European Film Promotion (EFP) is expanding its activities to Australia and New Zealand by welcoming producers from both film industries to participate in the fourth edition of Producers Lab Toronto.

Australia and New Zealand will be guest countries at the international networking platform, held during the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from Sept 4-7.

The event has seen producers from Europe and Canada building up business relationships and embarking on co-productions together over the past three years.

Ten European producers, who have previously participated in EFP’s Producers on the Move initiative in Cannes, will be selected by EFP member organisations to meet ten counterparts from Canada, chosen by the Ontario Media Development Corporation and TIFF from an open call, and four producers from Australia and New Zealand, who will be selected by Screen Australia and the New Zealand Film Commission.

Previous editions of the MEDIA Mundus-backed event have been attended by, among others, Germany’s Nicole Gerhards (NiKo Film), Romania’s Ada Solomon (HiFilm Productions), Belgium’s Mariano Vanhoof (Fobic Films), Ireland’s Macdara Kelleher (Fastnet Films) and the Canadian producers Michael Dobbin (Quiet Revolution Pictures), Peter Traynor (The Film Farm), and Sarah Timmins (Corvid Pictures Inc.).

European film festivals funding

Over $2.1m (€1.6m) in funding is expected to be distributed among 41 European film festivals by the European Union’s MEDIA Programme this year.

The largest amount - $100,000 (€75,000) – has been recommended to such festivals as Wroclaw’s T-Mobile New Horizons IFF, and Portugal’s FESTROIA and DOCLISBOA festivals.

In addition, support is being lined up for the Transilvania International Film Festival, Planete+ Doc Film Festival, Sarajevo Film Festival, Lübeck’s Nordic Film Days, Motovun Film Festival, Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival, and Cinekid, among others.