The Philippines Offers Film Distribution Incentive, Expands International Cooperation

variety.com:

Philippines on Sunday launched UniPhilippines, an incentive program that will reward overseas distributors of Philippines films.The FDCP also added to its stock of international cooperation agreements by promising to work with the new Mongolian National Film Council.UniPhilippines will provide up to $8,000 to distributors to underwrite their promotion and marketing costs when releasing Philippines film titles.

It is hoped that the incentive will cause more Philippines films to be acquired and that the conditions of their release can be improved.The scheme is open all year round, is selective in its disbursement, and does not require recoupment.

Money for the scheme will come from the FDCP’s existing budget for promotion and co-productions. “It is right now to distribute Filipino films to the world, so we want to amplify and provide support for those who are taking the chance on Filipino films, said FDCP chairperson Liza Dino.

The fund will be managed by through the FDCP by UniPhilippines program manager Jo Andrew Torlao and technical advisor Agathe Vinson.In the last two years the FDCP has launched an ASEAN Co-Production Fund (ACOF) providing grants of up to $150,000 to feature films (live action, animation, documentary or Imax) that hail from the region covered by the Association of South East Asian Nations.It has also launched CreatePHFilms, a production fund worth $600,000 that supports local films from script through distribution.In Cannes this week, the FDCP also announced a support and partnership agreement with the MNFC.