Sonja Heinen of the Berlin-based World Cinema Fund announced the new launch of WCF Europe to mark its 10th anniversary. WCF Europe will be a supplement to the existing fund to support coproductions between European producers and its targeted low-production areas, which have now been expanded to include Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova. The fund will distribute 300,000 EUR in 2015 and 2016, with 240,000 targeted for production support. It plans to fund five or six projects and grant distribution support for another two films at 30,000 EUR per film.
In France, the World Cinema Support fund, established in 2012 with an annual budget of 6m EUR, has been supporting some 50 productions per year. The fund has received approximately 150 applications from CEE, supporting 17 films from eight countries, include five from Romania and one from the Czech Republic.
To the south, Italy’s northwestern province has been building a regional fund with Slovenia and Croatia, the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund, established in 2007. In September, the Italian fund along with the Croatian Audiovisual Center and the Slovenian Film Fund, announced the created a regional audiovisual cooperation and training programme, RE-ACT, designed to foster coproductions between the three territories. The small fund aims to provide development support of 15,000-20,000 EUR each for at least three films. At least two of the three member countries must be involved as coproducers.
Georgia weighed in with its Adjara regional film fund, established three years ago, to support Georgian films and international coproductions. The fund’s budget is expected to double to 40,000 EUR.
Albania’s film fund, whose budget dropped dramatically after hitting a high of 1.2m EUR in 2010, is slowly climbing again. The fund is distributing in 500,000 EUR in 2014 and will increase the amount to 800,000 EUR in 2015. Now under a new director, the fund is expected to open funding for minority coproductions in 2015 and to launch film tax credits. Discussions are also underway regarding the launch of a regional film fund involving six Balkan countries. The fund ideally would have 4m EUR to encourage Balkan coproductions, with funding coming from the EU.
