The Northern Ireland Film & Television Commission (NIFTC) is inviting applications to its new Northern Ireland Film Production Fund.

The NIFTC will invest between £150,000 and £600,000 up to a ceiling of 25% of the overall project costs in a live action or animated feature film or a live action or animated television drama single, series or serial where the production can be clearly demonstrated to have a strong cultural relevance, as defined in the guidelines, to Northern Ireland.

The fund has been launched with funding from Invest Northern Ireland, "because cultural product that informs, displays, reflects or expresses some element of Northern Ireland is extremely limited in the medium of film and television drama." The fund is intended to assist in completing the budgets of productions that are almost fully financed (65%).

The fund will provide production funding, in the form of a repayable loan, for a limited number of feature films and/or television drama singles, series or serials that are intended to be primarily produced in Northern Ireland between 2004 and 2007.

Queries concerning the fund, operational guidelines and application deadlines should be addressed to Elsie Brown, Funding Programmes Manager, Northern Ireland Film and Television Commission.