Deadline: 5April 2022 (17:00 Brussels).
Funding available:
The total budget available is EUR 33 million.
Eligible applicants:
European film distributors involved in the mainstream and commercial activity of releasing non-national European films in cinemas in their country in order to gain the attention of a wide audience.
In multi-beneficiary grants, a coordinator will be chosen who will submit the consortium application and will be responsible for the management and coordination of the project. In mono-beneficiary applications, the beneficiary will automatically be the coordinator.
The film distributor must fulfil the following requirements:
- Be the holder of the theatrical distribution rights of the film in the country concerned.
- Carry out the theatrical distribution of the film in the country concerned, (determine the release date, plan, control and execute the distribution and promotional campaign of the film).
- Directly pay the associated distribution costs.
- Be registered and have prior theatrical distribution operations in the country concerned.
In case the distribution activities are shared between several companies, the contracts/agreements established between these companies must be provided. The company that fulfils all the above requirements and actually executes the distribution of the film in accordance with the above criteria will be considered as compliant. If the tasks and/or responsibilities are shared between several companies and it is impossible to identify a single distributor for the film in a territory, entries for that film will not be eligible.
Distributors operating in different linked countries for distribution purposes (e.g. Belgium and Luxembourg, Greece and Cyprus) should only submit a single proposal and declare entries and reinvestment in these countries.
Eligible projects: The assistance operates in two phases:
1. Generation of a potential fund, which will be calculated on the basis of the company’s performance on the European market during the reference period.
To qualify, European films must be fictions (including animations) or documentaries with a minimum running time of 60 minutes whose copyright is established in 2015 at the earliest. Furthermore, they must have been predominantly produced by producers established in countries participating in Creative Europe MEDIA and must have been produced with the significant participation of national/resident professionals from these countries.
2. Implementation of the action: Reinvestment of a potential fund generated and proportional to the number of ticket sales of non-domestic European films released by the applicant distributor in its Creative Europe MEDIA participating country during the reference period.
To be eligible, the tickets must meet the following criteria:
- They must be obtained between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2021.
- The ticket price was paid to the relevant exhibitor (including any special offers or discounts), but excluding those tickets where the fee was not paid.
- They must be clearly identified and certified by the relevant national authority.
- They must be declared by the distributors to be eligible in that country.
- The films must be non-national European films eligible in the country of distribution.
- The film must have its copyright established at the earliest:
– In 2015 for entries obtained between 1 January and 31 December 2018.
– In 2016 for entries obtained between 1 January and 31 December 2019.
– In 2017 for entries obtained between 1 January and 31 December 2020.
– In 2018 for tickets obtained between 1 January and 31 December 2021.
Group screenings or cinema clubs where the price of an individual ticket is not charged and where the price is significantly lower than the normal ticket price will not be eligible. All tickets must be certified by the designated national authority. Electronic tickets may be included, provided they are certified in the same way as cinema tickets. It is the responsibility of the distributor to have its own selection of entries certified by the closing date of the call for entries. Without such certification, the entries will not be eligible.
The potential fund generated in this way by each company must be reinvested in a maximum of 12 different non-national films. The films declared must meet the eligibility criteria detailed above and must be non-national for the applicant.
The potential fund generated in this way by each company must be reinvested in:
- Co-production of eligible non-national European films. Only investments by the distributor that are set out in a co-production contract signed with the producer and/or co-producer of the film will be eligible.
- Acquisition of distribution rights (e.g. guaranteed minimums for eligible non-national European films). Only the guaranteed minimums set out in the distribution contract signed between the producer or the sales agent of the film during the period of eligibility of the Grant Agreement will be accepted. In case distributors acquire distribution rights for several territories and the amount of the guaranteed minimum is defined, the agency will only co-finance the guaranteed minimum for the territory of the distributor concerned. In the case of a multi-territory acquisition by a distributor or by any related company, the amount of the minimum eligible guarantee will be reduced according to the shares per territory stipulated in the distribution agreement.
- Launch of eligible non-national European films. Promotion, marketing and advertising on the market of eligible non-domestic European films. Optical and digital prints (digitisation and transcoding). Booking and invoicing.
Activities 1 and 2 combined are only eligible up to 75% of the total direct reinvestment of the budget. Therefore, at least 25% must be reinvested in films.
Activities 1, 2 and 3 shall not include travel arrangements and personal work.
Projects must be in line with EU policy interests and priorities.
Financial support to third parties is not allowed.
The duration of the projects will be 24 months.
Selection criteria:
Maximum points: 100 points.
Overall threshold: 70 points.
The documentation relating to the European Film Distribution CREA-MEDIA-2022-FILMDIST Call for Proposals is available at this link.
More information:
Call Networks of European Festivals CREA-MEDIA-2022-2022-FILMDIST
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