Belgium

[NL/BE] Film support agreement between the Dutch Film Fund Nederlands Fonds voor de Film and the Flemish Audiovisual Fund Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds (VAF)

IRIS 2008-1:1/33

Esther Harlow

Institute of European Media Law (EMR), Saarbrücken/Brussels

On 1 January 2008, a film support agreement entered into force between the Amsterdam based Dutch Film Fund (Nederlands Fonds voor de Film), which is under the patronage of the Dutch Ministry of Culture, and the Brussels based Flemish Audiovisual Fund (Vlaams Audiovisueel Fonds - VAF) set up by the Government of the Flemish Community. The agreement applies until 31 December 2008, after which the term is automatically extended for one year unless and until either of the contracting parties terminates the co-operation by informing the other party by the end of November at the latest.

Article 5.9 states that the implementation and interpretation of the agreement shall be based on the rules set out in the Council of Europe’s European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production and the European Union’s provisions on the film sector. The purpose of the agreement is to foster co-operation between the two contracting parties in the film sector and promote cultural exchange between them.

The joint support provided by the film funds thus covers co-produced feature films, cartoon films and documentaries. The individual audiovisual productions that fall within its scope are set out in Article 4.2. Article 5.1 states that a maximum of three feature films, two cartoon films and two documentaries will be supported per year and region. For feature films, a subsidy of up to EUR 200,000 is granted, for cartoon films EUR 30,000 and for documentaries up to EUR 50,000. At least one of the producers of the work to be supported must be recognised as a producer in his or her own country and meet the relevant conditions set out in Article 3.2.

For the purposes of implementing the agreement, a joint commission made up of two members of each of the film funds and their directors has been established. It meets alternately in Amsterdam and Brussels three times a year and selects the productions to be supported from the list of proposals submitted by the funds.