Belgium: Modification of the production funding system
by Cineuropa
- The Wallonia-Brussels Federation decided to increase the amount of the funding available for production and create a fund for development
In 2010, the running of the Commission for the Selection of Films, the organization in charge of the attribution of funding for audiovisual creation in the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, was experiencing a major overhaul, reviewing the amounts given for production support, as well as the composition of commissions. Features, shorts and documentaries were all allocated specific commissions. The feature film projects, until then divided into three colleges, and whose allocated funding varied depending on their ranking – experienced author films, classified in the third college, could receive up to 650,000€ -, are now divided into two colleges, and, most importantly, are all attributed the same amount of 350,000€.
The Consultation Committee of the cinema and audiovisual industry and the administration focused over the past few months on the funding system applied by the Commission for the Selection of Films to fiction feature films, which were hit by the difficulties facing the profession in terms of funding of audiovisual projects of Belgium initiative. As a result of the work led by professionals, the Audiovisual and Cinema Centre, and Minister Fadila Laanan, it was agreed to considerably increase the funding given to experienced filmmakers (having produced more than two films), from 350,000 to 500,000€.
On the other hand, first films saw their funding increase from 350,000 to 425,000€, and the possibility of obtaining development backing support, which previously didn’t exist, in order to push producers to effectively finance the development of projects with funding allocated for production. This aid of 37,500€ is thus aimed at backing producers in the most financially risky phase, that is the rewriting of the screenplay, artistic development and the film’s financial consolidation. The final text should be approved by the government in the next few weeks after having been examined by the State Council.
(Translated from French)
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