NFB, U.K. sign funding pact

The National Film Board is teaming with the BBC and the UK Film Council to implement a new initiative to assist international doc filmmakers called the World Documentary Fund.

Each funding entity will contribute equally to the fund for an overall total of $3.5 million. The money will be distributed to as many as four feature-length documentaries, to be released theatrically over a period of two years.

In return, the NFB secures worldwide distribution rights, excluding the U.K. and Ireland, for each film on behalf of the three-way partnership, while the BBC will hold broadcast and non-theatrical rights for the films in the U.K. and Ireland.

The NFB will also get a coproducer’s credit on each of the doc projects.

The first film to receive funding through the WDF is Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine, directed by Vikram Jayanti (When We Were Kings), a coproduction of the NFB and Alliance Atlantis.

Invasions tops $1M

Denys Arcand’s Les Invasions barbares grossed $562,638 over its opening May 9-11 weekend, a strong showing considering the Mother’s Day holiday, according to distributor Alliance Atlantis Vivafilm. The distrib reports receipts totaled $1,043,732 after the film’s first week in theatres.

Invasions opened on a record 136 screens in Quebec, including nine subtitled English prints. Odeon Films plans to release Invasions this fall in the English market.