Philippines Unveils Two-Track Co-Production Fund at Busan — SkimNews
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- Film Philippines Office (FPO) unveiled the revamped International Co-Production Fund at Busan's Asian Contents & Film Market, splitting it into a Majority Track for Filipino-led projects and a Minority Track where a Filipino producer is the junior partner.
- Majority Track projects, where the Filipino side must own at least 20% and hold the largest share, can receive up to PHP13 million ($210,000) for features and series and up to PHP5 million ($80,000) for documentaries and shorts, with requirements including two Filipino above-the-line hires and five key crew slots.
- Minority Track applicants need only a 10% Filipino stake and either two above-the-line Filipino hires or three key Filipino crew members, with features and series capped at PHP7 million ($113,000) and docs and shorts at PHP3 million ($48,000).
- Both tracks offer identical top-ups: an extra PHP1 million ($16,000) for qualifying ASEAN co-productions and up to PHP2 million ($32,000) more for projects that clear a cultural test, with the FPO noting dollar figures may shift with exchange rates.
- The FPO, which runs the country's international co-production incentives and sits within the Film Development Council of the Philippines under the Office of the President, highlighted past ICOF-backed winners including Tommy Ng Ka Chung's "Another World" (best animated feature at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards), Janus Victoria's "Diamonds in the Sand" (best debut at Udine's Far East Film Festival), and Mouly Surya's "This City Is a Battlefield" (best cinematography at Bandung).
- The FPO's separate Film Location Incentive Program has also backed festival winners, including Rafael Manuel's "Filipiñana" (special jury prize at Sundance's World Cinema Dramatic competition) and Morgan Knibbe's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" (best film at Torino).
Why it matters: The restructured fund gives Filipino producers a lower-barrier path to international partnerships through the Minority Track (10% stake, 2-3 Filipino hires), while the Majority Track scales rewards to PHP13 million for Filipino-led projects — expanding the country's co-production pipeline beyond the existing prize-winning slate and tying public money more directly to creative and crew participation.
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