Northern Ireland is Tops For MEDIA New Talent Awards

Northern Ireland has become one of the most successful nations in Europe in this scheme so far. The UK has regularly received the largest number of funding awards from the scheme and, within the UK, Northern Ireland has received the majority. 100% of all applications from Northern Ireland since the inception of the scheme have been successfully selected.

All applications from N. Ireland since the inception of the scheme have been selected

This year, 4 companies have received development funding from the scheme:

De Facto Film & Video Productions - €50,000 for Obsession (feature)

Bandigital Productions - €50,000 for McCarthy's War (feature)

Raw Nerve Productions - €20,000 for East Belfast Yacht Club (feature)

Besom Productions - €15,000 for Paradiso (doc)

In total €235,000 in development funding has been awarded to Northern Ireland projects since 2003. Other companies receiving support in the early years of the scheme include Journeyman Films, Powerstone Entertainment and Haven Films.

Training qualifications are directly connected to funding decisions in many cases.

To access this scheme, projects must have been developed through an eligible MEDIA training provider within a couple of years of application. These training providers include well-known professional courses throughout Europe - Moonstone, EAVE, ACE, Sources 2, North by Northwest to name a few. A new round of funding for New Talent projects will open in the Autumn for projects participating in eligible MEDIA Training programmes in the last two years.

Professional Training is a key area that the NIFTC is promoting, for experienced as well as new producers and filmmakers. The NIFTC is committed to funding the participation of Northern Ireland's filmmakers in many professional courses throughout Europe. Training qualifications are directly connected to funding decisions in many cases. The NIFTC has regularly supported the attendance of Northern Ireland filmmakers at these training programmes through the Skills Development Bursary fund. The NIFTC has also previously been regularly involved in the match funding of the development costs of the projects selected for MEDIA New Talent funding.