Propaganda, and gradually nationalized film production and distribution. A state-run professional school for politically reliable film-makers (Deutsche Filmakademie Babelsberg) was founded, and membership of an official professional organization (Reichsfilmkammer) was made mandatory for all actors, film-makers, distributors, etc. The censorship that had already been established during World War I and the Weimar Republic was increased, with a National Film Dramaturgist (Reichsfilmdramaturg) pre-censoring all manuscripts and screenplays at the very first stages of production. Film criticism was prohibited and a national film award established. A film bank (Filmkreditbank GmbH) was established to provide low-interest loans for the production of politically welcome films, and such films also received tax benefits. Film production In the mid-1930s, the German film industry suffered the most severe crisis it had ever faced, due to many of the most capable actors and film-makers having left the country after the rise to power of the Nazi government; while others had been banned by the new Reichsfilmkammer. Secondly, the remaining actors and film-makers seized the opportunity to demand higher salaries, which considerably increased production budgets. Consequently, it became more and more difficult to recover production costs. Thirdly, the export of German films dramatically dropped due to international boycotts. In 1933, exports had covered 44% of film production costs; by 1937, this figure had dropped to 7%. More and more production companies went bankrupt. The number of companies dropped from 114 (1933–35) to 79 (1936–38) to 38 (1939–41). This did not necessarily lead to a decrease in the number of new films, as the remaining production companies produced many more films. Nazi companies went on to produce co-productions with companies of other countries: eight co-productions with the Kingdom of Italy, six co-productions with the French Third Republic, five co-productions with the Kingdom of Hungary, 5 co-productions with Czechoslovakia, 3 co-productions with Switzerland, two co-productions with the Second Polish Republic and the Empire of Japan (e.g., The Daughter of the Samurai), and one each with Francoist Spain, the United States, the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and Sweden. The consolidation of the film industry benefited the Nazi government as a small number of big film production companies were easier to control than a multitude of small ones. Goebbels went even further and directed a holding company – Cautio Treuhand GmbH – to buy up the stock majorities of the remaining film production companies. State subsidies to the film industry resulted in improved production