07-02-2017

Serbia Signs European Coproduction Convention

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    ROTTERDAM: Serbia has signed the revised Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Coproduction, updated for the digital age and welcoming non-European countries, during the 2017 edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

    On 30 January 2017, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Serbia, Vladan Vukosavljević, signed the Convention, making Serbia, along with The Netherlands, Greece, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Luxemburg, Norway, Malta and Italy, one of the first European countries to sign the Convention. Other countries are expected to follow suit during the course of the year.

    The signing of the Convention means that Serbia no longer needs to make special bilateral contracts with countries that have already signed the Convention. In addition, it gives Serbia the opportunity to participate actively in the creation of collaborations in the field of film in accordance with new financial mechanisms and audio-visual praxis.

    The Convention also specifies the reduction of the minimum percentage of national participation in order for a project to be deemed a coproduction. For bilateral coproductions, this percentage was reduced from 20% to 10%, and it was reduced from 10% to 5% for multilateral coproductions; Serbian producers will be more likely to look for partners among members of Eurimages. The updated Convention also increases the percentage for majority participation in multilateral coproductions from 50% to 80%, and from 80% to 90% for bilateral coproductions.