Rules of procedure

1) Overview

The Fonds Sud Cinéma was created in 1984 and has helped over 340 feature films. Its funding is provided by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication (National Center of Cinematography-CNC) and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs (which is the result of a merger between the Ministry of Cooperation and Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 1999).

The Fund provides three types of assistance:

 production assistance
 post production assistance
 re-writing assistance

2) Assistance application requirements)

a) The Fund concerns all countries in Africa, Latin America, the Near and Middle East (except Israel, Turkey since 1992, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates), and Asia (except Korea, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan), along with the following Central and European countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, Macedonia, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan.

The director must be a national from one of the eligible countries.

A production company from one of the eligible countries must be involved. (When registering a project, the presence of a production company incorporated in France is not necessary).

At least 75% of the film should be shot in the countries concerned. Under no circumstances will a film project be accepted that is submitted by a director from one of the eligible countries but is to be shot mainly in an ineligible country.

The film must be shot in one of the languages of the countries concerned or in French.

b) The project must be for a feature film, ie, a film that is over an hour long. It can be a fictional, animated or creative documentary film project that is to be released for the first time in theatres.

The total estimated budget must not exceed €3 million.

c) Assistance cannot be granted to films whose shooting has started before the plenary commission meeting is held.

d) A project can be submitted twice provided that the second version of the film includes substantial changes in the screenplay. The Reading Committee will act alone to give their opinion on whether the changes are substantial. A film can be submitted a third time if the reason is to seek post-production assistance (see the requirements below).

3) Assistance procedure

a) Assistance is given in the form of a grant of:

 €7,600 for re-writing assistance
 a maximum of €46,000 for post-production assistance
 A maximum of €152,000 for production assistance

b) This grant must solely benefit the project concerned and must be directed by the filmmaker that was chosen at the outset. Under no circumstances can it be used on another project.

c) The CNC and the French Ministry of Foreign Affaires each provide 50% of the grant. Funding from the CNC can only be earmarked for expenses in France (see Appendix 2). The breakdown of expenses in France, including for post-production assistance, is as follows:
 a maximum of 40% can be earmarked for production costs,
 a minimum of 50% for post-production costs,
 10% can be earmarked for overhead costs.

All or part of the funding from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be spent in an eligible country to cover production-related expenses. (see Appendix 1)

d) Payment of this grant is subject to:

 the submission of all contracts related to the project, and especially contracts of transfer of the author’s rights (copyrights, royalties), namely those of the screenwriter and director, and contracts related to the financing of the film.

 the establishment of a co-production contract that is signed between the production company from the eligible country and the production company incorporated in France, to whom the entire grant will be paid.

This contract should mention that 25% to 50% of the grant must be spent in the eligible country. The final percentage will be sent in a joint letter from the two co-producers at the end of the first week of shooting. The CNC could pay part of this percentage directly to cover eligible expenses in eligible countries by way of an assignment of debt from the production company incorporated in France.

An official co-production, meaning an intergovernmental co-production agreement, with France is not necessary.

e) As a general rule, assistance will be paid in three stages:

 Some 20% will be paid when the agreement is signed and upon the submission of a concrete financing plan and letters of commitment that show the financing that has been obtained accounting for 40% of the budget, not including Fonds Sud Cinéma grants;
 Some 30% upon the submission of a document attesting to the fact that the first week of shooting has been completed signed by the director and the producer and a joint letter from the two co-producers (see point 3d.);
 Some 50% upon the submission of invoices paid that account for 90% of the total grant. These invoices must be certified copies of the original and include references for the work concerned.

The last 50% of the grant will only be paid after accounting documents have been submitted that justify spending for a sum that is at least equal to the grant. They may include overhead costs constituting a maximum of 10% of the grant.

f) The decision to provide assistance is valid for 18 months. It can be extended to two and a half years in cases that are justified and for reasons that the Administration deems valid. If within this time the film has not been shot, the decision is deemed null and void.

g) In return for the financial assistance, the director and the producer undertake to include the following in the credits at the beginning of the film and on the documents promoting the film such as press documents, posters and websites:

The French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French Ministry of Culture and Communication can use the usual maximum of three minutes of clips from the film they have helped in all media. They may also be allowed to use promotion material for the film such as trailers and interviews.

h) The combination of Fonds Sud Cinéma grants with other types of financial assistance

This grant cannot be received concurrently with an advance on revenues for films in French, nor with assistance to films in foreign languages (AFLE) granted by the CNC. Thus if your project also received either one of these two types of assistance, you would have to give one of them up.

This grant can however be received concurrently with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs Fonds Images Afrique, a fund that supports television and film production in sub-Saharan Africa, and all other funds.

4) Post-production assistance and re-writing assistance

Post-production assistance is only available for projects that have already applied for production assistance and that have been rejected in the plenary Commission. A maximum of €46,000 in assistance can be granted.

The post-production assistance application must also be submitted by the deadline for all applications. A maximum of five post-production applications are accepted per Commission meeting.

Re-writing assistance is part of the production assistance application. The plenary commission can recommend that re-writing assistance be granted. The screenplay must then be re-worked with a screenplay consultant or a co-screenwriter.

Re-writing assistance amounts to €7,600. The sum is distributed in a joint agreement drawn up by the parties concerned.

5) Project review

A commission of professionals is responsible for reviewing applications. It gives its opinion based on the artistic quality of the project and its feasibility.

This commission includes a chair, five regular members and alternates (see the appended list of members).

It holds four commission meetings to shortlist the projects and four plenary meetings a year, generally, in February, May, July and October.

The plenary commission meeting is preceded by a shortlist commission meeting composed of three committees. Each committee has four members: the chair, two commission members and one professional screenplay reader. The representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CNC attend as observers. The representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs records the minutes of each committee. The information provided to the commission members is supplemented, in addition to the screenplay and documents supporting it, by the viewing of the director’s previous works on VHS cassettes or DVDs. Each committee assesses a maximum of 14 screenplays.

The shortlist is comprised of a maximum of 20 applications that will be sent to all members of the commission.

The readers draw up a report on each project with their opinion. The reports are not sent to members of the commission. They may be sent to directors and producers at their request keeping in mind that they reflect the readers’ opinion and not that of the entire commission.

The Commission’s opinions cannot be challenged.

6) Application registration

The Directorate for External Audiovisual Services of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs processes applications to be submitted to the commission.

Applications must be submitted either to the cultural services of the French Embassies in the countries concerned, which will then send them to Paris, or directly to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Paris.

The French cultural services are informed of the application deadlines in Paris. They can also help by sending the screenplay through the diplomatic bag service keeping in mind that the projects must be submitted at least one week before the indicated deadline.

Each commission meeting accepts a limit of 40 projects. Applications are registered in the order complete applications arrive. Applications cannot be pre-registered. Once the 40 application limit is reached, additional applications are automatically registered for the following commission meeting.

All practical information can be found on the website: www.diplomatie.gouv.fr. The list of documents to provide, the application form and the timetable for the commission meetings are available on the website, but also in the cultural services of French Embassies. They can also be sent on request by e-mail or fax from the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Application follow-up and the address where applications are to be submitted:

MINISTÈRE DES AFFAIRES ÉTRANGÈRES
Direction de l’audiovisuel extérieur
244, Boulevard Saint Germain, 75007 - PARIS -FRANCE
Tel.: 33 (0)1 43 17 84 97 - Fax: 33 (0)1 43 17 92 42
e-mail: laurence.brandi@diplomatie.gouv.fr

7) Granting assistance

France’s National Center for Cinematography sets up agreements and monitors financing.

Grant follow-up, setting up agreements, grant payment:

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA CINÉMATOGRAPHIE
Direction des affaires européennes et internationales
3, rue Boissière, 75116 - PARIS - (FRANCE)
Tel.: 33 (0)1 44 34 38 17 - Fax: 33 (0)1 44 34 37 23
e-mail: Jacqueline.Ada@cnc.fr

I) Salaries of the technical and artistic crew, not including the director and producer, and the related social security taxes

II) Purchase and renting of sets and costumes

III) Renting and transport of technical resources:

 camera equipment
 sound equipment
 machinery
 lighting

IV) Purchase and transport of sound and camera materials

V) Post-production work

Production:

1) expenses related to employing French technicians (salaries and related social security taxes) for the following jobs:
director of photography
sound engineer
art director

2) purchase of film in France

3) renting of equipment in France: film camera, digital camera and their transport

Post production:

1) all of the following work:
laboratory (developing)
picture editing
sound editing
mixing
special effects
film-to-tape transfer
calibration
film credits
translator
French and English subtitles
printing of original and first copies (1 original language version, 1 original language version with French subtitles, 1 original language version with English subtitles)
internegative
dolby

2) expenses related to employing French technicians (salaries and related social security taxes) for the following jobs: film editor, sound editor, mixer.

For post-production assistance:

The expenses accepted are on the post-production list except for laboratory work (developing).

All other expenses that are not on this list should be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Please note the following expenses that are not covered by Fonds Sud Cinéma
Salaries of producers, production managers, directors, actors
Accommodation, taxi and travel costs
Printing of copies for distribution.