24/07/2008

Having allocated an additional €1m for the 2009 budget for the Film and Audiovisual Centre in May (i.e. an increase of 7% compared to 2008), the Ministry of Culture and Audiovisual Productions of the French Community of Belgium has just announced the provision of new financial subsidies for the coming months.

While Parliament is set to pass a decree aiming to guarantee prompt payment of the contributions of television broadcasting networks to audiovisual production, the ministerial cabinet have just decided to grant an extra €100,000, which is earmarked for film development.

After seeking advice from the Consultation Committee composed of film professionals – who emphasised the importance of giving greater support to the development and writing stages of the film projects submitted to the Film Centre selection committee – a decision has been made to increase funding for screenwriters of the French Community of Belgium.

The Culture Convention indeed underlined the importance of strengthening this sector of activity. Given that the feature film writing grants awarded by the CCA amount to a maximum of €12,500, a further €50,000 will be provided in order to enable the development of four additional projects. A total of 19 films could thus receive funding in 2008.

At the same time, these subsidies are set to be reinforced by the setting up of a tutoring system for screenwriters. Some writers will thus have the opportunity to receive guidance from “script doctors” as they compose their screenplay. Moreover, a new partnership between francophone countries is set to be developed in the coming years, with the aim of promoting co-productions.

(Translated from French)