Venice Gap-Financing Market

CALL FOR PROJECTS 2024. OPENING: 5th February

The Venice Production Bridge is launching the Call for Projects for the eleventh edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which will take place from August 30^th – September 1^st, 2024, during the 81^st Venice International Film Festival (August 28th – September 7th, 2024).

The Venice Gap-Financing Market is a platform for selected projects that aims to support European and international producers to secure financing for their projects (Fiction Films, Documentaries and Immersive Projects) through one-to-one meetings with potential and pertinent international professionals (producers, sales agents, distributors, financiers, broadcasters and funds). All the invited professionals are decision-makers.

This call is open to European and International projects for the following categories:
• Fiction and Documentary Feature Films: up to 27/33 feature films and international narrative or creative feature documentaries, including 3 Biennale College Cinema Projects, from all over the world will be selected. There is no genre limitation and animation feature films are welcome;
• Immersive Projects: up to 10/12 immersive projects from all over the world will be selected.

The 3-day event will present up to 45 selected European and International projects and Immersive Projects developed through the Biennale College Cinema Virtual Reality.

A tailor-made initiative of this kind requests a real confidentiality for the producers and the partners already in place. A first Project line-up will be sent to selected potential financiers and professionals in order to allow them to register to this co- production market.

The catalogue detailing each film project will then be emailed to the registered professionals by the beginning of July 2024 to entitle them to request 30-minute one-to-one meetings with the producers of the selected projects. The Venice Gap-Financing Market will set up these meetings in accordance with the availability of the participants and meetings slots. Each participant will receive a personalised meeting schedule a few days before the event.

The Venice Gap-Financing Market terms and conditions are:

GENERAL ELIGIBILITY

For Fiction and Documentary Feature Film projects
· The project must be a fiction feature film or a long feature documentary with a running time above 70 minutes and intended for theatrical distribution.
· The project must be looking for a maximum of 30% gap-financing and we will prioritize the ones looking for a European partner.
· There is no budget or genre limitation but each project must have secured 70% of its budget and must prove that this financing is in place. The film can be in development, partly or entirely shot.

The Project Team
· Directors must have previous directing experience (short films, features, TV movies, series).
· Producers must have a track record in production and international co-production

For Immersive Projects
· Immersive Projects can be in different formats: all formats of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) or 360 videos.
· The Immersive Projects can be fiction, documentary, series or animation.
· The minimum length must be 10 minutes.
· The projects can be both original concepts and adaptations.
· There is no budget limitation. Each project should be preferably in a development phase, but projects already partially or totally shot are also acceptable.
· All submitted projects should have secured at least 30% of their budget and must prove that this financing is in place.

The Project Team
· Directors must have previous artistic or directing experience in their field (short films, features, TV movies, series, visual arts, performing arts, sound, installation, performance...).
· Producers must have a track record in production and international co-production

The directors of first or second Fiction and Documentary Feature Films or Immersive Projects are invited to provide information on their curriculum vitae as requested in the online submission form, for the purposes of research and documentation.

EXTENDED DEADLINE FOR PROJECT SUBMISSION: 10th May 2024 (11:59 pm CEST)

Submission is carried out in two steps:

1. Fill in the Venice Gap-Financing Market Online Entry Form.
2. Upload the materials listed below to complete your submission. All documents must be in English or have an English translation.

Please combine the requested documents into a single pdf (PROJECT DOSSIER). This has to include the following:

1. Full treatment/concept (8-10 pages for Feature Films, Documentary and Immersive Projects)
2. Director’s biography and filmography or track records
3. Producer’s biography and filmography or track records
4. Director’s statement and/or visual concept
5. Production company’s profile (incl. titles of completed recent international co-productions and year)
6. Budget Outline (in Euros)
7. Financing Plan (in Euros) with all relevant documents showing that 70% of the budget is in place for Feature Films and Documentary projects and the 30% for Immersive Projects
8.  What do you hope to find for your project at the VGFM? Please be as specific as possible.
9. In which co-production markets did this project previously participate? Please give the name of the event and year.
10. All contracts, agreements and deal-memos have to be signed by all parties:
  · Between the producer and the author
  · Between the producer and the director          
  · Between the producer and the co-producer(s), if any
  · Between the producer and the main cast(s)/agents
  · Between the producer and the funds, financial partners that appears in the financing plan
  · Between the producer and the national distributor(s) if any
  · Between the producer and the international sales agent, if any.

If you are not able to attach the Project Dossier with the full application to your submission, please send this in an email stating the title of your project in the subject of the email to gapfinancingmarket@labiennale.org

Immersive Projects
· Candidates must submit a concept and treatment of 8-10 pages on the overall story, visual approach, user experience or interactive experience design.
· Each project must be submitted by a production company (producer, distributor, TV Channel) who own full rights to develop and produce the project.

Once the selection has been made, the selected producers are contacted to confirm their participation and asked to provide updated material for inclusion in the Book of Projects, which is going to circulate to professionals and financiers before and during the festival.

Participation in the event entitles the selected project teams (the delegate producer and the director) to the following services and facilities:

· Travel and accommodation;
· Extensive networking opportunities and one-to-one meetings;
· Project promotion;
· An Industry Gold badge for the access to all the services of the Venice Production Bridge.

In return all the selected project teams are required to:

· Include the following line and the authorized logo in the credits when the film is completed “Presented at the Venice Production Bridge 2024”. The logo will be provided electronically;
· Attend the activities of the Venice Gap-Financing Market;
· Attend all the pre-organized one-to-one meetings during the event.

By accepting the invitation to participate to the Venice Gap-Financing Market, you are also agreeing to follow and satisfy the above conditions.

The Venice Gap-Financing Market is co-financed by the European Commission’s MEDIA Fund.

81st Venice International Film Festival: 28th August - 7th September 2024
Venice Production Bridge: 29^th August –3^rd   September 2024
Venice Gap-Financing Market: 30^th August - 1^st  September 2024