Changes in Eurimages' regulations

IRIS 2021-2:1/12

Julio Talavera

European Audiovisual Observatory

In parallel to the newly approved governance regulation (see IRIS 2020-9/5), Eurimages' Board of Management has introduced several changes to its regulations for the support of co-productions, which came into force with the new year

The support granted under the Council of Europe's film fund scheme for Support for Co-Production will now take the form of non-refundable grants when the amount received by the recipient project is under EUR 150 000. In the case of higher amounts, the grants will continue to take the form of soft loans, repayable on the basis of the revenues generated by the supported project.

In addition, Eurimages has also updated the requirements for qualifying projects in order to bring them in line with the points system of the Revised Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production. This point system, based on the nationality of key talent, cast and crew members, now gives more importance to the origin of the director, the heads of the main departments (cinematography, sound, production and editing), as well as to the location where visual effects (VFX) and computer-generated imagery (CGI) are carried out (Article 2.6).

On the administrative side, from now on the fund will only launch three calls for projects instead of the previous four. In 2021, the deadlines are 14 January, 20 April and 15 September. Lastly, the new regulations establish that grants will be disboursed in two installments - the first, with 70% of the grant payable on the first day of principle photography, and the second, with the remaining 30% payable upon theatrical realease, therefore eliminating the previous intermediate installment payable upon completion of the digital master.