The Serbian Government has launched a Euros 1.5m prototype film fund, with six local features receiving an award equivalent to 30% of its budget.

Goran Markovic's The Cordon, Srdjan Koljevic's Red Coloured Gray Truck, Dusan Kovacevic's The Professional, Milos Petricic's An Almost Ordinary Story, Srdjan Karanovic's Loving Glances and Milos Radovic's Justice, Death And The Hope were selected for support by the Ministry of Culture from a shortlist of 26 applications.

"After a few years of evident movement of Serbian cinematography towards production, this year represents a return to author films. The authors have skillfully combined their own artistic view of the world with an apparent commercial potential of their projects", said Srdjan Dragojevic, the president of the Commission and internationally renowned director of Pretty Village, Pretty Flame and The Wounds, at a press conference.

The Ministry will fund 30% of each project's total budget. The average budget of a Serbian feature is about Euros 350,000 and the Ministry will split some Euros 1.5m between the six projects.

The Minister of culture Branislav Lecic, a former film and theatre actor, has also announced that the Serbian Government's budget for culture has increased from 0.3% to 0.8% of the country's total budget. A special working group is currently forming a law on cinematography, the first since 1990, which is expected to be voted in the Parliament in July.

The Ministry intends to form an ongoing national film fund which will award financing to selected projects each year. The fund will be partially based on a certain percentage of the box-office of the features financed the previous year.