New Danish film agreement signed

All political parties in the Danish Parliament have backed the 2015-2018 pact, which defines the ambitions and objectives of Danish cinema, establishing the guidelines for supporting features, documentaries and video games.

“The Danish film industry is currently financially strained, so we are ready with a helping hand of $11.8m over the next four years,” said culture minister Marianne Jelved, when she presented the agreement.

“At the same time it is clear that it must find new business models matching the digital development.”

A new pool for low-budget productions – between 12 and 24 in the period – should give both experienced filmmakers and new talents the opportunity for experiments; the total state appropriation for film political efforts, annually $94.7m/DKK 563m (up from $89.6m/DKK 530m), includes the production of up to 26 features ans 35 documentaries.

For the first time the state subsidy for regional productions of both features, documentaries and shorts - $3.8m (DKK 28m) – was equally shared between the institute and regional film centres, Den Vestdanske Filmpulje (DVF) and Filmfyn.

“A political endorsement that films should be made all over the country,” said DVF chief Carsten Holst.

Public support of video games will be doubled, to become $1.7m (DKK 10m) annually; the Danish Film Institute will set up a new office both to deal with production funding and to setting up “an innovative video game environment” for the trade, in collaboration with ao Copenhagen’s National Academy of Digital Interactive Entertainment.

“The politicians also have certain expectations to the industry - they take the new digital markets seriously, and  already next summer they want to know how producers, distributors, cinemas and digital operators plan to develop new business models in these areas,” said chairman Klaus Hansen, of the Danish Producers’ Association.