06/01/2006

The call for proposals to select projects that shall be eligible to receive financial support for distribution in cinemas was published in the Official Journal on 24 December last.

The automatic scheme (Call 13/2005) shall run from 1 March to 30 April 2006. Potential financial support is calculated on the basis of admissions in 2005, as declared and certified by the controlling authority in the respective country. The films must be recent non-national European films whose first copyright has been established during or after 2002. Only admissions between 1 January and 31 December 2005 shall be eligible. Digital distribution can only be supported as long as it is of a minimum quality (=1.3 KB).
From this year onwards, films originating from a country with a high audiovisual production capacity will generate 0.10 Euro less per admission for distribution in a country "where a significant part of the production belongs to the same linguistic area". This concerns for example French films in Belgium where the amounts generated per admission will be limited to 0.35 Euro instead of 0.45 Euro.
The funding received should be reinvested in the co-production of new non-domestic European films, between 30 April 2006 and 1 October 2007.

With regard to elective support (Call 12/2005), for which € 12 million is allocated, there shall be three deadlines in 2006: 1 April, 7 July and 1 December. A film should not be released before the closing date of the call and should start no later than 18 months after this date.
Films eligible must be recent (from 2003 onwards) and non-national. Films with a production budget of over € 25 million shall not be eligible for support and they should be distributed by at least five European distributors operating in five different countries.
Financial support should not exceed 50% of the distribution budget, set at € 150,000 per distributor and per film distributed. It includes an allocation for dubbing and subtitling (a maximum of € 30,000) and an advance payment on receipts.

Guidelines and forms are available on request from MEDIA Desk or can be downloaded at MEDIA Desk Belgique.