Village Gamer

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and the Italian Directorate General for Cinema of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism (DGC – MiBACT) announced today an agreement to establish an incentive for co-development of documentary projects between producers in both countries.  The announcement was made an event organized by the Italian Trade Commission as part of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

The Canada – Italy Codevelopment Incentive for Documentary Projects’ budget is set at CAD $200,000, with each partner investing half of the total amount. Eligible documentary projects must be a feature-length documentary intended for theatrical release in Italy and for broadcast by an eligible Canadian broadcaster, and must involve at least one Canadian producer and one Italian producer.

 “Today’s announcement is a reflection of the CMF’s commitment to provide access to diverse sources of funding for Canadian documentary producers and supports our objective to foster mutually beneficial relationships between content creators from Canada and their counterparts in key co-production countries,” says Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “We are pleased to be working with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage, Activities and Tourism which allows us to expand our matching fund program to include documentary projects with Italy. This new partnership will also expose audiences from both countries to the depth and diversity of co-produced documentary content.”

According to Nicola Borrelli, Director Cinema, MiBACT: “With this far-reaching agreement between Canada and Italy, and the nomination of three Italian films for Cannes 2015, we can see that Italian cinema is on the rise! Such cooperative and creative ventures are a reality today and will no doubt enrich our productions, reflecting back the diverse realities that surround us.”

Details and guidelines for this new incentive will be available on the CMF’s website and on DGC’s website as of May 12, at which date the incentive will open for applications. The application deadline is September 11, 2015. Projects will be evaluated and chosen by a selection committee composed of representatives from both funding organizations.