Operational support for film festivals

Preparing an application:

• Study the grant announcement and the support guide carefully.
• Log in to our application system with your Suomi.fi e-Identification.
• Fill in an application in the application system. The application consists of
  1) an application form
  2) the application’s appendices
  3) the applicant’s appendices
• Submit the application before the deadline.

1. General

The aim of the support

The aim of the Finnish Film Foundation is to promote the broad and comprehensive supply and distribution of films. The Foundation’s values include participation, pluralism, cultural diversity and artistic freedom.

The purpose of the support is to promote professional screening and distribution of films, and to secure the continuous funding and operations of nationally important film festivals.

To whom?

Support is granted for organizing a nationally significant festival.

The applicant must be a registered association.

For what purpose and how much?

Finnish Film Foundation grants operational support for film festivals to organise nationally significant film festivals.

Previous support decisions may be viewed from the Foundation’s support decisions page.

How and when to apply?

Import support is applied for by submitting an application in the application system before the deadline given in the grant announcement.

The application consist of:

1) an application form
2) the application’s appendices
3) the applicant’s appendices

Prior to submitting an application, you must carefully read the relevant grant announcement and support guide. You should begin preparing the application well ahead of the deadline.

The applicant is responsible for submitting the application within the deadline.

The application deadline is at 16:00 on the last day of the application period.

A good application and smooth communication

It is essential for the evaluation and comparison of the applications that the application is clear and carefully prepared.

In a good application, the project plan outlines clearly and concisely the aims of the project, their execution and schedule, and the persons working on the project. The budget and the financing plan support the project plan and its goals.

What requirements must the applicant meet?

A prerequisite for a favourable support decision is that the applicant has complied with possible previous support agreements and conditions set for the granting of support.

For the purposes of making a decision, the Foundation may ask the applicant to supplement material that they previously submitted to the Foundation. Support cannot be granted if the application is insufficient and the required information is not uploaded into the online application system despite requests to do so.

How are the applications evaluated?

Evaluation considers the breadth and diversity of the programme, its national and international significance for audiences and the media, the applicant’s professionalism and position as a festival organiser and the funding base of the festival.

Support is discretionary. The evaluation and comparison of the applications is based on an overall assessment that considers the purpose of the funds, the grounds mentioned in the grant announcement and available funds in the budget. In addition, the applicant’s professional and financial ability to complete the project is taken into account. Other support previously granted by the Film Foundation to the applicant is also taken into account.

Definition of a film festival

What is meant by film festival here is a professionally and regularly organized film culture event that is tied to time and place and that is funded, in addition to public funding, mainly by box office revenue from selling cinema tickets to the general audience. The conditions for watching films correspond to the general level of cinemas when possible. Projection equipment corresponds to the general level and the screenings are accessible to all population groups.

An integral part of film festivals are film screenings where the audience, filmmaker guests and film experts watch films together and discuss them, thus creating an important part of film culture and expanding the audience’s knowledge of the film art.

How are the decisions made?

The Board of the Finnish Film Foundation decides on festival support based on the presentation of the CEO. The Foundation aims to make decisions in 8–10 weeks after the deadline.

All applicants receive a written decision that contains the conditions of the support and a claim for corrections with instructions. You will get an email when the decision is made to the email address given in the Applicant’s information.

The decision is based on the act of government funding for the advancement of cinema (1174/2018), the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).

2. Support application

Fill out an application in the application system consisting of the following:

1. Application form
2. Application’s appendices
3. Applicant’s appendices/information

3. Decision and support payment

A prerequisite for payment of the support is that the final report of the previous festival support has been approved in the Foundation. The festival support is paid to the recipient’s Finnish bank account in two or more instalments based on the schedule drafted by the parties. The final instalment of 10% is paid after the final report has been approved by the Film Foundation.

Midterm report

A prerequisite for the payment of the second instalment is that the recipient has submitted a midterm report following the template provided by the Foundation.

The midterm report must show an itemised list of the project’s actual costs and funding in relation to the budget and an estimate of future expenses and funding. The Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the midterm report.

4. Oversight

Finnish Film Foundation oversees and supervises how the support is used. The Foundation has the right to use audits to oversee payments and how the support is used. The Foundation may also postpone payments during audits.

Organising project oversight

The recipient must maintain their accounts according to the Accounting Act and the Accounting Ordinance and follow sound accounting procedures. The recipient must organise the project’s audit trail – the link between the recipient’s financial statement and the project’s statement of charges – in a way that it can be reliably, completely and transparently verified by a third party.

The Foundation always reserves the right to fully audit the recipient’s accounting and management.

The recipient is obligated to provide their accountant and auditor the film’s support agreement and all appendices. If the recipient neglects these duties, the Foundation has the right to deliver the documents to the accountant and auditor named in the support agreement.

The recipient must observe and notify their accountant and their auditor of the Foundation’s instructions and guidelines (pdf in Finnish) concerning the film industry’s accounting, financial statement and auditing principles.

Disclosure requirement

The recipient must provide the Finnish Film Foundation the correct and sufficient information to enable the oversight of the support decision’s conditions.

The recipient must inform the Foundation of all changes that influence the way the support is used without delay. Changes that influence the use of the support include changes in the festival’s quality, breadth and funding. The Foundation also always has the right to receive information about the project’s current status and follow the project’s progress.

The Foundation may, upon receiving a written application from the applicant, change the support schedule and its terms for special reasons. The relevant application must be completed before the final report deadline stated in the payment schedule. A written report of the changes must be emailed to the handler.

5. Final report

Final report appendices are uploaded in the Reporting and final report folder (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) in the application system.

The final report must be provided to the Foundation according to the payment schedule.

Festivals who receive the support are obliged to provide the Finnish Film Foundation statistics on all screenings as part of their final report.

Statistics report

The Finnish Film Foundation compiles the official film statistics in Finland. A film festival that has received support must provide the Foundation with admissions statistics on all film screenings. The statistics must include the title of the film, date of the screening, cinema screen, city, admissions (i.e. number of purchased tickets including single tickets and tickets purchased with a serial ticket) and box office revenue.

Data on feature film screenings must be provided per screening. Data on short film programmes may also be provided per screening, the Foundation will distribute the admissions and box office revenue for these screenings. In other words, short film programme data does not have to be specified by title.

The data must include all statistically valid screening activities organized by the festival. Other screening activities should not be included. The table below shows whether different screening types fulfil the criteria for pan-European film statistics as defined by The European Audiovisual Observatory. Only activities that fulfil the criteria should be reported. You may include an additional appendix outlining possible other activities.

Approving the final report

Upload the final report to the application system in the Reporting and final report (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) folder.

Information on the submission of the final report to the online application system is emailed to Accounting Specialist Pirjo Harmainen, pirjo.harmainen@ses.fi.

An automatic message indicating that the final report is missing is only removed when the final report has been approved at the Foundation and the final instalment of the support has been paid.

In the application’s Payment information (“Maksutiedot”) window you can see when each instalment has been paid.

The Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the approval of the final report. Finnish Film Foundation has the right to perform audits on the recipient’s finances and and activities based on the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 16.

The recipient must ascertain that the Foundation has the necessary prerequisites to perform the audit.

The Foundation approves the project’s final costs and funding based on the final report.

The support can only be used for the purpose detailed in the support decision. A general grant together with other public funding may not exceed admissible costs.

6. Halting payment and repayment

If the recipient does not repay Finnish Film Foundation according to the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 20, repayment of the support or a portion of it will proceed according to section 9 and section 10 of the act of government transfers to promote film culture.

Section 9 Halting payments

The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately propose to the Arts Promotion Center Finland that the government transfer be halted if the Foundation has discovered information that warrants the halting of the payments. The Arts Promotion Center decides on the halting of payments and the continuation or halting of government transfers based on the Foundation’s suggestion.

The decision of the halting of payments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision to halt payments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation to halt payments without regard to confidentiality agreements.

Section 10 Repayment

The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately inform the Arts Promotion Center Finland of facts that would or should warrant government transfer repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland makes the repayment decision.

The decision of repayments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision of repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation for repayments without regard to confidentiality agreements.