While there are plenty of individual Dutch film bodies, the Netherlands is one of the last of the mature European film markets to have an official Film Institute.

However, with the launch of a Dutch independent film research initiative only three weeks away, the Dutch film industry is taking another step towards standardisation.

The Dutch Filmfund, currently developing itself into a fully equipped Film Institute - to be operational in about five years time, is part of the research programming commission, alongside a core of other film organisations, including Federatie Filmbelangen, NVS, NVF, NVB and Fine BV.

The Film sector Research Foundation will be part of the new Professional School of the Arts, a co-operation between Utrecht University and the Utrecht Academy of Art (Hogeschool voor de Kunsten).

The Foundation is the independent follow-up of the former NFC-related Foundation of Research on Film Screening. Its chairman, Mr Joachim Wolff, director of Wolff Cinema Group, will stay on. Wolff expects that the data collected will play a roll in providing background for the development of new film financing measures. A film research site (www.filmonderzoek.nl) is due to be operational within a month.

Later this year, the Filmfund plans to publish a regular overview of Dutch film industry statistics, comparable to those of other European Film institutes.