The French and Irish governments have signed a new film co-production pact.
French cultural minister Rima Abdul Malak joined Ireland’s ambassador to France, Niall Burgess, at the French Ministry of Culture in Paris on December 12) o confirm the agreement.
The move marks the 61st co-production agreement for France which already has bilateral co-production agreements with most of Europe.
Burgess told Screen: “We’ve been trying to do this for 20 years,” and that French oresident Emmanuel Macron’s 2021 visit to Ireland pushed things forward thanks to “commitment at the highest level.”
Dominique Boutonnat, president the CNC, was also present, alongside several visiting reps from Screen Ireland. The CNC and Screen Ireland will organise co-production meetings at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2023 to bring together producers from both countries.
Prior to Monday’s deal, co-productions between France and Ireland have been based on the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production that requires at least another European country to be involved in production. The agreement covers feature films – both live action and animation – and documentary intended for theatrical release. While it doesn’t offer additional tax rebates or financial incentives, the bilateral agreement is meant to catalyse more Franco-Irish co-productions and remove the need for third party countries.
If a film is certified as an official Franco-Irish co-production, it confers national status of all the co-production territories to the relevant production and can then receive local territory benefits such as access to tax incentives, regional subsidies and the local distribution market.
Victor Hadida. president of Metropolitan Filmexport, said the agreement will “accelerate and facilitate our co-productions moving forward” with “more favourable conditions” and “no need for third parties.”
A recent Irish-French co-production with Germany is the Irish-language coming-of-age drama The Quiet Girl, which is Ireland’s Oscar entry.
Other recent co-productions include Tomm Moore’s 2014 animated fantasy Song Of The Sea, an international co-production between Ireland, Belgium, Denmark and France.
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