The new Apulia Film Fund will make €10 million available over the three-year period of 2018-2020. The new Fund, set up by Regione Puglia and Apulia Film Commission, was announced at the Plage des Palmes at Cannes, during the 'Producers Network' event, to 500 international audiovisual professionals, demonstrating that the film industry has become a strategic sector for Apulia.
The new funding will be available to all types of audiovisual products, with a maximum contribution of €1 million for Fiction, €250,000 for Animation, €100,000 for Doc and Format and €40,000 for Short. To be eligible for funding, producer must cover 60% of the budget (40% for Doc and 20% for Short) and carry out at least 6 production days in the region (2 for Short).
Further support for productions will also be available from the Social Film Fund - Con il Sud, born from the agreement between the Fondazione Apulia Film Commission and the Fondazione Con il Sud. The Fund is aimed at fictional and documentary short films that represent the social characteristics of the South.
Also back is the Development Film Fund, a sort of project incubator that used to be run by AFC and will now be managed directly by the Region.
Apulia has seen clear positives trend in the sector since 2007, when the Apulia Film Commission was set up. Indeed, according to research carried out by the company Acume, over the nine years of activity analysed, the Apulia Film Commission has granted funding to a total of 269 productions and logistical support to 96 projects, which have in turn clocked up a total of 3,720 production days in the region, most of which took place over the last three years. What's more, filming took place all over the region, across a total of 180 municipalities.
When you think that the €11 million granted in funding over the years has generated direct expenditure in the region of no less than €46 million (and twice as much when taking satellite activities into account), it is impossible to ignore the considerable impact that che audiovisual sector can have on the economy of individual regions and the country as whole.