The Fonds Francophone d’Aide au Développement Cinématographique ends

Montréal, March 20, 2012 – The Fonds Francophone d’Aide au Développement Cinématographique will end this year after three years of collaboration between Telefilm Canada, SODEC, the Centre du Cinéma et de l’Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie Bruxelles, the Centre du cinéma et de l’image animée français, Film Fund Luxembourg and the partnership of the Office fédéral de la Culture suisse.

Following a meeting in Berlin on February 13, 2012, SODEC and Telefilm Canada stated their intention of not participating in the renewal of the partnership agreement for the Fonds Francophone, in part owing to budgetary considerations and in part owing to the fact that the Fund had not sufficiently achieved its initial objectives. On this last point, the other partners were also in agreement.

However, the partners reiterated the importance of maintaining robust relationships among Francophone agencies supporting film production. The partners wish to strengthen existing initiatives aimed at encouraging partnerships among producers, and discussions to this effect will be held at Cannes in May.

The Fonds was launched at Cannes in 2009 as a two-year pilot project, renewable for one year. Its goal was to pool funds in order to support the co-development of French-language feature-film screenplays and to generate high-quality co-productions.