Operational since 1 June, the CNC’s indemnity fund aimed at protecting productions on which filming is brought to a standstill as a result of COVID-19 (read our news) is now being fortified and its overall budget rising twofold to €100m, thanks to a pool of French mutual insurers (Aréas, Macif and Matmut) entering onto the scene. Henceforth, expenses incurred by French or majority French productions (audiovisual or film) which are forced to halt filming for reasons relating to COVID-19 will be covered up to the value of 30% of their insured capital, with a ceiling of €1.8m (versus the previous offering of 20% and €1.2m). Producers signed up to the CNC fund will be free to subscribe to this extension of its services, which will only be available as an add-on, formalised by way of a standard insurance contract at market rate.

The president of the CNC Dominique Boutonnat stresses that "the CNC had envisaged a form of two-tier cover. The public fund is accessible to all film shoots revived or initiated since 11 May. The second, made possible by private insurers, has just been finalised, which is excellent news."

Generally speaking, the French film industry is starting to get going again, with cinemas re-opening their doors last Monday 22 June (amidst relaxed sanitary conditions) and the CNC firming up incentives for distributors and producers releasing (or re-releasing) movies between 22 June and 30 August.

Worth a final mention on the subject of financial stimuli is the international tax credit rate for foreign productions heavy on visual effects (whose digital effects spending in France totals at least €2m), which has recently risen from 30 to 40%. It’s an increase which lends significant strength to a tax scheme which was already a key driver of French attractiveness to the international market. Since 2008, over 300 cinematic or audiovisual works of 24 different nationalities have been drawn to France for the filming or production of their projects, and the 55 projects accorded international tax credit last year are estimated to have spent over €300m in France.

Indeed, this new and improved version of the mechanism will form the focus of a briefing session to be held at 7pm on 25 June at the Cannes Film Festival’s Online Marché du Film, where the CNC is participating in several pitching events this week (namely the session delivered by the 12 Cinéfondation residents and that by the 17 graduates of the Fabrique Cinémas du Monde/Institut français study programme – article), not to mention conferences such as the 3pm gathering on 25 June on the "mobilisation of French speakers to support co-production and to help revive and adapt the sector" (involving the Wallonia Brussels Federation, the Swiss Federal Office of Culture (OFC), the Film Fund Luxembourg (FFL) and the Canadian bodies SODEC and Téléfilm.