The Creative Europe Programme supports the culture and audiovisual sectors.

Within the specific objective of promoting competitiveness, scalability, cooperation, innovation and sustainability, including through mobility, in the innovation, competitiveness and scalability of the European audiovisual sector, one of the priorities of the MEDIA strand is:

• to enhance the circulation, promotion, online and theatrical distribution of European audiovisual works, within the Union and internationally in the new digital environment; including through innovative business model.

70%

Maximum funding per project: €1.000.000

• Audiovisual sector and Media
• Culture
• Other Services
• Other Thematic Category

• International Organisations
• Local Authorities
• NGOs
• Non Profit Organisations
• Other Beneficiaries
• Private Bodies
• Semi-governmental organisations
• State-owned Enterprises

In order to be eligible, the applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must:

• be legal entities (public or private bodies)
• be established in one of the eligible countries, i.e.:
  • Creative Europe Participating Countries:
    • EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
    • non-EU countries:
      • listed EEA countries and countries associated to the Creative Europe Programme or countries which are in ongoing negotiations for an association agreement and where the agreement enters into force before grant signature (list of participating countries)
• be established in one of the countries participating in the MEDIA strand of the Creative Europe Programme and owned directly or indirectly, wholly or by majority participation, by nationals from such countries. When a company is publicly listed, the location of the stock exchange will in principle determine its nationality
• be European companies active in the audiovisual sector as cinema / theatrical distributor involved in commercial activity designed to bring to the attention of a wide audience a film for the purpose of exploitation in cinema theatres. This shall be the principal activity of the company or division of the company.

The cinema / theatrical distributor shall fulfil the following criteria:

1. be the holder of the theatrical distribution rights for the film in the country concerned;
2. carry out the theatrical distribution of the film in the country concerned (determine the release date, plan, control and execute the distribution and promotion campaign);
3. pay directly the associated distribution costs; and
4. be registered and have theatrical distribution operations in the country concerned.

In the event that distribution activities are shared between several companies, the contracts/agreements between these companies must be provided. The company that will be considered as eligible is the one which meets all the criteria and actually executes the distribution of the film in the country in line with the above conditions. If tasks and/or responsibilities are so shared between different companies that it is impossible to assess a unique distributor for the film in a territory, the admissions of that film will not be eligible.

Applicants acting in different countries linked for distribution purposes (e.g. Belgium and Luxembourg; Greece and Cyprus) should only send one proposal and declare admissions and reinvestment in these different countries.

Consortium composition
Only applications by single applicants are allowed (single beneficiaries; affiliated entities and other participants are allowed, if needed).

Eligibility of films – To generate the potential fund and to qualify for reinvestment measures, the film must comply with the following eligibility criteria:

• it must be a work of fiction (including animated films) or documentary, with a minimum duration of 60 minutes.
• it must have its first copyright established in 2020 at the earliest.
• it must not consist of alternative content (operas, concerts, performances,etc.), advertising, pornographic orracist material or advocate violence.
• it must be in majority produced by a producer or producers established in the countries participating in the MEDIA strand.

A minimum of 50% of the financing of the total estimated production budget must come from countries participating in the MEDIA strand and the production companies must be credited as such. To be considered as the actual producers the production companies must be credited as such. Elements such asopening credits, copyright appearing on therolling credits, creative control, ownership of exploitation rightsand share of profits may also be taken into account to determine who the actual producer is.

• it must be produced with the significant participation (as per the credits) of professionals who are nationals/residents of countries participating in the MEDIA strand and credited as such. ‘

Significant participation’ is defined as having more than 50% of the points on the basis of the table below which includes also locations. The total can vary depending on the type of work (animation, documentary, fiction). When roles are shared, points are shared accordingly. In the event of a tie (i.e. where the points are equal for a given nationality) the nationality of the director shall be decisive.

European films will be considered as “national” in that country participating in the MEDIA strand whose nationals /residents have participated in the highest proportion in the making of the film. This country is considered as the country of origin of the film for the purpose of the action. They will be considered as “non-national” outside the country of origin. (see p.12 of the call document).

Organization of European Programs & Cultural Relations
Νenant Μbogntanovitz
Business Planning Coordinator
Address: Ifigenias 27, 2007 Acropolis, Nicosia
Telephone: +357 7000 1300
Email: info@epcr.org.cy/ nb@epcr.org.cy

For general information on the programme and the call, please contact your local Creative Europe desk
Or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency: EACEA-FILM-DISTRIBUTION@ec.europa.eu

• Funding&Tenders
• Call document