The 40.5m DKK fund supports national and international productions, and has a first application round before the summer.

This week saw the launch of the new Eastern Denmark Film Fund as the third regional Danish fund, alongside FilmFyn and the West Danish Film Fund. The new fund is established under Copenhagen Capacity, which focuses on attracting international companies and talent to Eastern Denmark. The 40.5m DKK annual funding comes from the municipalities of Copenhagen, Vordingborg and Guldborgsund (12.8m DKK) plus government support from the Danish Film Institute (27.7m DKK).

The aim of the fund is to support national and international productions that choose Eastern Denmark as their filming and production location. The Oscar-winning film producer Kim Magnusson has been appointed to lead the build-up of the fund. NFTVF caught him for a brief Q&A about this new task.

Why are you the right man for this job?

Ever since being the head of the Danish Producers Association more than 20 years ago, I’ve been focusing on attracting additional funding for Danish productions. At that time, we tried to set up a production rebate scheme, and now – after many rounds and with the support of the current Minister for Culture Jakob Engel-Schmidt – we finally have one. I see many possibilities for international productions in combining the new production rebate scheme with the opportunities for funding through the Eastern Denmark Film Fund. I have long experience working with international productions, and I look forward to bringing my expertise and network to this new role with a much-needed funding injection for the Danish screen industries.

The final organisational structure won’t be in place until the autumn, but the first application round for film and TV support is expected to open before the summer. Can you say more about the funding criteria that are described as aiming for a balance between creative, cultural and economic impact?

Yes, that is a hard balance! I’ll be formulating the exact criteria and structures for support together with Copenhagen Capacity and the board. There are many things to consider in this regard, but it’s important for me to get this money to the industry as fast as possible, with funding frameworks that are relatively easy to understand, and where people can expect a fast response. We’re currently hiring people. The hope is to be able to support some signature productions already this year that illustrate the possibilities of producing in Eastern Denmark. It’s hard for me to say something more concrete before we have the specificities in place...

Will there be support for writing and development?

We haven’t settled on how everything will be in the longer run, but in 2026 we expect to prioritise projects that are close to moving into production.

During the initial talk of the fund, there was a focus on having a broader outlook in terms of not only focusing on film and television, but also on developing IPs, games, and cross-media productions. In the current description, the focus seems to be on film?

I have a background in film and television production, and the Eastern Denmark Film Fund will focus on this during the first year while we settle on how to move forward. There are other initiatives under Copenhagen Capacity that focus more on other media forms, but of course we also welcome interesting film and television ideas with the possibility to be strong IPs, or that show potential across platforms.

Besides the location, how is the Eastern Denmark Film Fund different from the two other regional film funds?

I think it’s important that this new fund means that regional funds now cover all of Denmark. Similar to the other funds, we have a special focus on location, but I think that we’ll have a more international outlook, since the new production rebate and being in or close to Copenhagen is attractive to foreign producers. Some years ago, the Copenhagen Film Fund tried to make Copenhagen more interesting for international productions, but it was hard without additional support schemes. The circumstances are much better now, and we’ll deliberately build on that. In terms of the other funds, we have set up a joint meeting after the Berlinale, where we’ll talk more about how to best collaborate.

Does the international outlook also mean looking more to Nordic countries and the Øresund region?

The funding comes from Eastern Denmark, so this region is our priority. We really want to see productions across Eastern Denmark, rather than mostly in Copenhagen, and that will be our main focus rather than, for instance, looking towards Sweden. But Nordic producers are very much welcome to apply, and the new funding opportunities in Denmark mean that we’re now also a more attractive location and production partner for Nordic collaborators. I’ll be attending the Nordic Film Market at the Göteborg Film Festival in a couple of weeks, where I hope to speak to many of my good Nordic colleagues about the fund. And then on to the Berlinale.