CANNES – Argentina will join the European Council’s co-production fund Eurimages as an associate member starting on October 1 2019, it was officially announced Monday at the Cannes Film Market.
The agreement was unveiled by Ralph Haiek, president of Argentine agency Incaa, Eurimages executive director Roberto Olla and the president of global producers assn. Fiapf, Luis Alberto Scalella, who was recently renewed for another four-year mandate.
Founded in 1989, Eurimages takes in 38 of the 47 member states of the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, plus Canada. Eurimages’ annual budget is set at €25 million ($27.9 million).
A key basis for building co-productions across Europe, Eurimages kicked off its intercontinental expansion in 2015 with the inclusion of Canada.
Two new countries, one European and one non-European, are preparing a request for membership to Eurimages over the coming months, Variety learned.
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Argentine producers will now be able to apply for co-production funding from the call for applications on Oct. 22, 2019.
“Fortunately, Argentina is nurturing cinema talent and an interesting, though small market. We’ve historically co-produced with other countries in a natural way –most strongly with Spain and other Latin American countries,” Haiek told Variety.
He added, “Our incorporation into Eurimages will strengthen our links with not just Europe, as was the case of various agreements with Denmark, Luxembourg, Belgium and Estonia, but also with other countries through multi-lateral co-productions.”
As an associate member state, Argentina will fully participate in all the support programs offered by the Eurimages Fund, but cannot participate in policy making by the Fund’s Board of Management during a preliminary four-year period. Full membership could follow after.
“Eurimages is delighted to welcome Argentina and we are looking forward to contributing to the country’s rich and creative cinematography. It seems natural that following the link to North America established through Canada, we can now reinforce production exchange with Latin America through Argentina, a country with which many European producers have already established privileged relationships,” said Eurimages executive director Olla.
Argentine companies co-produced 17 features with European countries last year vs. 11 in 2017, 18 in 2015 and 11 in 2013. In total, 31% of the country’s co-productions were made with European companies over 2008-18 according to statistics provided by Incaa.