Three international cultural subsidy groups will host a co-production and co-financing market, Contact 2000, in Berlin, from November 24 to 26.

Brussels-based Linking Market Forces (LMF), an association accredited by the EU's MEDIA Programme, along with Societe de developpement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC), an agency of Quebec's provincial government, and Filmboard Berlin Brandenburg will convene the three-day event with the intention of bringing together up to 20 projects (10 from Europe, 10 from North America) with 30 potential co-producers or backers.

The event is the second of its kind -- the inaugural, in March 2000, was sponsored by SODEC and LMF -- and the first to be held in Europe.

SODEC's International Affairs Manager Christian Verbert told Screendaily that although the first event's projects have yet to bear fruit, the move to Europe, particularly to Germany, has raised hopes for the second instalment. Indeed, projects that were at the first Contact and have completed some of their financing will be considered for inclusion. Verbert says he would like to see Contact do for international co-production what the Banff Television Festival does for international broadcasters.

The projects will be vetted by an international committee including Canadian producers Louise Gendron and Bill Niven, Pandora's Illan Girard and Arte France Cinema's Georges Goldenstern. Two German jurists have yet to be selected.

Eligible projects must be feature films in English or French and must have 30% of financing in place. The deadline for submissions is September 20. Projects floated at the initial Contact meeting included Le Constellation Du Dragon, from Robert Lepage's In Extremis Images with Lepage attached as writer-director and Bruno Jobin as producer, and L'Affaire Rusman from France's E&MA Films with director Emanuelle Cuau and producers Jean Milosevitch and Euric Allaire.