Book II: SUPPORT FOR CINEMA CREATION AND THEATRE DISTRIBUTION

The investment of sums held in their automatic cinema production account by production companies for the production of long-running cinematographic works is subject to the issue of an investment authorisation.

For the purposes of investment approval, feature films must meet the conditions set out in sub-section 2 of section 1 of this chapter.

The application for investment approval may initially only be submitted by the delegated production company. This application may be submitted until the cinema exhibition licence has been issued. However, in the cases provided for in article 211-49, this application must be submitted before shooting begins. For cinematographic works belonging to the documentary genre, filmed location scouting is not considered as the start of filming.

In the case of a co-production, investment approval may be requested by each of the production companies not designated as delegated production companies by the co-production contract until the cinematographic exhibition licence is issued. It is issued to each of the production companies party to the co-production contract that requests it.

The sums invested by the production companies and any direct allocations are allocated in advance of the final allocation decision constituted by the production licence.

The sums allocated to production companies are paid into a bank account opened specifically for each film.

The investment approval decision, taking into account the information provided by the production companies, indicates:1° The provisional classification of the cinematographic work as an original French-language work and as a European work. This classification is without prejudice to the definitive classification awarded by the Autorité de régulation de la communication audiovisuelle et numérique (ARCOM) under the conditions laid down inarticle 6-1 of decree no. 90-66 of 17 January 1990 laying…

The production company has a period of two years from notification of the first investment approval decision for the cinematographic work to obtain a cinematographic exhibition licence.In exceptional circumstances and at the reasoned request of the production company, the aforementioned period may be extended for a period not exceeding two years, by decision of the President of the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée.

Approval of investments is also required: 1° For the payment of pre-production production aid and production aid for genre films; 2° For the admission of cinematographic works produced as part of international co-productions to the benefit of intergovernmental co-production agreements; 3° For the admission to the benefit of the tax credit for delegated production expenses for cinematographic works provided for inarticle 220 sexies of the General Tax Code ; 4°…

Even when it is not required, investment approval may be granted to any production company that requests it for the production of feature films that meet the conditions set out in section 1 of this chapter.