Methodology, Skills and Professional Benefits Participants Participants' Comments MEDICI Head of Training «The 12 Labours of Hercules» Report of the Reports – Workshops 1 to 4

Reports Previous Workshops

Seventh Workshop – 27 to 29 September 2017 – Finstadjordet, Norway

Module 1 - What are the essential and relevant core values of public funds?

1. Introduction

The audiovisual environment has definitely changed and continues to do so. The arrival of new content providers has a huge impact not only on the audiences’ behavior but also on the entire value chain. The practitioners, producers, distributors and sales agent have to take this new environment into account when developing, producing and distributing projects, even though no new reliable business model has been established yet. The same applies to the public film funds and the way they redistribute their financial support.

Or, in other words:

To talk about the role of the funds in the future, it is essential to identify their core values that guide their policy actions and funding decisions. The three main pressures the funds are exposed to include:

1. The constant demands by the industry that the public funds adapt to the industry’s needs
2. The pressure coming from the political elite that finances the public funds to achieve different objectives, and
3. The arrival of new players

These pressures threaten to divert public funds from their original function.

To summarize, the major question would be:

Is it not the public film funds that, with their global vision and constant relationship with the industry, are likely to be the driving force of the audiovisual sector?

2. The Funds’ Objectives and Core Values

2.1. Objectives

The core values of the funds fluctuate among four different objectives:

1. Supporting creativity (helping new forms of expression and quality projects)
2. Supporting economy (helping production companies survive)
3. Supporting talent (development of new generation of filmmakers)
4. Supporting industry (keeping the status quo by supporting mainly already established companies).

As the results of the group work show, most of the public funds try to pursue all four objectives even though they may prioritize them differently. There is a difference in the core values and objectives between national and regional film funds, since the latter often prioritize creating a local economic effect (even though they pursue also cultural and political goals).

Examples of the funds’ objectives:

National funds

• The Norwegian Film Institute and the Swiss Federal Office of Culture are based in the very center, putting the equal focus on Talent, Industry, Economy and Creativity.
• The Swedish Film Institute and Wallonia Brussels Federation focus on Creativity and Talent
• The Netherlands Film Fund and the Hungarian National Film Fund focus on Talent and Economy.
• The French CNC, the Rabinovich Foundation for the Arts and the Slovak Film Center focus on Creativity and Talent
• Some funds administer automatic schemes, such as the CNC, which entirely focuses on Industry and Economy. 
• The Polish Film Institute and the Finnish Film Foundation focus on Talents and Creativity
• The Lithuanian Film Center and The Slovenian Film Center focus on Creativity and Industry.
• The national funds that administer tax incentive programmes concluded that tax schemes focus solely on Industry and Economy. 

Regional funds

The main focuses for regional funds are Creativity, Talent and Economic impact to their region. For some of the regional funds, Industry is important, but not crucial because on the regional level one can never have the same level of postproduction facilities as in the major centers.

2.2. Core Values

What are the core values that the funds would defend any time, even if the politicians and industry drop them?

National Film Funds

Regional Film Funds

Reaching out to new talents/taking risks Cultural diversity  Reaching a wider audience Diversity (content wise not content maker-wise) Transparency (when communicating with both government and producers) Flexibility of schemes (listening to the market and adapting) Expertise of decision makers Relevance at political, cultural and economic levels Independence from politicians is essential to ensure a support system with and for the filmmakers A stronger democracy Balancing between the industry and politicians

Quality (to compete with the national funds) Relevance Sustainability Innovation Developing emerging talent Providing diverse voices that are coming from the regions within a country Build a viable industry that will compete nationally and internationally Helping the overall economy of the region

The Role of Public Film Funds in the Future

• Introduction
• Module 1 – What are the essential and relevant core values of public funds?
• Module 2 – How to design funding programs today?
• Module 3 – How to take risk and experiment?
• Module 4 – Is diversity essential for reaching the audiences? Are there tools for evaluating the diversity of audiences?
• Presentation of the study “Current state of investment of national and regional public funds in Europe for professional training”
• Module 5 – How to integrate new technologies and players in the value chain?
• Module 6 – Distribution and Promotion Schemes
• Module 7 – Engaging with Future

• List of Participants (PDF)
• MEDICI Seventh Workshop Full Report (PDF)

Schedules Previous Workshops Partners Contact