On 11 July, Portugal’s Instituto do Cinema e Audiovisual (ICA) and the Film Fund Luxembourg (FFL) signed an agreement in Cannes, during this year’s Marché du Film (6-15 July). In detail, the deal establishes the creation of a fund for the development of audiovisual co-productions between Portugal and Luxembourg. The new effort, called the Luso-Luxembourg Fund, will back features (both fiction and animated films) as well as TV series.

The objective of the fund is to support collaborations between producers established in Luxembourg and in Portugal, and to back projects that possess the “potential to engage the audiences of both countries and beyond”. Moreover, the submitted projects must be “culturally, socially and/or economically relevant for the relations between the two countries”. The agreement was signed by FFL director Guy Daleiden, and ICA president Luís Chaby Vaz and vice-president Maria Mineiro in the Luxembourg Pavilion of the Marché.

For this inaugural year, the total financial allocation of the fund is €200,000. In terms of the split, €100,000 will be provided by the FFL and €100,000 by the ICA, with a maximum backing of €50,000 per eligible project. A selection committee comprising four members will assess the applications: two of these members were appointed by the FFL and two by the ICA. The call for projects opened on 12 July and will remain open until 15 October. Applications can be submitted electronically here.

This year, Luxembourg is back on the Croisette with three co-productions: Joachim Lafosse’s Palme d’Or contender The Restless [+lee también:
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