NEW DELHI: India and Poland have signed an agreement that will make it easier for filmmakers from both the countries to collaborate in filmmaking and also lay down the extent of financial contributions (usually ranging between 20 – 80 per cent).
Besides, the agreement has provision for both co-producers to make effective contributions, modalities of sharing honours and prizes and exporting films.
The audio visual co-production agreement was signed by Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Polish Minister of Culture and National Heritage B Zdrojewski at Warsaw.
The agreement establishes a legal framework for relations regarding audio visual co-production, especially films including animation and documentary films for the cinema and TV, as well as films intended solely for dissemination on analogue or digital data carriers. The agreement shall remain in force for a period of five years from the date of its entry into force.
The signing of the agreement ensures better partnership and collaboration between enterprises and institutions which produce, distribute, and disseminate films. The inter-governmental co-production agreements are umbrella agreements, under which private, quasi-government or governmental agencies enter into contracts to produce films together. The films so produced are treated as national films in both countries and such films cannot be treated differently from a domestically produced film in each of the co-producing countries.
One of the key highlights of the agreement is the coverage of filming and animation work, including the storyboard, layout, key animation and in between as well as sound recording. The purview of the agreement also covers laboratory processing activities and facilitates movement of film equipment and associated infrastructure required for co-production. The agreement would also facilitate producers, screenwriters, directors, technicians, actors and other specified personnel to enter and briefly stay in each other‘s country.
Currently, as part of the initiative, the Government has signed co-production agreements with Italy, UK, Northern Ireland, Federal Republic of Germany, Brazil, France and New Zealand.
