EXCLUSIVE: A total of €2m is to be distributed in the first round of 2014 for Screen Flanders Economic Fund.

During Cannes, Kris Peeters, Minister-President of Flanders, has announced the latest projects to be backed by the increasingly influential Screen Flanders Economic Fund.

A total of €2m ($2.74m) is to be distributed in the Fund’s first round of 2014. Nine projects receive support, including work from Jaco Van Dormael, Felix van Groeningen and Wim Vandekeybus, as well as the Company Pictures/BBC series Breakdown.

Between them, they account for well over €9.3m ($12.7m) of audiovisual expenditure in the region.

Beneficiaries in the latest spending round include

  • Belgica from Oscar nominated Felix van Groeningen (The Broken Circle Breakdown); 
  • Bowling Balls by Marc Punt
  • Breakdown/The Missing directed by Tom Schankland and produced by Company Pictures in the UK together with Belgian partner Czar TV; 
  • Galloping Mind from dance world star Wim Vandekeybus;
  • The Brand New Testament (Le Tout Nouveau Testament) from Jaco Van Dormael; 
  • Moonwalk by Antoine Bardou-Jacquet;
  • Paradise Trips by Raf Reyntjens; 
  • Ventoux by Nicole van Kilsdonk;
  • Winnipeg from director Geoffrey Enthoven.

Through Screen Flanders, the Flanders government provides financial support to audiovisual productions that spend part or all of their budgets within the Flanders Region.

Belgian producers can apply for up to €400,000 (just under $550,000). Foreign producers can tap into the fund by co-producing with a Belgian producer who meets the selection criteria.

Since its launch in 2012 Screen Flanders has granted support to a large variety of international co-productions, including Europacorps’ latest animated feature Jack and Cuckoo-Clock Heart, the BBC historical dramaseries The White Queen, DR TV series The Team and Peter Greenaway’s Eisenstein in Guanajuato.

In 2014 a budget of in total €5m will be divided among three calls.