29/10/2010

On Wednesday, the Danish government signed off on the new Film Agreement and its comprehensive DKK 2.1 billion (around €281m) budget for the local film industry from 2011 to 2014 that will be administered by the Danish Film Institute (DFI).

The DKK2.1 billion budget for the upcoming four years is slightly higher than the one allocated for the 2006-2010 Film Agreement. The DFI will have DKK 673m (around €90m) for 2011-2014 for the development, production and distribution of feature films. A greater flexibility will be introduced in the support system to promote diversity and innovation. Subsidies will be split between the existing film commissioning subsidy system and a new market-oriented scheme based on each film’s commercial potential that will replace the much criticized existing 60-/40 support system.

To support the strong documentary sector and to open it up to a younger audience, a minimum DKK165m (€22m) will be invested for the development and production of Danish documentaries. The overall aim is for the film industry to produce 60-75 feature films over the four-year period (including four to eight Danish films for the international market), plus 20-36 minority Danish co-productions and 120-140 documentaries.

Aware of the importance of supporting independent arthouse cinemas in a competitive exhibition sector, the government has offered the theatres one-off grants of DKK200,000 (€26,000) that they will be able to use for digital conversion or as digital distribution support. Another grant of DKK20m (€2.6m) will be earmarked towards computer games.

DFI head Henrik Bo Nielsen welcomed the government’s new Film Agreement, which was largely based on its Set Film Free document, handed out at the beginning of the year. The Danish Producers Association also approved the greater flexibility within the DFI new support system.