Canada and Colombia renew digital media codevelopment incentive

Toronto/Bogotá, March 14, 2018 - The Canada Media Fund (CMF), Proimágenes Colombia (Proimágenes), Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá (Bogotá Chamber of Commerce) and the Government of Colombia through the Ministry of Information Communications and Technologies of Colombia (MinTIC) announced today the renewal of the Canada-Colombia Codevelopment Incentive for Web Series or Other Digital Media Projects. This program supports the codevelopment of fiction, documentary and/or animation projects created for digital platforms between Canadian producers and Colombian producers. Click here to access the guidelines.

“The CMF is pleased to continue this productive working relationship with our Colombian partners,” said Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, CMF. “This program has seen enormous interest by producers in Canada and Colombia. Their enthusiasm speaks to the growing ties between our two countries and the increasing business opportunities producers in both Canada and Colombia continue to identify and maximize. We look forward to supporting more creative and innovative projects that tell culturally-relevant stories to audiences in both countries and around the world.”

“We are very pleased to renew this binational project with Canada. Through a joint effort with Canadian producers, we want to broadcast to the world, the quality of our national production companies dedicated to the creative and digital industries. This is part of the exporting potential and reflects the internationalization of this industry sector,” highlights David Luna, Minister of ICT.

“The renewal of this bet on digital creators' talent responds to the global trends in a growing audiovisual industry and it enables the exchange of knowledge and best practices with experienced foreign partners such as the Canada Media Fund. We are very pleased with the results shown by the projects that were developed thanks to the incentives granted in the first edition of the NEWMEDIA Canada - Colombia program,” said Claudia Triana de Vargas, Director of Proimágenes Colombia. “It is worth highlighting the common ground in the stories in animation, documentary and fiction and the quality of the prototypes in VR, AR and web series that the Colombian and Canadian partners are already starting to promote in markets around the world.” 

“The support of this initiative by the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and its partners fosters the intention of positioning Bogota as a world leader in the creation of digital contents. This is part of Bogota and Cundinamarca’s Smart Specialisation Strategy, in which the Chamber of Commerce and many different institutions and companies have been focusing our collective efforts and resources, specifically on sectors and clusters related to the creative industries,” said Marco Linas, Vice-President of Competitiveness and Shared Value – Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, Proimágenes’ new partner for this Incentive.

Eligible projects must involve producers eligible under each organisation’s criteria. Projects will have to be created for digital platforms. Applications will be assessed on the projects’ creative value, the track record of the creative teams and audience relevance, as well as the projects’ commercial viability.

The total amount of funding available through the Incentive is approximately CAD $240,000 with each part contributing approximately half of the funds. The total maximum contribution for each project funded through the incentive will be CAD $60,000. Funding will take the form of a non-repayable contribution.

Finding a codevelopment partner

Producers interested in finding an international partner as part of this development incentive are invited to post a profile of their company on the CMF’s website by clicking here. Profiles will be accessible to all, including potential partners from other countries.

How to apply

Projects will be evaluated and chosen by a selection committee composed of representatives from the CMF and an external evaluation committee hired by Proimágenes Colombia.

All applications must comply with the guidelines for the Incentive which will be available on both the CMF website and Proimágenes site created specifically for this call. Click here to access the guidelines.

For Colombian Producers, the deadline to apply to the first phase (Eligible Companies) of the NEWMEDIA call is March 24, 2018. The final deadline to apply with codevelopment projects submitted by Canadian and Colombian producers is May 14, 2018.

About the Canada Media Fund
The Canada Media Fund (CMF) fosters, develops, finances and promotes the production of Canadian content and applications for all audiovisual media platforms. The CMF guides Canadian content towards a competitive global environment by fostering industry innovation, rewarding success, enabling a diversity of voice and promoting access to content through public and private sector partnerships. The CMF receives financial contributions from the Government of Canada and Canada’s cable, satellite and IPTV distributors. Please visit cmf-fmc.ca.

About Proimágenes
PROIMAGENES COLOMBIA is a non-profit organization, composed of public and private entities, that seeks to consolidate and strengthen the Colombian film industry by becoming a key arena for reaching agreements on public policy and film industry policies, and for establishing rules that will bolster and promote the Colombian film industry.

About the Bogota Chamber of Commerce
The Bogota Chamber of Commerce is a nonprofit private entity that seeks to build a long term sustainable Bogota-region, promoting the increase of prosperity of its inhabitants, starting from services that support the entrepreneurial capacities and improve the environment for businesses that influence public policy. We are allies in making your entrepreneurial dreams come true.

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For more information, please contact: Jill Samson  Canada Media Fund Program Administrator Deputy Director – Portfolio Management [email protected] 416.973.1819 Mia Rodríguez Sarmiento Supervisor NEWMEDIA Incentive Programme Proimágenes Colombia – MinTIC [email protected]

For media requests, please contact: André Ferreira Canada Media Fund Communications Manager [email protected] 416.214.4402 Daniel Tellez Proimágenes Colombia Communications Director [email protected]