15/11/2005

The forum Connecting Cottbus organised within the framework of the Festival of East-European cinema in Cottbus (8-12 November),allowed Germany and Poland to come to an agreement over a German-Polish co-development fund which has been discussed since Cottbus 2002 — the year of the Polish "focus".

Indeed, Agnieszka Odorowicz, the recently appointed Director of the Polish Film Institute, Kirsten Niehuus (Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg) and Manfred Schmidt (Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung) decided to finally start this pioneer joint-project for two countries which both have a long tradition in filmmaking and share a cultural background. The idea is to encourage the development of German-Polish scripts which could lead to co-productions with good cross-border potential.

This new fund will start operating in 2006 with a €150,000 budget. Any project for a feature or documentary submitted by a Polish producer and a German partner from either of the concerned regions can received a subsidy of up to 30,000 euros (provided this sum does not exceed 70% of the total development costs).
The first deadline for applications is June 1st, 2006. More detailed information and application forms will be available on the websites of the Polish Film Institute, MDM and Medienboard from March 2006.

(Translated from French)