The Canada Media Fund (CMF) and Film Fund Luxembourg (FFL) have announced a joint investment totaling $882,540 in four Canada/Luxembourg coproductions.

The funding is being provided through the Canada-Luxembourg Co-Development and Co-Production Incentive for Audiovisual Projects, a collaboration between the CMF and the FFL that supports eligible projects involving producers from the two countries. The program’s remit covers the co-development of fictional and animated series, animated feature films and digital media projects, as well as the coproduction of digital media projects such as AR, VR, transmedia projects and new technologies.

Each project is receiving a separate grant from the CMF and the FFL, with the former contributing a total of $400,000 and the latter a total of €314,000 (about $484,000 Canadian) across the selected projects.

Two animated projects have been selected to receive development funding support. The animated feature film Welcome to Earth (Les agents des étoiles), from Quebec City’s Productions des années lumière and Zeilt Production, has been granted $34,400 (CMF) and €30,000 (FFL). The film is directed by Sarah Sutter and written by Cyril Bossmann.

A second Zeilt production is also receiving development funding: the animated series Algorythme is being coproduced by Montreal’s Films Extérieur Jour and will receive $40,600 from the CMF, and €26,000 from the FFL. Zeilt creative director Cyril Bossmann is a co-writer on the project, with Canadians Geneviève Sarrazin and Francis Gelinas as co-writer and director, respectively.

Two extended reality (XR) projects are receiving production funding through the initiative. The Ghost Ship (La navire fantôme), produced by Toronto’s Telescope Films and Skill Labs, is receiving a grant of $200,000 from the CMF, and €128,000 from the FFL. The project is directed by Toronto-based Gregory Kaufman, who also serves as co-writer with Benjamin Steiger Levine.

The second XR project, Whispering Forest from Montreal’s Jaxa Production and Luxembourg’s Iris Productions, will receive $125,000 from the CMF, and €130,000 from the FFL. The writer-directors are Katarzyna Kot and Stéphane Guiran, from Luxembourg and France, respectively.

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