26/10/2016 - The Lazio Region is again allocating €10 million to promote co-productions with foreign countries, confirming its status as “the second most supportive region of the audiovisual sector in Europe”

Supporting local production and its ability to work on big international film and audiovisual co-productions, whilst promoting Lazio as a location for filming and encouraging the involvement of companies operating in the industry: this is the aim of the Lazio Cinema International Fund call for entries, this year in its second edition. The Fund is made up of €10 million in European funding from the 2014-2020 programming period for companies operating in the film and audiovisual sector. “It’s a great incentive for big international production companies to choose Italy as not only a shooting location, but a place teaming with industry professionals for them to work with”, highlighted the President of the Lazio Region, Nicola Zingaretti, when he presented the call for entries last Friday at the MIA – International Audiovisual Market in Rome. 

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This year the call for entries has been split into two parts, one to be launched in November 2016 and the other in May 2017, each for €5 million. Grants will be awarded for up to 25% of eligible costs, which will be increased to 45% for co-productions funded by foreign producers from at least one other Member State in the European Union. 50% of funding overall will be awarded to works deemed to be of regional interest. Applications for funding may only be presented electronically, via a form that is available online on the GeCoWEB platform, which can be accessed here.

In 2015 the Lazio Region helped make 17 co-productions a reality (with France, Germany, Iceland, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, and the United Kingdom), which were filmed all over the region, not only in Rome. The Lazio region, as it was pointed out, is the Italian region that most heavily invests in this asset: “Today it is the second most supportive region of the audiovisual industry in Europe after the Berlin-Brandenburg region, with contributions of over €25 million”, Zingaretti pointed out. In 2016 alone, €23 million were set aside for the audiovisual industry, which will be boosted by funds from the upcoming Creatività 2020 calls for entries.

(Translated from Italian)