International Co-production Funds

IBF Europe – International Co-productionThe International Co-Production Fund Scheme supports activities designed to help European and international co-production partners to meet and/or provide indirect support for audiovisual works co-produced by supporting international co-production funds based in a country participating in the Programme. The targeted operators are international co-production funds whose main activity is supporting international co-productions. The Funds supported will provide funding for activities that facilitate international co-production and strengthen the circulation and distribution of audiovisual works.

How to Apply if you are a Co-production Fund - Deadline 25 February 2016

If you are an International Co-production fund, click here for full instructions on how to apply for Creative Europe MEDIA Schemes

Co-production Funds Supported by Creative Europe in 2017

Creative Europe gives funding to five Co-productions Funds. Listed below are the five funds that can be accessed, what they fund, deadlines, and links to where to apply for each fund. 

1. World Cinema Fund (WCF) EUROPE PROGRAMME

AIM: Strengthen TRANS-EUROPEAN and INTERNATIONAL Co-operation Strategies

DEADLINES:

The new funding programme, World Cinema Fund Europe, will retain the current successful funding structures of the World Cinema Fund. WCF Europe will operate in the production and distribution funding fields as well, but has opened up the WCF support to companies from European countries participating to the MEDIA sub-programme. That means within this new programme, film projects can be submitted by companies from the WCF Europe eligible regions and countries in cooperation with a company from European countries participating to the MEDIA sub-programme, and vice versa. The European partner would become the administrative recipient of the WCF Europe funding.

The main criteria remain the same: WCF Europe will support the realisation of films (feature-length fiction films and creative documentaries) from WCF Europe eligible regions and countries. The premises of the selection are the artistic quality and the content of the projects as well as their feasibility.

The WCF Europe eligible regions and countries are the same as for the World Cinema Fund (Latin America, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, the Caucasus, Central Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Bangladesh, Nepal, and Sri Lanka) plus – only for WCF Europe - Belarus, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The WCF aims to support projects that are structured as international co-productions between the countries of origin and European countries (respectively countries participating to the MEDIA sub-programme) and that are at a very advanced stage at the time of applying, which will preferably be ready to go into production within three months of the jury’s funding decision.

WFC Production Funding Scheme

Funding amount:

  • Maximum funding: 60,000 Euro per project and / or 50% of the total production costs
  • The total production costs of the supported projects should lie between 200,000 Euro and 1,000,000 Euro
  • The funding must be spent on the production of the film in the aforementioned regions

To be eligible to receive WCF Europe Distribution support, films must be from the WCF Europe eligible regions and countries, submitted by a joint group of at least three international distributors (with at least one participant in the MEDIA sub-programme and at least one from a WCF Europe eligible region / country).

WFC Distribution Funding Scheme

Funding amount

  • Maximum funding: 30,000 Euro (total amount for the release of the film in all the (it must be at least three) countries involved, with a maximum of 15,000 Euro per distribution territory).
  • The funding cannot amount altogether to more than 50% of the film’s release costs in all (at least three) applicants' countries.
  • The funding will be solely granted to cover the costs of releasing the film in all (at least three) co-applicants' countries.

For more detailed information on WCF Schemes including eligibility and submission forms and requirements click here.

2. ACM DISTRIBUTION

AIM: Support and promote the distribution and international circulation of ACM films co-produced with a non-European country.

DEADLINES: 2017

  • June 2017: call for projects
  • September 2017: Deadline for applications
  • November 2017: Selection committee and results

ACM Distribution is a new component of Aide aux Cinémas du Monde (ACM), a fund founded by the the French Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), which is dedicated to the international distribution of films supported at production stage. ACM Distribution is open to European companies that offer innovative international distribution and promotional strategies for one or several ACM films in at least three territories, one of which must be European (excluding France), and one from outside of Europe. Projects can be submitted in French or English. The Lobster (pictured above), an offical European co-production which included Irish company Element Pictures amongst its co-producers, was supported by ACM.

Further information and the call for projects can be found here.

3. IDFA Bertha Fund

AIM: to stimulate and empower the creative documentary sector in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe

Deadlines:

By supporting both documentary filmmakers and organisations that promote documentaries, the IDFA Bertha Fund (formerly known as the Jan Vrijman Fund) enables documentary practitioners in these developing countries to find their own unique voice. The Fund not only provides financial support to realize this endeavour, but plays a crucial advisory role as well. Since its inception in 1997, the IDFA Bertha Fund has supported more than 500 projects. Because the selection criteria are so rigorous, based as they are on a project’s originality, cinematic quality and market potential, Fund support is generally considered to be a seal of approval.

Each year, the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) screens a large part of the year's harvest of completed films supported by the IDFA Bertha Fund. These may be selected in Competition or in the main section Reflecting Images - Panorama. Every year IDFA Bertha Fund works with numerous international film festivals, including Cannes, Berlinale, Thessaloniki, Locarno, Toronto and Pusan, to screen the films that have received IDFA Bertha Fund support.

In 2013, the IDFA Bertha Fund has expanded its support to projects and launched a new initiative: the IBF Project Factory. In addition to a financial contribution, the Fund offers filmmakers support in developing or editing their documentaries or advice on international distribution. All of this is done in order to generate maximum attention for filmmakers from the developing world, to stimulate local film cultures and to turn the creative documentary into a truly global film art. 

4. Torino Film Lab (TFL) World Production and Distribution Funds

Aim: Production Support 

Deadline: 01 March 2018 to apply to FeatureLab360*

During the TorinoFilmLab Meeting Event most projects developed within the different TorinoFilmLab training programmes are presented to an audience of Decision Makers invited from all over the world. The FeatureLab projects are eligible for TorinoFilmLab's support to production: the World Production Awards, and the Audience Award.

World Production Awards

Every year at the TFL Meeting Event an international Jury assigns World Production Awards to a number of FeatureLab Projects - *in order to be eligible for the Production Awards, all projects need to participate in the FeatureLab programme first. The awards are given to enable the making of the film, without any obligation to spend the money in Italy. The Jury changes every year, and it is formed by 5 members of the film industry. Awarding Criteria: Selection of awarded projects is based on the following project materials: script, budget, financing plan, production schedule, as well as on the public pitching of the project, and the individual meeting of the writer/director and producer with the Jury.

Audience Award

The audience of film professionals attending the TFL Meeting Event votes for their favourite FrameWork projects. The most voted project receives the Audience Award.

Awarding Criteria: The selection of the awarded project is based on the Book of Projects presentation, as well as on the public pitching of the project, and the individual meetings of the writer/director and producer with the industry professionals.

Distribution Support

Launched in 2014, the TFL Audience Design Fund completes the 360° support offered by TFL to worldwide audiovisual professionals, adding a further essential step: Audience Engagement and Distribution. The TFL Audience Design Fund is aimed at supporting innovative audience engagement and outreach strategies at the moment of distribution – designed specifically to accompany the release of each selected project in three territories within December 31st, 2017, thus linking the initiative closely with TFL’s established Audience Design programme. 

TorinoFilmLab covers workshop training, accommodation and subsistence costs during the workshops. Participants must pay travel costs that can be included in the Distribution & Audience Design Strategy Budget of each territory presented in the application. More detailed information can be found on their website.

5. HBF+Europe 

AIM: Minority co-production support to European producers and Distribution Support

Deadlines:

Through HBF+Europe: Minority Co-production support, the Hubert Bals Fund aims to encourage European producers to participate as a minority co-producer in high-quality film projects by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and parts of Eastern Europe.

HBF+Europe also offers the HBF+Europe: Distribution support, that offers financial support to the distribution of feature films by filmmakers from Africa, Asia, Latin America and parts of Eastern Europe, to stimulate the promotion and circulation of international co-productions in Europe and beyond.

  • The scheme has a special spotlight on first and second feature films, but is also open to films by filmmakers more advanced in their career
  • The funding is designed for international co-productions, in which at least one European and one non-European producer is involved
  • The European producer should also be the applicant and will conclude the funding agreement
  • The majority of the HBF+Europe funding does not need to be spent in Europe, but can be spent elsewhere
  • The scheme is especially designed to encourage European producers from countries with limited co-production schemes to participate

Please contact Creative Europe Desk Ireland – MEDIA Office or MEDIA Office Galway, if you have any questions regarding your application.