Information For Filmmakers - FAQs

The Shomron [Samaria] Film Fund is a regional fund established as part of a greater support scheme for filmmakers from the peripheries, alongside a range of other regional funds operating in the northern and southern parts of the country. The Fund is not political and has no political agenda whatsoever. Its purpose is to promote filmmaking and production in the peripheries, whilst supporting local creators.

The Fund covers the West Bank area in its entirety including Samaria, Benjamin, Judea, Gush Etzion, Jordan Rift Valley, and the Northern Dead Sea region.

Any and all Israeli citizens, irrespective of faith, race, and gender may apply for funding in the following tracks: short film production, narrative feature production, and documentary film production. They may reside anywhere in the country, as long as they meet the regional funds’ eligibility criteria. Further details outlining these criteria will be shared later on. Eligibility for the development track is limited exclusively to creators living in the West Bank, Jordan Rift Valley, and Northern Dead Sea regions, subject to address verification as listed on an official National ID document.

As explained, creators who are not from the West Bank area may also apply to the fund for support and funding, as long as their film meets the regional productions’ terms and conditions.

: The Regional Productions’ Terms and Conditions were determined by the Department of Culture, and the Shomron Film Fund must abide by them, verbatim, and make sure that all productions funded by it also adhere to them. As of 2022, these are the terms and conditions: Terms and Conditions for a Regional Production – 1. At least 40 percent of each of the following groups will be local residents: the creators taking part in the film production (i.e. the director, screenwriter, and editor); the cast and crew, including production and tech crews. Directors, cinematographers, and sound designers who are not local may count towards the 40% threshold, as long as they are employing an AD, 1st AC, or Sound Assistant who are local residents. 2. The expense budget for the film must adhere to at least one of the following two terms: a) At least 30 percent of the expense budget will be used towards procuring local goods or services. b) At least 50 percent of the working wage budget included in the overall budget for the film production will be used to pay a working wage to local residents in exchange for their work on the film production (productions intending to spend more than 30% of their expense budget locally will be given priority.) 3. The film production will adhere to at least one of the following two conditions: a) The majority of shooting days will take place locally, and the majority of locations in the film masters, i.e. over 55% of the total runtime will have been local. b) At least four film production team members as listed below, including the director or screenwriter, on in a documentary – at least four production team members including a director or executive producer – must be local residents: Producer; Executive Producer; Director; Screenwriter; Director of Photography; up to two leading cast members; Composer; Editor; Set Designers.

Student graduation films are not eligible for regional film fund support.

The extent of the fund’s support is project-based, and in accordance both with the project’s budget and the Fund’s overall budget for that year. At any rate, the fund cannot fund beyond 80 percent of a film’s production budget, as submitted for its consideration.

Immediately on completion of your submission, you will receive a verification email to your email address, confirming your application submission.

Applicants will be informed whether their application has been successful within four months of the submission deadline.

Replies announcing the fund’s decision will be sent via email and include reader feedback.

As of 2022, every film application is reviewed by three readers. The readers are chosen by fund’s management and are all listed in the Department of Culture’s readers’ database.

Should you be informed that your application has been successful, you will be emailed a pledge letter which you will have to sign and send a scanned copy of back to us. At the end of this process, you will be given a contract to sign, outlining project milestones, going forward.

The same application may be submitted up to three times. That said, we highly recommend that one study the readers’ feedback with great care, despite the fact that a different set of readers will be commissioned for the next round of submissions.

The Shomron Film Fund does not fund the development or production of fictional television programmes. However, documentary series applications are welcome.

: It can, and it should be. There is no ban on overlapping funding between regional and national funds, with the exception of the Gesher Multicultural Film Fund’s existing designated track, and The New Fund for Cinema and Television (NFCT). Naturally, however, one cannot apply for funding from two regional funds.

: The content of the work is at the creator’s sole discretion. As such, the fund neither interferes in content nor messages, and the creators must present their work in an honest, genuine, authentic, and well-thought-out manner, along with all the required artistic and professional qualities and credentials.

You may submit your work-in-progress to the production track along with all footage already shot. The application will then be reviewed either for production investment consideration, or for production rough cut top-up funding.