Preparing an application:
- Study the grant announcement and the support guide carefully.
- Log in to our application system with your Suomi.fi e-Identification.
- Fill in an application in the application system. The application consists of
1) an application form
2) the application’s appendices
3) the applicant’s appendices - Submit the application before the deadline.
Whenever you are in contact with us regarding your application, mention the application number and the name of your festival in your message!
1. General
The aim of the support
The aim of the Finnish Film Foundation is to promote the broad and comprehensive supply and distribution of films. The Foundation’s values include participation, pluralism, cultural diversity and artistic freedom.
The purpose of the support is to promote the domestic and international professional screening and distribution of films, and to secure the continuous funding and operations of nationally important film festivals.
To whom?
Nationally significant festivals submit their applications to the Foundation, other festivals submit them to the Arts Promotion Centre Finland (Taike).
The applicant must be a registered association.
For what purpose and how much?
Finnish Film Foundation grants operational support for film festivals to organise nationally significant film festivals.
The Ministry of Education enables the support by granting an annual government subsidy to the Foundation.
Previous support decisions may be viewed from the Foundation’s support decisions page.
How and when to apply?
Import support is applied for by submitting an application in the application system before the deadline given in the grant announcement.
The application consist of:
1) an application form
2) the application’s appendices
3) the applicant’s appendices
Prior to submitting an application, you must carefully read the relevant grant announcement and support guide. You should begin preparing the application well ahead of the deadline.
The applicant is responsible for submitting the application within the deadline.
The application deadline is at 16:00 on the last day of the application period.
The festival support applications are handled by:
Ilmari Arnkil
Exhibition and Distribution Specialist
• support for cinemas, distribution and festivals in Finland
+358 9 6220 3035
A good application and smooth communication
It is essential for the evaluation and comparison of the applications that the application is clear and carefully prepared.
In a good application, the project plan outlines clearly and concisely the aims of the project, their execution and schedule, and the persons working on the project. The budget and the financing plan support the project plan and its goals.
Updating appendices and information in the application system
Please note that the Foundation’s application system does not automatically inform the Foundation’s staff if you upload new appendices or update your information. Send an email about the changes to the person handling the application.
Whenever you email the Foundation about your application, please state your application number and name of your festival.
In addition to the obligatory appendices, you may add complementary appendices to your application .
If the drop menu in the Application’s appendices does not have a suitable appendix type, choose Other appendices (“Muut liitteet”).
What requirements must the applicant meet?
A prerequisite for a favourable support decision is that the applicant has complied with possible previous support agreements and conditions set for the granting of support.
For the purposes of making a decision, the Foundation may ask the applicant to supplement material that they previously submitted to the Foundation. Support cannot be granted if the application is insufficient and the required information is not uploaded into the online application system despite requests to do so.
How are the applications evaluated?
Evaluation considers the breadth and diversity of the programme, its national and international significance for audiences and the media, the applicant’s position as a festival organiser and the funding base of the festival.
Support is discretionary. The evaluation and comparison of the applications is based on an overall assessment that considers the purpose of the funds, the grounds mentioned in the grant announcement and available funds in the budget. In addition, the applicant’s professional and financial ability to complete the project is taken into account. Other support previously granted by the Film Foundation to the applicant is also taken into account.
How are the decisions made?
The Board of the Finnish Film Foundation decides on festival support based on the presentation of the CEO. The Foundation aims to make decisions in 8–10 weeks after the deadline.
All applicants receive a written decision that contains the conditions of the support and a claim for corrections with instructions. You will get an email when the decision is made to the email address given in the Applicant’s information.
The decision is based on the act of government funding for the advancement of cinema (1174/2018), the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001) and the Administrative Procedure Act (434/2003).
2. Support application
Fill out an application in the application system consisting of the following:
- Application form
- Application’s appendices
- Applicant’s appendices/information
Obligatory appendices
You can submit the application once all the obligatory appendices are uploaded to the application system.
The festival's plan of action
Budget and financing plan
Admissions statistics and proceeds from ticket sales of the previous event
The applicant’s appendices
Before the deadline, upload the appendices pertaining to the production company to the the Applicant’s appendices.
Financial statement
A valid extract from the Trade Register
A certificate of paid taxes
A certificate of paid pension insurance premiums
Openness of documents
According to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), a document submitted to the Finnish Film Foundation is public. Documents may also be designated confidential under the law or access to them may be discretionary. Confidential official documents include documents that contain information about private business or trade secrets.
3. Decision and support payment
A prerequisite for payment of the support is that the final report of the previous festival support has been approved in the Foundation. The festival support is paid to the recipient’s Finnish bank account in two or more instalments based on the schedule drafted by the parties. The final instalment of 10% is paid after the final report has been approved by the Film Foundation.
Midterm report
A prerequisite for the payment of the second instalment is that the recipient has submitted a midterm report following the template provided by the Foundation.
The midterm report must show an itemised list of the project’s actual costs and funding in relation to the budget and an estimate of future expenses and funding. The Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the midterm report.
The Foundation’s logo
Support recipients must include information about the project support in their publications by using the Foundation logo or in writing: “We have received support for this project from the Finnish Film Foundation.”
4. Oversight
Finnish Film Foundation oversees and supervises how the support is used. The Foundation has the right to use audits to oversee payments and how the support is used. The Foundation may also postpone payments during audits.
Organising project oversight
The recipient must maintain their accounts according to the Accounting Act and the Accounting Ordinance and follow sound accounting procedures. The recipient must organise the project’s audit trail – the link between the recipient’s financial statement and the project’s statement of charges – in a way that it can be reliably, completely and transparently verified by a third party.
The Foundation always reserves the right to fully audit the recipient’s accounting and management.
The recipient is obligated to provide their accountant and auditor the film’s support agreement and all appendices. If the recipient neglects these duties, the Foundation has the right to deliver the documents to the accountant and auditor named in the support agreement.
The recipient must observe and notify their accountant and their auditor of the Foundation’s instructions and guidelines (2021, pdf in Finnish) concerning the film industry’s accounting, financial statement and auditing principles.
Disclosure requirement
The recipient must provide the Finnish Film Foundation the correct and sufficient information to enable the oversight of the support decision’s conditions.
The recipient must inform the Foundation of all changes that influence the way the support is used without delay. Changes that influence the use of the support include changes in the festival’s quality, breadth and funding. The Foundation also always has the right to receive information about the project’s current status and follow the project’s progress.
The Foundation may, upon receiving a written application from the applicant, change the support schedule and its terms for special reasons. The relevant application must be completed before the final report deadline stated in the payment schedule. A written report of the changes must be emailed to the handler.
5. Final report
Final report appendices are uploaded in the Reporting and final report folder (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) in the application system.
The final report must be provided to the Foundation according to the payment schedule.
Festivals who receive the support are obliged to provide the Finnish Film Foundation statistics on all screenings as part of their final report.
A written report on the festival
A report on the actualised costs and funding
Project audit report
Admissions statistics per screening
Approving the final report
Upload the final report to the application system in the Reporting and final report (“Raportointi ja loppuselvitys”) folder.
Information on the submission of the final report to the online application system is emailed to Accounting Specialist Pirjo Harmainen, pirjo.harmainen@ses.fi.
An automatic message indicating that the final report is missing is only removed when the final report has been approved at the Foundation and the final instalment of the support has been paid.
In the application’s Payment information (“Maksutiedot”) window you can see when each instalment has been paid.
The Foundation may request further information if it deems it necessary for the approval of the final report. Finnish Film Foundation has the right to perform audits on the recipient’s finances and and activities based on the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 16.
The recipient must ascertain that the Foundation has the necessary prerequisites to perform the audit.
The Foundation approves the project’s final costs and funding based on the final report.
The support can only be used for the purpose detailed in the support decision. A general grant together with other public funding may not exceed admissible costs.
Repayment of discretionary government transfers
Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001) section 20
Recipients of discretionary Government transfer must repay without delay any transfer or part thereof they have received through error, in excess or manifestly without cause. Recipients must also repay a transfer or part thereof if it cannot be used as required in the transfer decision. If the repayable sum does not exceed 100 euros, it is not necessary to repay it.
In addition to the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001), section 20, the recipient must abide by the following repayment conditions:
- The recipient is obliged to immediately repay the grant or part of the grant if the grant has not been used during the time period agreed upon by the parties and if the Foundation has not granted an extension.
- The repayable amount must include annual interest and an added three percent following the Interest Act (633/1982), section 3, subsection 2. The interest is calculated from the last payment to the support repayment date.
- The target of the support and application number must be mentioned in the message field during repayment.
The support must be repaid to the Finnish Film Foundation’s bank account:
Nordea Bank Abp
IBAN FI74 1572 3000 0305 77
BIC NDEAFIHH
6. Halting payment and repayment
If the recipient does not repay Finnish Film Foundation according to the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers, section 20, repayment of the support or a portion of it will proceed according to section 9 and section 10 of the act of government transfers to promote film culture.
Section 9 Halting payments
The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately propose to the Arts Promotion Center Finland that the government transfer be halted if the Foundation has discovered information that warrants the halting of the payments. The Arts Promotion Center decides on the halting of payments and the continuation or halting of government transfers based on the Foundation’s suggestion.
The decision of the halting of payments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision to halt payments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation to halt payments without regard to confidentiality agreements.
Section 10 Repayment
The Arts Promotion Center Finland is responsible for halting payments. Finnish Film Foundation must immediately inform the Arts Promotion Center Finland of facts that would or should warrant government transfer repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland makes the repayment decision.
The decision of repayments must be made immediately and, for special reasons, during at least two calendar years after the Finnish Film Foundation’s suggestion. Finnish Film Foundation must include sufficient and essential information to make a decision of repayments. The Arts Promotion Center Finland also has the right to receive the necessary information from the Finnish Film Foundation for repayments without regard to confidentiality agreements.
Finnish Film Foundation’s grants are based on the act on the government’s support for the promotion of film culture (1174/2018). The grants apply the Act on Discretionary Government Transfers (688/2001). The Foundation follows the Administrative Procedure Act, the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), the Language Act (423/2004), the Sámi Language Act (1086/2003), the Archives Act (831/1994), the Act on Electronic Services and Communication in the Public Sector (13/2003) and the Privacy Protection Act (9/2018).
According to the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), a document submitted to the Finnish Film Foundation is public. Documents may also be designated confidential under the law or access to them may be discretionary. Confidential official documents include documents that contain information about private business or trade secrets.