1. Types of eligible projects

1)  auteur feature-length narrative, documentary and animated films, and mid-length documentary and animated films;

2)  historical feature-length narrative, documentary and animated films, and mid-length documentary and animated films;

2. Co-financing amounts

Co-financing for Project development may not exceed 50% of the planned costs of the project for ordinary (normal) films and 70% for difficult films, taking into account the amount limits set out in the OP Film Production, i.e.:

1) co-financing of feature film projects may not exceed:

• PLN 200,000.00 (two hundred thousand zloty) for auteur films,
• PLN 250,000.00 (two hundred and fifty thousand zloty) for historical films;

2) co-financing of documentary film projects may not exceed:

• PLN 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand zloty) for feature-length auteur films,
• PLN 70,000.00 (seventy thousand zloty) for mid-length auteur films,
• PLN 100,000.00 (one hundred thousand zloty) for feature-length historical films,
• PLN 70,000.00 (seventy thousand zloty) for mid-length historical films; 

3) co-financing of animated film projects may not exceed:

• PLN 300,000.00 (three hundred thousand zloty) for feature-length auteur or historical films,
• PLN 50,000.00 (fifty thousand zloty) for mid-length auteur or historical films.

3. The following film projects shall not be accepted:

1. micro-budget;
2. minority co-productions;
3. whose development has already been co-financed once by PISF.
    

4. At least 50% of the grant (in case of projects which have previously received a script development grant, this will be 40% of the grant) awarded to the producer for Project development should be allocated for the following, in the case of: 

1. feature films: for creative work (including rights to adaptation, costs of development and acquisition of rights to the script, script doctor, literary and content-related consultations, participation in workshops connected with project development subsidized under Objective I, costs connected with the production of the scene/trailer, e.g. remuneration of the cinematographer, director, set designer, actors);
2. animated films: for literary and artistic works and creative works, including the creative work of the director;
3. documentary films: for detailed documentation of the project, especially including filming locations and characters, and content-related consultation.
    

5. Under Objective I, a producer may apply for co-financing of an adaptation of a literary work only on the condition that the producer can document that he or she has effectively acquired the rights to use the original work to create the adaptation (an option agreement is also permissible, which does not have to be executed at the stage of co-financing application) and to produce and exploit the film.
 

6. Project development should produce the following appendices to the final report, in the case of:

1) feature films:

• obligatory: financing structure, cost estimates, preliminary shooting schedule, report on literary works, director's explication, final version of the script, shooting documentation of locations, set designs (required in case of built structures), film previs (e.g. mood book), for directorial debuts: test shoot;
• additionally, depending on the planned activities in the cost estimate: test shoot, consultants' opinions, documentation report, FX designs or tests, shooting script or storyboard;

2) documentary films:

• obligatory: financing structure, final cost estimate, preliminary shooting schedule, preliminary cost estimate for production, report from conducted documentation, director's explication, final version of the script, shooting documentation of locations, consultants' opinions, film previs (e.g. mood book);
• additionally, depending on the planned activities in the cost estimate: multimedia presentations of the project, FX projects or tests;

3) animated films:

• obligatory: financing structure, cost estimate, multimedia presentations, director's explication, artwork, report on creative work (musical, artistic, literary, etc.), focus study, final version of the script, theatrical trailer/teaser subject to, only in relation to feature film projects,
• additionally, depending on the planned activities in the cost estimate: consultants' opinions, report on documentation or marketing and sales activities, FX projects or tests, shooting script or storyboard.
   

7.     Project development must not last longer than three years. In exceptional cases the General Director of the Polish Film Institute may agree to extend the deadline, but not longer than 1 year. 

Call for application:

Session I/2022: 24.01-28.01.2022 

Session II/2022: 25.04-29.04.2022  

Session III/2022: 22.08-26.08.2022

Application attachments:

Project development - Application attachments - download

Other requirements:

1. application is to be submitted in Polish;

2.  the co-financing application and required attachments must be submitted through the PISF Internet Application Submission System, also known as "ISSW", (https://pisf-wnioski.pl/);

3.  documents in foreign languages must be accompanied by a translation into Polish. At each request of PISF, the applicant must present a certified translation of a given document. Documents submitted to conclude an agreement with PISF must be accompanied by a translation into Polish confirmed by a certified translator;

4. the Institute shall examine an application within 90 days from the date of the last day of the call for the given session. The final decision to co-finance an application is taken by the General Director of the Polish Film Institute after consultation with the Experts, taking into account the limits of financial resources as well as an assessment of the organizational and financial conditions of the project and the hitherto co-operation of the producer with PISF (including, among other things, timeliness and reliability of the beneficiary's settlements);

5.  a project financing commitment or a decision of the General Director of the Polish Film Institute to co-finance a project shall be valid for 6 months from the date of publishing this information on the Institute's website www.pisf.pl. In special cases, upon a justified request of the producer, the validity of the project financing commitment may be extended. The total term of the project financing commitment shall not exceed 3 years. If within the period of validity of a project financing commitment or decision the applicant fails to provide documents required for the conclusion of a co-financing agreement, the decision of the General Director of the Polish Film Institute to award co-financing shall expire;

6.  within the framework of the OP Film Production, co-financing of a project may not exceed 50% of the planned costs of the project, subject to the amount limits determined in the Operational Programmes for the given year. A difficult film project, including a director's debut or second film by a director, may receive co-financing not exceeding 70% of the project budget (except for Objectives VI and XI, where co-financing may not be higher than 90% of the project budget);

7. when applying for co-financing, the producer must make own contribution of at least 5% of the requested funding from PISF. This contribution may be financial or financial and in-kind. In the case of a financial and in-kind contribution, the share of an in-kind contribution may not exceed 95% of the value of the producer's total contribution. In the case of minority co-productions, this requirement refers to the financing of the Polish party;