New Danish regional fund FilmFyn launches this week with a budget of US$2.7m (DKR17m), which will be divided among three to four feature films annually at least until 2006.

The first regional fund of its kind in Denmark, FilmFyn is modelled on the hugely successful Swedish regional fund, Film I Vast, which has transformed the production environment in Sweden, attracting a number of the highest profile pan-Nordic productions in recent years including Lars von Trier's Dancer In The Dark and Dogville.

Veteran producer and head of the fund, Erik Crone, has been negotiating with two feature projects, Catch That Pet from Zentropa and The Fakir from M&M Productions, for some time.

But, even though there has also been some interest in building film facilities in the region, he stresses that: "these initiatives have to be private and financed without money from the fund, because we're going to spend all our money on film production."

The Danish Producer's Association has played a very active part in setting up FilmFyn, which was followed up by the appointment of Klaus Hansen as chairman of the Fund's board. The association also invested US$80,000 in the fund adding to local bank Amstsparekassen Fyn's US$240,000, national broadcaster TV2/Denmark's US$240,000 and US$1.6m from the municipalities in the region (Fyns Amt, Egebjerg, Svendborg, Faaborg, Gudme, Marstal, Aeroskoebing, Tranekaer, Rudkoebing, Sydlangeland).