not the greatest marketing plan, methinks. As far as the Jugendschutz program, it's idiotic. All any horny German teenager has to do is write "tits" (or worse) in in the Google search, and be directed to thousands of sites, most of them American.

mulholand wrote:

>>

I agree, these laws are utterly ridiculous. Let me explain just how ridiculous (I live in Germany):

Last year I bought a movie (mainstream, not porn) on eBay from a seller in the US, simply because I much prefer watching movies in their original language whenever possible, and I could only find dubbed versions of this movie.

After several weeks my DVD had still not arrived, when I got a letter from the German customs office in Frankfurt, saying that because these films were certified in Germany as being for aged 18 or over, I had violated the "Jugendschutz" laws, and the case was being looked into to determine whether or not I was liable to prosecution for having committed such a heinous offence!!!

So I wrote back to them, (a) saying how fucking stupid this was, given that I could walk into any German store and buy the exact same movies over the counter (but in German) and (b) enclosing copies of my passport to prove my age. Oh yes - and please could I now have my DVD thank you very much!!

A couple more weeks then elapsed, after which I received a second letter from them, telling me that "no further action" would be taken in this matter, but No, I couldn't have my DVD because it was being kept as (get this) "possible evidence to use in a future case against the sender" - also fucking silly, given that the sender was tucked away safe & sound in Ohio or somewhere.

And that's why I don't buy mail order porn from the States.

However, there's no problem at all with sending porn in the mail in Germany or even to and from other EU countries, and a lot of such trading goes on. That's because the customs don't check domestic or EU post, you just have to make sure that whatever you're sending is securely packaged up so that it doesn't come open in the mail.

hoi!
good thread!-also some good arguments in this thread!
i think german dvd productions have mostly not enough runningtime or groovy extras(bonus,behind the scenes)-ok magma sometimes-but the rest???
90 minutes are not enough in the age of dvd9 like at sineplex/red light district/evil empire/platinum x...
and some german "pornoopas" like dino,hans,harry and so on have lost their inspiration for the pornbizz UND HABEN FERTIG! !grin! ---when i travel to amsterdam i see mostly ggg/thompson as (most wanted) german label in the shops-
here my votings: germany zero points !cool!
details:
inflagranti:good boxcover but inside?-90 minutes-2-3 girls and finish-further to expensive! !wink!
magma: perhaps momently the best in normal hardcore??!blush!
purzel:very good in teens !drink!
videorama: !thumbsdown!
mmv: !boring!
muschi movie/bb-video/bex: !sleep!
ggg: !bow!
puaka: !boring!
dbm: !boring!
ribu: !confused!
subway !sad! (4-5 years ago some good films like loveparade/dance trance...)
other labels on the way-sperrgebiet???
greetz

p.s. the(international) beate uhse company has leaved germany to nederlands-that`s says all!

I quite like the Puaka stuff! Unfortunately I can't seem to find any online stores supplying the Uk with their titles anymore. I used to use a company based in Norfolk called CTB International but that site has now been taken down and the name used by one of the bigger online sites. They have a few titles but not the full catalogue like the old CTB.