Theatrical documentaries are to benefit from a new Co-Production Development Award being launched by the Council of Europe’s support fund, Eurimages.

The award, with a cash prize of $19,500 (€15,000), will be presented for the first time during the CPH:DOX Copenhagen International Documentary Festival as part of the CPH:FORUM financing and co-production event (Nov 13-15, 2013).

To be eligible for the award, projects have to participate in CPH:FORUM  and be designed from the outset as a European co-production intended for theatrical release between at least two of Eurimages’ 36 member states.

The non-reimbursable subsidy will be used by the beneficiary exclusively for meeting the project’s development expenses.

Supporting docs

Although Eurimages mainly supports the co-production of fiction feature projects, documentaries with a running time of at least 70 minutes can also receive backing.

In the past three years, for example, funding was allocated to ten documentaries, including Markus Imhoof’s More Than Honey, Boris Despodov’s The Polish Plumber, Andrzej Wajda and Jolanta Dylewska’s And There Was Love in The Ghetto…, and Viviane Blumenschein’s Cheek To Cheek – Argentinians Discover The Finnish Tango.

Other awards

Eurimages had previously established Co-Production Development Awards - with cash prizes of $39,000 (€30,000)  each – at co-pro markets in Rotterdam, Sarajevo and Rome, the most recent winners being Syllas Tzoumerkas’ A Blast (CineLink), Jessica Krummacher’s Mordogan (New Cinema Network) and Johannes Nyholm’s The Giant (CineMart).

Europe for Creativity online survey extends deadline

In a separate development, IDEA Consult and Ecorys NL have revealed that the deadline for its Europe for Creativity online survey about the access to finance for the cultural and creative sectors (CCS) has been extended until March 22.

To date, more than 2,700 public, profit and non-profit organisations from these two sectors have participated in the survey (http://eu-for-creativity.eu) which aims to provide a more accurate picture of the market potential of the guarantee facility as proposed in the European Commission’s Creative Europe framework programme for 2014-2020.

The study on behalf of the European Commission will also draw on secondary databases, literature and interviews with financial institutions and experts, and is scheduled to be finished by the end of July 2013.

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