Italy’s Direzione Generale Cinema e Audiovisivo (DGCA) of the Ministry of Culture and France’s Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC) will open the second 2026 session of their bilateral fund supporting the development and co-production of Franco-Italian film and audiovisual projects on August 24. Applications will remain open until September 24, 2026.
The Italy-France 2026 fund has an annual budget of €1 million, with the DGCA and CNC contributing €500,000 each. The resources are divided equally between two sessions worth €500,000 apiece. For each round, €150,000 is allocated to co-development and €350,000 to film co-production.
Up to €50,000 for co-development
The development strand supports both feature films and audiovisual series involving at least one producer established in Italy and one in France. Eligible feature films can be fiction, animation or documentary projects intended primarily for theatrical exploitation and running for more than 60 minutes.
Support can reach €50,000 per project, covering up to 70% of eligible development costs for feature films and 40% for audiovisual series. Italian and French participation must fall between 20% and 80% for films and between 30% and 70% for series, with financial participation reflected in genuine technical and artistic involvement. Purely financial co-productions are not eligible.
On the Italian side, applicants must meet a number of conditions, including qualifying as independent producers, operating under ATECO code 59.1 and holding the relevant creative rights. Development projects are also excluded where Italian nationality has already been requested within the 90-day period specified by the call. The 2026 rules additionally exclude development projects whose screenplay and artistic materials have been created using artificial intelligence systems.
Beneficiaries of the Italian development contribution must spend an amount equivalent to at least 100% of the grant in Italy.
€350,000 available for feature co-productions
The second strand reserves €350,000 for the co-production of feature films. Individual projects can receive up to €200,000, covering a maximum of 50% of eligible costs.
For this line, the film must have obtained provisional Italian nationality as a co-production with France, or the applicant must have submitted the corresponding recognition request, by the grant application date. Production or, in the case of animation, production work must not already have started when the application is filed.
At least 80% of the Italian co-production contribution must be spent in Italy. The support may also be combined, within the applicable public-aid intensity limits, with Italy’s selective production support under Article 26 of Law 220/2016 and with funding for minority co-productions.
Applications close September 24
Italian applications must be filed through the DGCOL platform, digitally signed and accompanied by the documentation required under the call. Projects submitted to the DGCA must also be submitted to the CNC under the French procedure in order to be eligible for assessment by the joint commission.
The CNC currently lists September 24 as the deadline for the second 2026 round, with the Franco-Italian commission scheduled to meet on December 3, 2026. The joint committee assesses projects on factors including artistic quality, the strength of the Franco-Italian collaboration, participation by the minority country, international circulation potential and the coherence of the production and financing structure.
With the second 2026 session opening on August 24, the Italy-France fund offers producers another opportunity to strengthen projects built around genuine Franco-Italian collaboration, whether at development stage or with a feature already moving toward production. The combination of dedicated public support, clearly defined participation rules and a joint evaluation process continues to make the scheme an important financing instrument for companies developing projects across the two markets.
