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Landmarks for financing Mediterranean films (2007). Practical guide to financing opportunities.

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- Several European film funds are open to Mediterranean film projects with budgets between 5,000 to 1 million euros. They support documentary, features, and animation under certain conditions such as handling distribution rights or the involvement of a national producer for easier access to the film market as the Hubert Bals Fund and World Cinema Fund.

The following list includes funds which could finance Mediterranean projects from Algeria, Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey.

Supporting funds open to Mediterranean film projects in Europe

The Jan Vrijman Fund is open to documentaries proceeding from developing countries. Contributions range from 5 to 15 000 euros, and are made in exchange for distribution rights within the Benelux countries. Funds may support development, production, post-production, distribution, as well as promotional events (workshops, etc).

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The Hubert Bals Fund. Created in 1988, this is one of the better known funds as it is linked to the CineMart, the project market of the Rotterdam Festival which gathers most of those European independent producers who are looking for international projects. The fund distributes 1.2 million euros a year in sums ranging from 10 to 30 000 euros for feature films and documentaries (in production or post-production) proceeding from developing countries.

The Göteborg Festival Fund. Founded in 1988, this fund works together with the previously described Rotterdam fund and is also dedicated to films proceeding from developing countries, with particular focus on African cinema. With a maximum contribution of 40 000 euros, the fund has a budget of 700 000 euros for 2005/2006. In exchange for financing, this fund receives broadcasting rights in Sweden for 7 years, and asks for the Scandinavian premiere to be held in Göteborg.

The World Cinema Fund. Launched by the Berlin Film Festival in 2005, this fund has a yearly 500 000 euro endowment. It supports feature fiction and non-fiction films proceeding from Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and the Near and Middle East. The film’s budget should be between 200 000 and 1 million euros and the WCF funding supports goes up to 100 000 euros, with an average funding of 40 000 euros. The project must have, after selection, a German producer involved, a condition which provides easier access to the German market. The Berlin Film Festival has therefore organised, over the last three years, a co-production market to facilitate such contacts.

Visions Sud Est. Set up in 2005, this fund is endowed with approximately 500 000 dollars a year. It is financed by the Swiss Agency for Development. It is connected to the Festivals of Nyon and Freiburg in Switzerland and is open to feature length fiction and to the feature length documentary. Support is given to 8-10 productions a year from Asia, Africa, Latin America and non-EU European countries. In exchange for funding, producers must hand over Swiss distribution rights to the Trigon Film company.

The Fonds Sud Cinema. Since its creation in 1984, the Fonds Sud Cinema, set up by the French Ministry of Culture (CNC) and by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has helped over 350 projects. Yearly funding has reached 2.2 million euros. There are three types of support: production support, completion support, and rewriting support. Average funding is of 100 000 euros and cannot exceed 152 000 euros. This fund concerns fiction, animation and documentary films targeting distribution within France as well as abroad, and proceeding from the following geographical areas: Africa, the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, Latin America, Asia (except Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and Brunei), Near and Middle East (except Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar), Central and Eastern Europe (non-EU members) and Central Asia (Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan).

The Fonds francophone de production audiovisuelle du Sud. Created in 1988, this fund is managed by both the International French-Speaking Organisation (OIF) and the International Council for Radio and TV of French Expression (Cirtef). Run by the OIF, and annually endowed with approximately 2 million euros, access to its funds are based on a bi-annual call for projects with priority given to production (a maximum of 110 000 euros for a feature length film, etc). The fund aims to facilitate production of 120 hours of cinematographic or television footage, calling on the creative and technical talents from French speaking countries of the south.

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