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PRODUCTION / FUNDING Luxembourg / Canada

Luxembourg and Canada are renewing their incentive for co-development and co-production

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- The historical collaboration launched in 2018 via Film Fund Luxembourg and the Canada Media Fund takes new momentum

Luxembourg and Canada are renewing their incentive for co-development and co-production
Film Fund Luxembourg director Guy Daleiden

In Autumn 2017, Luxembourg (which currently has several co-production treaties, including with Switzerland, France, Austria and Ireland) signed an agreement with Canada to stimulate audiovisual co-development and co-production. This historical measure then featured a total investment of €1.2m made available to businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.

Between 2018 and 2019, the Fonds des Médias du Canada (FMC) and Film Fund Luxembourg (FFL) have thus joined forces allowing for the financing of seven projects. The initiative, aimed at television works and feature-length animations, also targeted the sectors of augmented and virtual reality, transmedia projects, as well as innovative technologies – areas of expertise particularly well developed in two countries (via companies such as a_Bahn in Luxembourg, or Félix & Paul and the multidisciplinary organisation Centre Phi in Canada). The series Cult (8 x 52’), a primarily Canadian co-production (Omni Film Drama Development), co-financed by the Luxembourgers of Samsa Film, has therefore obtained a total contribution of €64,000 as part of the incentive. On the virtual reality side, L'Aventure VR du film Playmobil (Bidibul Productions, Kaiboo Production) has relied on a joint institutional funding of €308,700.

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The initial agreement originated from an exchange between the Film Fund and Stéphane Cardin, former VP of public affairs and industry relations for the FMC (currently Director of public policy for Netflix in Canada). Luxembourg was then looking to develop its skills in the sector of new writings: the twinning with the FMC, an institution benefiting from a very interesting expertise in that area, was completely natural.

Building on the results obtained since then, the FMC and the FFL are now announcing the renewal of their collaboration for two more years (2020-2021). As in the past, the combined annual budget will be established at about €600,000. The maximum combined total contribution will reach €65,000 for each television or digital project financed in development, and €320,000 for each digital media project financed in production.

Amongst the eligibility criteria, the minority co-producer must own 15% of the copyright. A project that is co-developed and co-produced by a producer coming from a third country is admissible. Moreover, the submitted applications must demonstrate a significant interest potential with audiences in both countries, able to cross national borders. A complete list of the directing principles is available online at cmf-fmc.ca and filmfund.lu. The deadline for submitting applications is October 25, 2020, and decisions will be announced at the end of the year.

Asked about this subject by Cineuropa, Guy Daleiden (director of the FFL) spoke of a “very pleasant, friendly and direct” collaboration with the FMC. He added that “the applications submitted for the first two calls for projects were very interesting and ambitious, which is why we decided to renew the initiative in 2020. In these difficult and unpredictable times, investing in co-development is even more decisive. We must give the creators of innovative projects the necessary means to allow them to dedicate enough of their time to reflection, collaboration and conception. For the 20/21 edition of the initiative, we expect a greater number of projects in the development phase than in the production phase.”

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(Translated from French by Manuela Lazic)

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