Mohsen Makhmalbaf’s The President, which opened the ORIZZONTI section of the Venice IFF in 2014, was one of the first projects to have received a grant for coproduction support under the programme from the GNFC.  The film was shot in Georgia with Georgian actors and a Georgian coproducer, 20 Steps Productions, Ltd.

To qualify, the applicant must be a legal entity which is registered in Georgia and which has a foreign partner. The deadline for applications is 25 September 2015. 

David Vashadze, Head of Export and Distribution at GNFC, told FNE that around five projects are expected to apply for the 200,281 EUR/500,000 GEL in funding available and that the number of winners depends on the quality of the projects."Sometimes GNFC is supporting one project, sometimes two projects. The maximum number is two," Vashadze said.   The committee which will decide the grant can choose not to spend the entire amount of funding.

Georgia will also launch a tax incentive scheme in January 2016.  Vashadze said: "The cash rebate scheme is an independent project of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development, while the funding of GNFC is coming from the Ministry of Culture and Monuments Protection. According to this, growth of funding for national films as well as for coproductions is not dependent on the scheme we are going to implement in 2016," he said.

Encouraging European coproductions is a key part of the GNFC’s strategy for the development of the Georgian film industry. Georgia launched the coproduction scheme for feature films in 2010 and also launched a new call for documentary coproductions in 2014 . According to GNFC, Georgia will launch a call for animation coproductions in 2016.