FOCUS BALTIC COUNTRIES AND FINLAND

The key funding bodies

Estonian Film Institute

Minority co-production

Budget 2022: € 600,000

• For producers from all over the world. The participation of an Estonian co-producer is necessary. The bilateral treaty is not required.

• Maximum subsidy for an Estonian co-producer: feature film and feature animation: € 200,000; documentary: € 60,000.

• Subsidy of up to 70% of the Estonian part of the budget.

• 100% of the subsidy must be spent in Estonia.

• Estonian creative and production-related participation in a project should meet the requirements of the minority co-production creative specialties score table.

• Two application deadlines: January and September.

• Decision in 40 days.

Minority co-production support shall be allocated to an Estonian producer for participation in a project of an international full-length feature film, a long documentary film (50 minutes or longer) or an animation film, provided that the main producer of the film project is not a legal entity registered in Estonia and that the Estonian co-producer owns property rights for the film that is proportional to his or her participation. The recipient of minority co-production support shall spend 100% of the EFI support allocated for the film project on economic activity in Estonia.

CONTACT: Filipp Kruusvall, Documentary Film Commissioner: filipp@filmi.ee

Cash rebate scheme Film Estonia

Film Estonia cash rebate is a production incentive supporting the incoming production of feature films, feature documentaries, animation films, animation series, high-end TV-drama and the post-production of all previously mentioned works. An application can be made for international production service or co-production to receive a cash rebate of up to 30% on eligible production costs.

• Support intensity: 20%-30% of eligible costs;

• Deadlines: open call;

• Applicant: a company registered in Estonia;

• Recipient: foreign company;

• Decision: in 30 days;

• Auditing and payment: in 40 days.

The scheme is open for:

• feature films with a budget of at least € 1 million; minimum local spend € 200,000;

• feature documentary with a budget of at least € 200,000; minimum local spend € 70,000;

• animation with a budget of at least € 250,000; minimum local spend € 70,000;

• animation series with a budget of at least € 500,000; minimum local spend € 70,000 per series;

• high-end TV-drama with a budget of at least € 200,000 per single episode; minimum local spend € 70,000 per series;

• post-production; minimum local spend € 30,000.

CONTACT: Nele Paves, Film Commissioner: nele@filmi.ee https://filmestonia.eu

Estonian Cultural Endowment

A public agency that supports culture, including audiovisual art and sport.

Majority co-production: Maximum subsidy for an Estonian co-producer is € 120 000. 

Minority co-production:

• Applicant – Estonian co-producer

• Support categories & max amounts: 1) feature € 60,000 2) documentary € 12,500 3) short films € 10,000 4) animation (short / long) € 60,000

• Four application deadlines: February, May, August, and November

• Decision – 1,5 months

CONTACT: www.kulka.ee

Regional Film Funds

Tartu Film Fund: https://www.tartufilmfund.ee/

Viru Film Fund: https://www.vff.ee/film_fund/

Film Fund of Estonian Islands: https://minusaaremaa.ee/en/projects/film-fund-estonian-islands

Broadcaster

Estonian Public Broadcasting (ERR) is a public service media organisation which has three TV channels (ETV, ETV2 and ETV+) and five radio stations. ERR is also present in internet media with news websites in Estonian, Russian and English, many thematical portals and 2 Free VOD platforms – lasteekraan.err.ee and jupiter.err.ee. We acquire Free TV and Free VOD rights to drama, features, documentaries, children’s content, live events, etc. We are mainly acquiring completed films but are also opened to considering projects in production if LOC is needed.

CONTACT: Katrin Rajasaare, Head of Acquisitions: katrin.rajasaare@err.ee

Other important contacts:

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival: https://poff.ee/en/

International documentary film festival DocPoint Tallinn: http://docpoint.ee/en/

Tartu – European Capital of Culture 2024 The Arts of Survival Documentaries film competition: https://tartudok2024.ee/en/

The key funding bodies

Finnish Film Foundation

International fiction, documentary and animation projects are eligible for Production Support from the Finnish Film Foundation when a Finnish production company is attached to the production. Support is available for both majority and minority co-productions.

Eligible international minority co-productions will require:

• a Finnish co-producer with Finnish distribution rights
• Finnish technical and/or artistic input (e.g. cast, sound design, editing etc.)
• some form of distribution in Finland

The support application is always submitted by the Finnish co-production company.

Other support decision criteria are:

• relevance for Finnish audiences
• ongoing collaboration between the co-producing partners

The Finnish Film Foundation funds 4 to 8 minority co-productions of documentaries every year. Funding can range anywhere between 20,000 and 50,000 euros per project depending on the size of the production and the Finnish technical or artistic input.

ses.fi/en

Contact: Head of Production Matti Paunio, matti.paunio@ses.fi

The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture AVEK

AVEK can fund a co-production in any stage of the project and can support already early development stages. Support sums are: 10,000/20,000/30,000 euros.

AVEK supports 3–5 co-productions a year. They evaluate the co-productions based on the quality of the work and its impact to Finnish filmmakers, reciprocity being an important aspect.

kopiosto.fi/avek

Contact: Film commissioner Mikko Peltonen, mikko.peltonen@avek.kopiosto.fi

Business Finland / Cash Rebate 25%

Business Finland Audiovisual Production Incentive is a national 25 % cash rebate for production costs in Finland. Feature and documentary films, scripted TV drama and animation productions are eligible for funding. Qualifying costs in Finland are local expenditure from pre- to post-production.

Business Finland offers ongoing application period on first come first served basis. Decision making is fast, efficient and reliable. You will get a funding decision within 40 days and payment is on your bank account no later than in 21 days. The average time for the payment from the arrival of the report is around 10 days. Payments during the production in Finland are available and very much in favour by the applicants.

Some of the Finnish cities and regions offer local incentives which are fixed to the region or area of the country in question. Regional incentives are based on local expenditure. There is usually no minimum budget and expenditure threshold. Regional annual budgets are used first come, first served basis. You may combine regional incentives with the national incentive. All regions are independent and have their own procedures for applications.

filminfinland.com

Contact: Head of Film in Finland Hanna Vuorinen, hanna.vuorinen@businessfinland.fi

Relevant broadcasters

• Yle – the Finnish Broadcasting Company
• MTV Oy
• Nelonen
• Elisa Viihde

Other important contacts

Festivals

• DocPoint Helsinki International Documentary Film Festival

docpointfestival.fi

• Tampere Film Festival

tamperefilmfestival.fi

• Helsinki International Film Festival – Love & Anarchy

hiff.fi

• Midnight Sun Film Festival

msfilmfestival.fi

Industry events

• Finnish Film Affair

hiff.fi/finnishfilmaffair

Organisations

• Audiovisual Producers Finland APFI

apfi.fi

• Creative Europe / Media Desk

mediadesk.fi

• The Finnish Documentary Guild

dokumenttikilta.fi

The key funding bodies

National Film Centre of Latvia

Minority co-production

Budget 2022: € 400,000

• For producers from all over the world (except for projects whose delegate producer is a company registered in Russian Federation or Belorussian Republic or who has received or has planned to have funding from the public sources in either country). The participation of Latvian co-producer is necessary. The bilateral treaty is not required.
• Supported films: fiction features (over 65 min), documentaries and animation films in any length. The film must comply with the terms and conditions for a Latvian film (according to the Film Law, a Latvian film is a film, which is produced by a Latvian film producer registered in the National Film Centre producer’s register, and in the main creative team at least one member (director, scriptwriter, composer, set designer, animation artist or cinematographer) is a citizen of Latvia.
• The project can only be submitted by a Latvian registered production and the planned budget from Latvia is minimum 20% for bilateral coproduction, and 10% in multilateral coproduction, or, if applicable, comply with the Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production.
• The film’s delegate producer must be able to prove at least 50% of financing in place from its own country.
• 80% of the subsidy must be spent in Latvia.
• Call once a year, application deadline: March/ April.
• Decision: 1 month.

CONTACT: Inga Blese, Head of Production, inga.blese@nkc.gov.lv

State Culture Capital Foundation

A public agency that supports different strands of culture, including audiovisual sector (various kind of projects: film productions, development, research projects, festivals, etc.).

• Supports documentaries of any length, short feature, and animation films.
• Applicant for film projects – Latvian producer.
• Funding for audiovisual sector in 2022: 886,523
• Three application deadlines: January, May, September.
• Decision: 1 month.

CONTACT: Film curator Gita Krātiņa, gita@kkf.lv

Investment and Development Agency of Latvia

Cash rebate scheme Latvia Co-financing programme for foreign production

The programme is a production incentive supporting the incoming productions of full-length feature films, documentaries and animation films, TV films. An application can be made for international production service or co-production to receive a cash rebate of 20-30% on eligible production costs. The support can be coupled with other public funding sources in Latvia in case if the Co-financing programme’ s support together with other funding sources does not exceed 50% of the film’s total expenses in Latvia.

• Agreement with the local production company is needed.
• Support intensity: 20-30% of eligible costs depending on different criteria.
• Deadlines: open call twice a year.
• Applicant: a company registered in Latvia.
• 2022 base budget – € 793,773, additional financing allocated – €2 096 560.
• Decision: 1 month.
• The film’s delegate producer must confirm that at least 50% of financing is in place by the submission of the application.

The scheme is open for:

• feature films and animation films with a budget of at least € 711,436;
• feature documentary with a budget of at least € 142,287.

https://www.liaa.gov.lv/lv

CONTACT: jautajumi@liaa.gov.lv

The Riga Film Fund of the Council of Riga

Cash rebate scheme Riga Film Fund co-financing programme

The programme is a production incentive supporting the incoming productions of full-length feature films, documentaries, and TV films. An application can be made for international production service or co-production to receive a cash rebate of 20-25% on eligible production costs. The support can be coupled with Latvian co-financing programme’ s funding.

• Support intensity: 20-25% of eligible costs (25% if the film’s story is set in Riga or with significant featuring of Riga in the story, and at least partly shot in Riga, 20% – if the film is shot in Latvia).
• Deadlines: open call until 30 September on first come first serve basis until the budget is depleted.
• Shooting must be finished, and reports submitted by 30 November.
• Applicant: a company registered in Latvia.
• Annual budget: 800,000 EUR.
• Decision: 1 month.
• The film’s delegate producer must confirm that at least 50% of financing is in place by the submission of the application.

The scheme is open for:

• films with a budget of at least € 700,000;
• for documentaries the budget not specified.

https://www.liveriga.com/en/invest/film-in-riga

CONTACT: Eva Medjāne, eva.medjane@riga.lv

Broadcasters

Latvian Television (LTV) is the state-owned public service television company in Latvia. LTV operates two linear channels, LTV1 and LTV7. LTV is part of Public Broadcasting of Latvia, consisting of LTV and radio (6 stations), joint news content and digital access is provided on the broadcasters site www.lsm.lv. LTV acquire Free TV and Free VOD rights to drama series, feature films, documentaries, children’s content, live events, etc. LTV mainly acquires completed films but are also opened to considering projects in production if LOC is needed.

CONTACT: Zane Valeniece, Head of Acquisitions, Zane.Valeniece@ltv.lv

Other important contacts:

Baltic Sea Forum for Documentaries: balticseadocs.lv

Documentary Film Festival Artdocfest/Riga: https://artdocfest.com/en/

Riga International Film Festival: https://rigaiff.lv/en/

The Majority Coproduction Scheme

Coproduction of full-length documentaries, short films, or documentary film series with a Lithuanian majority producer

The Minority Coproduction Scheme

Coproduction of full-length documentaries and short films, documentary film series with a Lithuanian minority producer

– Calls per year: 2 calls per year in spring and autumn

The Lithuanian Film Centre per year provides funding for 2-3 documentary minority coproductions and for 1-4 documentary majority coproductions.

With project application must be submitted (preliminary) contract that complies with the provisions of the European Convention on Cinematographic Coproduction or other international Coproduction Treaties between Lithuania and other country.

Other Coproduction Treaties

• with France (signed in 2015);
• with Israel (signed in 2022).

Annual budget for film production and development:

• 5,4 million EUR in 2022 (for the documentaries € 960.628)
• 4,9 million EUR in 2021 (for the documentaries € 802.769)

Minority coproduction requirements:

• Applications must be submitted by Lithuanian coproducer;
• Documents confirming that the production of the film has received at least 50% of funding;
• 95% of funding allocated by the Lithuanian Film Centre must be spent in Lithuania;
• A script or script treatment in Lithuanian;
• Maximum amounts of funding per project (agreements must be provided):

– Up to € 100 000, if project involves at least one Lithuanian film editor, sound director, costume designer, main actor, senior animation artist or senior animation frame artist

– Up to € 200 000, if project involves at least one Lithuanian co–author–director, script writer, director of photography, production designer, composer, director of animation or senior animation character artist

Maximum amounts of funding for majority coproduction

Development of a documentary film up to € 25 000;

Full-length documentary production up to € 300 000;

Television feature documentary production up to € 20 000;

Documentary film series production up to € 100 000;

Documentary short film production up to € 85 000.

Lithuanian film tax incentive

Incentive offers an opportunity to save up to 30% of the film’s local production budget.

Eligibility

The incentive is available for the production of feature films, TV dramas, documentaries and animated films.

Cultural content criteria:

The film cannot be pornographic, incite violence or hatred. It must meet at least two of the following criteria:

• The script is based on events that are part of Lithuanian or European culture, history, mythology, religion;
• The film reflects events of Lithuanian or European social life or politics;
• The film tells about a well-known person related to Lithuanian or European culture, history, religion or society or a mythological character;
• The script is based on a culturally significant work of Lithuanian or European literature;
• The film builds on important Lithuanian or European values;
• The film focuses on issues of Lithuanian or European identity;
• The film is set in Lithuania or Europe.

Production criteria:

• Eligible spend in Lithuania has to be no less than € 43,000;
• At least 3 days of shooting in Lithuania (except for animation projects);
• At least 51% of the crew hired by the Lithuanian production company are citizens of Lithuania or citizens of other European Economic Area (EEA) countries;
• At least 20% of an animated film’s production costs in Lithuania must be incurred for producing two of the elements listed below:
• Shooting (if it is required by the script);
• Characters and/or backgrounds design;
• Layouts and/or storyboards;
• Visual effects.

For more information, please check our website: www.lfc.lt/en

CONTACTS:

Deimantas Saladžius, Senior Specialist of Film Production Department, d.saladzius@lkc.lt

Irma Šimanskytė, Head of Film Production Department, i.simanskyte@lkc.lt