02-02-2020

COMPETITION FOR FINANCING 2020 FEATURE-LENGTH FICTION FILM CO-PRODUCTIONS BETWEEN GEORGIA AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

    The purpose of the Competition is to finance feature-length fiction film co-productions between Georgia and foreign countries, with the funds allocated from the State Budget of Georgia.

    Terms and Conditions

    Competition Start Date: January 10, 2020

    The purpose of the Competition

    The purpose of the Competition is to finance feature-length fiction film co-productions between Georgia and foreign countries, with the funds allocated from the State Budget of Georgia.

    Procedures for Submitting Documentation

    Applications and all required documents shall be submitted electronically via the software „Cinematography management system (CMS)“. For more detailed information please see our video guide at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z33mYHxMudQ.

    In addition to submitting an application and required documents on-line, a set of hard copies of the documents required shall be submitted to the Georgian National Film Centre.

    The competition is announced and governed under the Law of Georgia on State Support for National Cinematography, the Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production (revised on 03.01.2017), the Competition Regulations of the LEPL Georgian National Film Center, the Statute of the Expert Commission of the LEPL Georgian National Film Center and shall apply to:

    1. co-productions involving at least two (2) co-producers unless there is an agreement regulating bilateral relations between the Parties to the convention;
    2. co-productions involving at least three (3) co-producers, representing three different parties to the convention; and
    3. co-productions involving at least three (3) co-producers established by different parties to the convention and at least one (1) co-producer, that has not been established by the parties to the convention. The total contribution of the co-producers, which are not established by the parties to the convention should not exceed 30% of the total cost of the production.

     

    Eligible applicants

    An application for the participation in the competition shall be submitted by a resident of Georgia or a legal entity registered in Georgia.

    A producer shall not have a delinquent tax debt to the state and shall not be registered in the Debtors’ Register.

    The contribution of the Georgian co-producer to the co-production project submitted for the competition shall not be the largest and shall not exceed 20% of the total cost of the production.

    All foreign co-producers shall already have obtained 50% of their contribution, as confirmed by relevant financial documentation (see Table #1). One of the sources of financing a foreign co-producer shall be a national or international fund, a TV company or a distributor.

    The members of the cast and the crew involved in the production of the film shall be mainly citizens of the co-production partner countries and the post-production shall also be implemented in these countries.

    The list of technical and artistic contributions of each of the co-producers shall comply with the conditions provided for by the convention and the agreement.

    Language

    In case the (original) language of the film is other than the Georgian language, a version of the film dubbed into the Georgian language or with Georgian subtitles shall be made.

    Conditions for Acquiring a Preliminary or Final Co-production Status

    A co-production status shall be preliminarily granted on the basis of the documentation submitted at the time of application.

    The project shall be granted the final co-production status by competent authorities upon the finalization of the process of the film production and on the basis of the relevant documents submitted by the co-producers.

    Financing

    The decision regarding the number of projects to be funded shall be made by the Georgian National Film Center. Each project shall be funded with a maximum of GEL 350,000 (three hundred and fifty thousand).

    Running Time

    Projects for feature-length fiction films of a minimum length of 80 minutes are eligible.

    Competition Procedures

    First, the members of the Expert Commission will study the projects (screenplays and other documentation) submitted for the competition.

    The next (main) stage of the competition envisages the presentations of the projects and interviewing the co-producers at the scheduled time, after which the members of the Expert Commission will evaluate the projects against the predefined and previously validated criteria.

    The Expert Commission makes the final decision and submits the summary of its decision to the Georgian National Film Center. The summary will contain the recommendations to finance winner projects i.e. the projects which have earned maximum points.

    The co-producers participating in the competition have the right to request information about the results of the evaluation – points and argumentations provided in the written form – of their projects. Information on the authors of individual evaluations is confidential and shall not be disclosed.

    Required Documents

    1. Application;
    2. A copy of the ID of the applicant person or of the director of the applicant organization;
    3. An extract from the Registry of Entrepreneurs (updated in 2020);
    4. Information on the activities of the legal entity;
    5. The previous work of the film director (compulsory);
    6. The previous work of the co-producer (compulsory);
    7. Copies of the IDs, biographies/filmographies and addresses of the authors of the film (film director, script-writer, author of dialogues, composer);
    8. Co-producer’s motivation;
    9. Director’s vision;
    10. LOG LINE, a brief (one-sentence) summary of the film that states the central content of the story;
    11. Synopsis;
    12. Professionally and technically formatted script;
    13. Film budget;
    14. Financial plan (a schedule for obtaining financing*);
    15. Production plan (production schedule) including the pre-production, production and post-production dates and scheduled date of the premiere screening of the film;
    16. A list of technical and artistic contribution of each of the co-producers (countries);
    17. Contracts confirming that the applicant is a legal owner of all copyrights associated with the film;
    18. The producer shall submit the documents confirming that the project has been partially financed (All foreign co-producers shall already have obtained 50% of their contribution to the project) (see Table #1).
    19. A co-production contract signed by the co-producers (original copies or notarially certified copies). The contracts should cover the following:
    • The provisions related to the distribution of revenues and territories among the co-producers;
    • The provisions under which the Parties agree on the place of safekeeping the negatives of the film and guarantee their availability;
    • The provisions concerning the joint ownership of the original copy and the original sound negative of the film by co-producers;
    • The provisions guaranteeing the co-producers’ rights to access the original copy of the film and related material and the right to making copies of the above mentioned copy and material.
    1. A letter certifying the act of granting the preliminary status of a co-production by the competent authority of the country participating in the co-production.

    All the documents submitted shall be signed by the co-producer.

    Obligation to submit an audit report:

    It is an obligation of each party involved in the co-production to submit an audit report on their contribution to the film budget prepared by a licensed auditor. Upon finalization of the works related to the film production, a co-producer representing Georgia shall submit to the Georgian National Film Centre an audit report prepared by a licensed auditor on the contribution to the film budget made by each party involved in the co-production.

    Alternative sources of financing

    In case of winning the competition, the producer shall submit the documents confirming the fact that full film budget funding has been completed, no later than July 30, 2020, according to the Table # 1.

    1

    Please note:

    • In case the party involved in the co-production is at the same time a distributor or a sales agent, or in case the functions of a distributor or of a sales agent is performed by a company, which is a subsidiary of the company participating in the co-production, the Minimum Guarantees (MG) for distribution and international sales shall be confirmed only with a bank guarantee.
    • A document certifying the agreement between the Parties, with the exception of long-term agreements, shall be drawn up (and dated) at least 6 months prior to submitting the application to the Georgian National Film Center.

    Reservations

    Each co-producer participating in the Competition shall submit only one project.

    The co-producers whose project fail to meet the requirements and terms and conditions of the Competition cannot participate in the competition for financing Georgian-foreign co-productions.

    The Georgian National Film Centre will not accept the projects which have previously won a competition announced by the Georgian National Film Centre.

    The Georgian National Film Centre will not accept the projects of pornographic nature, the projects containing elements of violence, propaganda of discrimination or hatred, or violations of human dignity, or otherwise contravene the provisions of laws of Georgia.

    Terms

    All related documents (projects) shall be submitted electronically via the application no later than March 16, 2020, before 17:00; in addition, a hard copy of the project shall be submitted to the Georgian National Film Centre no later than March 16, 2020, before 17:00.

    Consultations

    In order to avoid misunderstandings, it is important to attend consultations. All consulting sessions shall be agreed in advance and can be scheduled on any day since the announcement and held at the GNFC office located at the address:

    Address: #4 Z Sanapiro st., Tbilisi, Georgia
    Telephone: 2999 200; 2999 102.

    The Contact Persons are listed below:

    Nino Kukhalashvili (legal issues)
    Mob:    +995 577 955 250     E-mail:     This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    Salome Danelia (production and financing)
    Mob:    +995 599 85 07 81      E-mail:   This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    Manana Meladze (production and financing)
    Mob:    +995 577 40 75 39     E-mail:    This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
    Andro Tsiklauri (production and Technical support)
    Mob:     +995 551 334 000      E-mail:       This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

    View Order (http://beta.gnfc.ge/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/brdzaneba.pdf)

    Last modified on 02-02-2020