1. Types of eligible projects

1)    feature films (auteur, historical, for young or family audiences);

2)    feature-length documentary films (auteur, historical);

3)    feature-length animated films (auteur, historical, for young or family audiences); 

2. Co-financing amounts

Co-financing may not exceed 70% of the production's budget and the following amounts, calculated from Polish funding:

• PLN 2,000,000.00 (two million zloty) for feature films (auteur, historical, for young and family audiences, with high box office potential) intended for exploitation in cinemas or on VOD services, 
• PLN 500,000.00 (five hundred thousand zloty) for feature-length documentaries (auteur, historical);
• PLN 1,000,000.00 (one million zloty) for feature-length animated films intended for exploitation in cinemas or on VOD services. 

 3. For minority co-productions the percentage limits of co-financing are calculated based on the sum of financing by the Polish party (a maximum of 70% of such costs). In the case of a minority co-production where the director of the film is a Polish citizen, the percentage limits are calculated on the total budget;

4. A lead producer who does not have an established track record as a producer may not apply for co-financing of a minority co-production (as defined by PISF);

5. For all minority co-productions, a minimum of 80% of the grant must be spent unconditionally in Poland and the artistic contribution of Polish creators must be adequate to the envisaged co-production share of the Polish party. The minimum artistic contribution of Polish creators shall be as follows:

• in the case of a feature film: engagement of at least one of the following Polish creators: director, production designer, cinematographer, screenwriter, lead actor, editor, or engagement of three of the following artists: VFX supervisor, composer, key sound designer, make-up artist, costume designer, one supporting actor (two supporting actors require the engagement of two additional individuals from those mentioned above);
• in the case of a documentary film - use of at least one of the following elements: content from Polish film archives, participation of a Polish protagonist or employment of a Polish cinematographer or Polish editor, dominant theme connected with Poland (historically or geographically); 
•  in the case of an animated film - engagement of at least one of the following Polish creators: animation director, storyboard artist, artistic design creator, and production of 30% of the animation in Poland;

6. General Director of the Polish Film Institute may accept an application with a different element of artistic contribution of Polish filmmakers, taking into account its benefit for the Polish film industry, and also in case international agreements between countries allow or provide for specific conditions.

7.  An application for co-finacing of a minority co-production must be submitted before the start of the shoot;

8. The General Director of the Polish Film Institute, upon reasonable request of the producer, may agree to accept a co-financing application out of session.

Call for application

Session I/2022: 24.01-28.01.2022 

Session III/2022: 22.08-26.08.2022

Application attachments

In the case of feature films, the same provisions concerning Objective II.

In the case of documentary films, the same provisions concerning Objective III.

In the case of animated films, the same provisions concerning Objective IV.

Other requirements

1. application is to be submitted in Polish;
2. Polish producers as well as EU and EEA producers are eligible, however it is strongly advised to have a Polish co-producer on board.
3. 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/);
4. 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;
5. 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);
6. 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;
7. 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);
8. for international co-productions between countries that have ratified the revised Council of Europe Convention on Cinematographic Co-production, Rotterdam, 30 January 2017 (Journal of Laws 2018, item 2189) applications shall be processed in which the share of the Polish party is at least 10% in a bilateral co-production and at least 5% in a multilateral co-production. In the case of international co-productions between countries, at least one of which has not ratified the revised Convention, applications shall be processed in which the share of the Polish party is at least 20% in bilateral co-productions and 10% in multilateral co-productions;
9. for bilateral co-productions where Poland has an agreement governing bilateral co-production relations, the share indicated therein shall apply;
10. 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;