According to Article 8 of the Act on Audiovisual Activities (Official Gazette No. 61/18, 114/22), and per the Regulations on the procedure, criteria, and deadlines for the implementation of the National Programme for the Promotion of Audiovisual Creation (Official Gazette No. 76/2021), the Croatian Audiovisual Council, upon the recommendation of the Chief Executive Officer of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, announces the following 

Call for Applications for the 2024 Audiovisual Activities and Production Support Scheme

Category: Production Support for Co-productions with Minority Croatian Participation (Minority Croatian Co-productions)

I

Minority Croatian co-productions are considered to be those co-productions in which the Croatian producer’s financing share (including subsidies received from the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, producer’s own investment, investment from television, television broadcasting rights, distribution contracts, in-kind investments, etc.) can eventually qualify as an official co-production under the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production and/or any bilateral co-production treaties which Croatia has concluded with other countries.

Subject to the financial contribution of each co-producing partner, the minority co-production shall include effective technical and artistic participation of Croatian personnel. Additionally, a minimum of 60% of the allocated support shall be spent within the Republic of Croatia.

The Republic of Croatia shall be credited in the co-produced cinematographic work, in the order of its participation share and in proportion to the established financial contribution.

II

The following groups of audiovisual works are eligible for consideration under this Call for Applications:  

• feature fiction films,
• debut feature fiction films,
• short fiction films,
• feature documentary films,
• short documentary films,
• animated films,
• experimental films,
• all films in post-production.

The Call for Applications for eligible works, as stated in Section II of this Call, is open to all natural persons and legal entities registered for the performance of activities of the production of audiovisual works in the court registry or other competent registries, and based in the Republic of Croatia or those who perform production activities in the Republic of Croatia and are registered in the HAVC producers’ database.

The eligibility criteria and application procedure for this category are regulated under the General regulations for application, as well as the relevant conditions for this category of support for film production stipulated in Articles 21, 22, 23 and 24 of the Regulations.

III

The following are not eligible for support for film co-production with minority Croatian participation:

– commissioned films, didactic and educational films, audiovisual works intended for marketing or advertising,
– applicants who have violated their contractual obligations towards HAVC or have outstanding past obligations towards HAVC that have not been fulfilled until the moment of application submission,
– producers and/or directors who have, in their previous and current work, violated their contractual obligations towards other parties in the realization of any project co-financed by HAVC, whereby their outstanding obligations have been determined by a final court decision and have not been fulfilled by the moment of application submission,
– legal entities whose legal representatives simultaneously represent legal entities which do not fulfil or irregularly fulfil their obligations towards HAVC or any other participants in the realization of a project co-financed by HAVC (as determined by a final court decision), and which have such outstanding past obligations at the moment of application submission,
– legal entities the owners/co-owners of which are simultaneously owners/co-owners of legal entities which do not fulfil or irregularly fulfil their obligations towards HAVC or any other participants in the realization of a project co-financed by HAVC (as determined by a final court decision), which have such outstanding past obligations at the moment of application submission,
– applicants, individual owners of applicant entities or persons authorised to represent an applicant, against whom a final court decision has been made regarding one or several of the following criminal offenses: fraud, fraud in business operations, receiving bribes in business operations, offering bribes in business operations, tax or customs duties evasion, subsidy fraud, money laundering, abuse of position and authority, unlawful bargaining, receiving bribes, offering bribes, influence peddling, offering bribes for influence peddling, participation in a criminal association, and committing a criminal offense within a criminal association,     
– applicants applying with a project for which they have already received support in this category,
– applicants who have been instructed to repay funds allocated by public financing and are in the process of repaying previously awarded funds,
– applicants who have outstanding and past due obligations for public levies,
– entrepreneurs in financial difficulties as defined by Article 2, Paragraph 18 of the General Block Exemption Regulation,
– entrepreneurs currently in pre-insolvency or insolvency proceedings or liquidation management.

IV

Submissions in the category of Support for Film Co-productions with Minority Croatian Participation are submitted using the Application Form available at HAVC website.

The completed Application Form shall be submitted online, together with the following documents in Croatian: 

– The track record of the director’s previous films (success at domestic and international festivals, theatrical admission numbers for Croatia, international sales and distribution of the director’s previous works – theatrical, TV, and other platforms), if applicable – listed in the Application Form.
– The track record of the producer’s previous films – Croatian producer and the main producer (success at domestic and international festivals, theatrical admission figures for Croatia, international sales and distribution of the producer’s previous films – on the international market, theatrical, TV and other platforms), if applicable – listed in the Application Form.
– Production schedule – listed in the Application Form. 
– A completed Qualification Test – listed in the Application Form. 
– Financing plan (indicating all confirmed and planned sources of financing) – listed in the Application Form. 

– A financial plan/budget, expressed in EUR, together with a detailed and itemised expenditure plan for spending within the Republic of Croatia. 
– Proof of chain of title, regulated copyright and neighbouring rights (statement or agreement regulating the rights to the screenplay and the original work, in the case of an adaptation of an existing original work. For animated films, additionally, a statement or agreement regulating the right to use the characters.).
– A breakdown of co-producing shares and percentages for each co-producing country.
– A detailed breakdown of Croatian participation in artistic and technical personnel. 
– Evidence that a minimum of 50% of the overall finance has already been secured, in accordance with the submitted financing plan and preliminary budget.
– Evidence that a part of financing has already been secured in the country of the majority co-producer.
– Producer’s plan for the promotion and distribution of the project.
– A selection of the director’s previous works available via a link.
– Proof of solvency of the producer (BON-1) or the Annual Financial Report for the previous business year submitted to the competent institution (FINA, tax administration...).
– BON-2 (not older than 30 days)
– A statement from the competent tax administration authority about the nonexistence of outstanding and past due obligations for public levies – not older than 30 days.  

In addition to the above documents in Croatian, the Application Form must also be accompanied by the following:

For feature and short fiction films: 
– Completed screenplay, synopsis (max. 1800 characters with spaces) and Director’s statement.

For debut feature fiction films:
– Completed screenplay, synopsis (max. 1800 characters with spaces) and Director’s statement.
– A selection of previous works available via a link.

For feature or short documentary and experimental films:
– Screenplay or treatment, synopsis, Director’s statement;
– Visual materials (for experimental film).

For feature documentary films, additionally:
– An overview of already performed research;

For short and feature documentary films, additionally:
– A statement of the producer that they have access to the person/material on which the documentary is based;

For animated films:
– Synopsis and/or screenplay accompanied by visuals, a storyboard and Director’s statement.   

For all films in post-production:
– Documents as listed above for the corresponding film category, together with the latest rough cut via link.
– Detailed breakdown in EUR of financing needed in order to complete the film.
– Statement of the main producer that all rights necessary for the public screening of the film have been arranged.

All amounts in the financing plan and the financial plan must be expressed in euros according to the reference exchange rate of the ECB, that is, for currencies that are not quoted on the foreign exchange market in the Republic of Croatia, according to the exchange rates published monthly by the CNB, on the day of drawing up the plan, with the exact date of compilation indicated.

The documents accompanying the Application Form contained in public registries as official records of bodies with public authorities which are available in electronic format (e-government) are considered valid means of providing evidence, under the conditions stipulated by specific legislation.   

If the application is successful and the financing is approved, the applicant shall send all the documentation containing one hard copy of each document to the Croatian Audiovisual Centre prior to the signing of the Co-financing Agreement. 

V

The Application Form and all the accompanying documents are submitted in Croatian language electronically/online.

Applications should be submitted online no later than:     

• January 15, 2024 – for the 1st decision deadline,
• April 15, 2024 – for the 2nd decision deadline,
• July 15, 2024 – for the 3rd decision deadline
• October 15, 2024 – for the 4th decision deadline

The Croatian Audiovisual Centre reserves the right to modify the above-mentioned submission deadlines, in which case it shall provide due notice via www.havc.hr/eng in the section “Project Funding.”

Complete applications containing all required documentation will be evaluated in consideration of the submission and decision deadlines for each funding category, which are publicly available on the web pages of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre. Incomplete applications and/or applications that do not contain all required documentation, as well as late applications will not be taken into consideration.

VI

According to Article 37 of the Act on Audiovisual Activities, the assessment and evaluation of projects submitted to calls for proposals shall be conducted by the Artistic Consultants appointed for individual categories. There is one Artistic Consultant responsible for the assessment and evaluation of projects submitted in the minority co-production category. 

The Artistic Council, comprised of Artistic Consultants, draws up a proposed priority list of submitted projects and programmes, and recommends the allocation of funds. The proposed priority list is then submitted to the Croatian Audiovisual Council for final approval.

VII

The decisions of the Croatian Audiovisual Council on the allocation of funds represent an act of business of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre and will be made publicly available at www.havc.hr. The projects approved for co-financing by the Croatian Audiovisual Council will be co-financed in accordance with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre’s available funds. 

Financial resources allocated for the Call for Support for Audiovisual Activities and Production in 2024, in the category of Production Support for Co-productions with Minority Croatian Participation, will be determined by the Annual Plan for 2024 and published on the website: www.havc.hr, in accordance with the Croatian Audiovisual Centre’s available funds for 2024. 

The decisions on the allocation of funds are made until the first half of March, June, September and December. 

VIII

For projects approved for financing, a Co-financing Agreement shall be made between the Croatian Audiovisual Centre, on the one side, and the producer and director on the other, no later than 180 days from the date of the official approval of the project by the Croatian Audiovisual Council.  

IX

The support granted by the Croatian Audiovisual Centre is non-refundable and is added up to any other funds allocated by public financing for the same project.