About Sørfond
ABOUT SØRFOND
SØRFOND grants top financing for the co-production of fiction and documentary films where the main producer is located in a DAC country. The applications to Sørfond must be made through a Norwegian minority producer.
SØRFOND was established in 2011, after an initiative by the Films from the South Festival, a festival run by Stiftelsen Festivalkontoret. Since the beginning, SØRFOND has been jointly run by Stiftelsen Festivalkontoret and the Norwegian Film Institute.
Stiftelsen Festivalkontoret and the Norwegian Film Institute recognized that it is difficult for filmmakers in DAC countries to realize film projects that are locally based, despite the great demand for such productions. Filmmakers in DAC countries have the need for both production capital and international professional networks. It is in that spirit that SØRFOND was created.
SØRFOND is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
CRITERIA
- FILM FORMAT - Fiction and documentary films of feature-length (Minimum 50 minutes).
- REQUIRED FINANCING IN PLACE - At least 50% of the budget must already be confirmed at the time of submitting the application.
- NORWEGIAN CO-PRODUCER REQUIRED - The Norwegian minority producer and the main producer must have entered into a co-production agreement in order to apply.
- SHOOTING LOCATION - Shooting must be done in one of SØRFOND's eligible countries.
- NATIONALITY OF MAIN PRODUCER & DIRECTOR - The main producer must be established in a country one of Sørfond's eligible countries. Furthermore, the director must be a citizen of, or resident in, one of these countries.
- SPENDING REQUIREMENT - At least 70 % of the grant must be spent in a country on Sørfond's list of eligible countries.
GRANTED AMOUNTS
The grant shall not exceed NOK 1 million (approximately € 100 000). The average grant from Sørfond is about € 60 000 for fiction films and € 45 000 for documentaries. SØRFOND normally grants support to 6-8 projects annually.
Up to 10% of the grant amount may be retained by the minority production company in order to cover its administrative costs.
ASSESSMENT AND SELECTION
The evaluation period is up to twelve weeks from the application deadline.
The assessment and selection of the applications shall be based on an overall assessment of the project's artistic, production-related, economic, and technical aspects. Particular emphasis is placed on the purpose of SØRFOND and the project’s cultural identity, including the use of local languages and local shooting locations. Emphasis is also placed on the director’s and the producers’ experience and the representation of women in key positions.
The incoming applications might be screened through a pre-selection before being presented to the jury. This pre-selection process will consider the track record of the director and the main producer. Previous shorts will be considered by debut filmmakers. Furthermore, the pre-selection will consider the project's relevance to Sørfond's overall objective (§2 in the guidelines) and, in doing so, the applicant country's ranking on the DAC-list (Least Developed Country – Upper Middle-Income Countries and Territories) and Freedom House’s annual Freedom in the World-report will also be relevant. Projects participating in the Sørfond Pitching Forum will automatically pass through the pre-selection process.
ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES
Projects from countries on the Norwegian Government's list of countries eligible to receive aid (ODA) from Norway are qualified to apply for production support from SØRFOND.
The complete list can be found here
GUIDELINES & DEADLINES
Official guidelines in English (PDF)
Deadline SØRFOND:
March 11th, 12:00 (GMT+1)
Note: The application can only be submitted by the Norwegian partner in the project (you need a Norwegian Bank ID to log in to the application portal).
The application form opens 4 weeks before the deadline. Link to the application form can be found here.
SØRFOND Pitching Forum:
No deadline. By invitation only.
Five to six international film projects will be selected from partnering film markets around the world and invited to Oslo in November to pitch their projects to an audience of Norwegian producers.