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26-09-2007

Poland creates regional film funds

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    Poland is in the process of creating regional film funds to better support film productions that are thematically connected with the region. By January 2008, there will be six such regional film funds.

    Another goal of the RFFs will be to give film projects “measurable benefits," such as promoting of the region, and strengthening a feeling of identity with the region. To get a subsidy from a regional fund, the project must be carried out within the region and the budget must be at least equal to the amount of the subsidy.

    Apart from grants, RFFs will be able to give either interest-free or low-interest loans. Other forms of aid will include administrative support, the loan of equipment and the coordination of technical and logistical tasks.

    The budget of the RFFs will come from such sources as the local government, grants from the Ministry of Culture (www.mkidn.gov.pl), and subsidies from the Polish Film Institute (www.psif.pl) as well as European Union funds. Funds will be also be made available through other sponsors and partners.

    The first RFF, with a budget of 600,000 zloty (€159,000), was created in Lodz. So far it has subsidized three productions: The Old Man and The Dog by Witold Leszczyński (350,000 zloty), a Polish-Israel joint production The Spring of 1941 by Uri Barbash, Opus Film Studio (200,000 zloty) and The City Floats by Balbina Bruszewska (50,000 zloty).

    By January 2008, five more funds will be created: Dolnoslaski (Lower Silesia), Cracow, Gdynia, Slaski (Silesia), and Wielkopolski (Greater Poland). Authorities in Poznan announced that the local fund will dispose a budget not ;waa than 1.1 million zloty, and in Wroclaw, the figure will be 2 million zloty.

    Interest in creating an RFF was also expressed by authorities in Warsaw, Lublin and the Pomorskie Province.