Georgia Signs European Film Production Convention
Yesterday, at the Bureau of the Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Gabriella Battaini-Dragoni, Ambassador Irakli Giviashvili, Permanent Representative of Georgia to the Council of Europe, signed the revised Convention on Cinematographic Co-production.
The purpose of the revised Convention is to provide a legal and financial framework for the co-production of feature-length films involving production companies established in three or more countries. The revised Convention can also be used as a bilateral framework in the absence of a specific co-production treaty between two Parties.
The Convention updates the provisions of the 1992 European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production to reflect the profound changes undergone by the film industry in last 15 years.
The key revisions of the text aim to:
- Broaden the scope of the Convention by opening it to accession by non-member States of the Council of Europe and introducing the notion of “official international co-production” to replace that of “official European co-production”;
- Adjust the minimum and maximum proportions of contributions from each co-producer, to make it easier to participate in official co-productions, while at the same time providing safeguards for national authorities, should they wish to bar access to national production funding schemes;
- Ensure monitoring and sharing of best practice in the application of the revised Convention; These functions are to be filled by the Board of Management of the Eurimages Fund, meeting in an enlarged configuration to include all Parties to the revised text;
- Facilitate the work of the competent authorities responsible for its application, by updating the procedure for recognition under the Convention to reflect widespread practice.
The revised Convention applies to co-productions where all of the production companies involved are established in Parties to the updated text.
Georgia is the 21st country of the Council of Europe to have signed this Convention, which opened for signatures in January 2017. At the moment, five countries have ratified this Convention.
By Samantha Guthrie
Photo: Council of Europe