The Danish capital of Copenhagen is to establish a regional film fund in a bid to attract foreign productions and place the city on the international movie map.

With support from neighbouring municipalities, the new fund will be assigned a budget of $6.3 million (DKK 35 million) for the next three years.

Klaus Hansen, managing director of the Danish Producers Association, said there had been plans to establish a regional fund since 2003. “Better late than never,” he said.

“Copenhagen has made the decision we needed. Many cities that we usually compare with have benefited from regional film funds for several years.”

Hansen revealed his ambition for a bigger budget but added: “$6.3 million is a good beginning – it should both keep Danish productions at home and draw some foreign projects to the country, increasing the revenue in a striving industry, and creating more jobs at production companies.”

Producers have previously overlooked  Copenhagen in favour of Danish locations where they can secure local finance, as was the case with Danish director Susanne Bier’s Oscar-winning Hævnen (In a Better World).

Films have also steered toward other countries including Sweden, Germany or the Czech Republic to exploit attractive incentives.

Copenhagen’s culture mayor, Pia Allerslev, said: “This is an industry fund, not arts support.”

Producers receiving support must spend 2.5 times the money on film-related businesses in the region, and the fund is expected to create a turnover of at least 3.25 times its investments.

Two regional film funds are already operating in Denmark: FilmFyn at Faaborg on the island of Funen; and the West-Danish Film Fund in Aarhus, with annual budgets of $1.8m (DKK 10m) and $0.9m (DKK 5m) respectively.

FilmFyn most recently entered Danish director Pernille Fischer Christensen’s upcoming En sang fra hjertet (Someone You Love), while Aarhus supported Danish director Nikolaj Arcel’s Oscar-nominated En kongelig affære (A Royal Affair).