19/04/2005

The Arts Council of Ireland and the Irish Film Board
Bord Scannán na hÉireann (IFB) have just launched a call for proposals for a new production fund entitled ‘Documenting the Arts’.
The new fund aims to encourage new and established filmmakers to produce personal, creative and compelling art-based documentaries that examine the diverse issues of arts and culture in contemporary or historical context.
Each documentary will receive a maximum of €90,000 from the new fund, and up to six projects will be supported each year.
The fund is a stepped fund. Stage 1 consists of the Arts Council providing up to €40,000, an amount which can be used by the applicant to fully finance their project. The applicant can also choose to use this initial seed funding as part-financing in which case he may then choose to move on to Stage 2 whereby the IFB may provide further automatic funding of up to €50,000 per project, triggered by broadcasters commitments.

“We are delighted to partner with our friends at the Arts Council on this unique new scheme, commented the IFB’s departing CEO Mark Woods. “Creative documentary filmmakers can be empowered by initiating Arts Council funding to seek pre-sales from broadcasters and thereby for the first time, automatically trigger financing from the IFB”, he said.
Applications for Stage 1 funding will be assessed in one round per year, while those for Stage 2 will be processed all year round.
The deadline for Stage 1 funding is Tuesday 7 June 2005 at 5pm.