Estonia

Funding bodies

Fund Goal

The MEDIA sub-programme of Creative Europe supports the EU film and audiovisual industries financially in the development, distribution and promotion of their work. It helps to launch projects with a European dimension and nurtures new technologies; it enables European films and audiovisual works including...

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Fund Goal

To encourage co-operation between professionals working in different countries by providing financial support to European co-productions.

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Fund Goal

The objective of Estonian Film Institute is to preserve and develop Estonian national film culture. EFI is financed from the state budget. The EFI budget is to be used for financing the national film production, including features, shorts, animation, and documentaries. Estonian Film Institute represents...

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Fund Goal

The Cultural Endowment is a public agency that supports the involvement of experts in their fields of culture and sport, and thus strengthen the vitality of Estonian culture

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Fund Goal

Tartu Film Fund offers 10-20% cash rebate to local film production companies providing production services for international film projects. TFF is managed by the Tartu Centre for Creative Industries

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Fund Goal

Viru Film Fund is the first regional film fund in Estonia. It was established in 2013 by four rural municipalities in Ida-Viru County. In 2019, the size of the fund increased, thanks to the co-financing of the Ida-Viru County Programme (the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Estonia), and today,...

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Regulation

For a short stay (up to 3 months) visas are not required for the citizens of the following countries: EU, Schengen countries, USA, New Zealand, Canada and Australia.
For more details please consult: http://www.visitestonia.com/en/why-estonia/travel-information?gclid=CNimsbXUhM8CFRWeGwodXb0DpA

 
Nationals of the EU/EEA Member States and Switzerland are able to work without restriction in Estonia. - For all other nationalities a residence and work permit is required. To obtain a work permit the employer has to advertise the vacancy and announce it to the state employment mediation service. If after three weeks this service has not been able to find a suitable candidate, the employer can apply for the consent of the Labour Market Board (LMB). The foreign national must have the qualifications, education, health, work experience, special skills and knowledge required for the job. Once the consent of the LMB has been obtained a residence permit can be applied for.
Resident Permit:
A residence permit for employment is issued for a period of guaranteed employment in Estonia by an employer with a validity of up to two years and it can be extended for up to five years at a time.

Objects in the possession of third parties and not consisting of works protected under copyright laws (see details below) may be filmed, even without the consent of the owner thereof (who, to this extent, is not entitled to claim financial recompense). In some individual cases, “public legal authorisations” (filming permission in the narrower sense) must be obtained from the competent authorities, for instance for shooting mass scenes in cities. Some municipalities have imposed a road and street closure tax for filming. Please inquire at the city government where you intend to shoot for details. Should works/creations (e.g. a painting or sculpture) protected under copyright laws be filmed, in general, the agreement to film must be obtained from the copyright owner. The filming of protected works without the permission of the owner is only allowed within the framework of the “free works usage” provided for in Estonian copyright law, and this only in a very restricted sense. The most typical “free works usage” - concerns the “freedom of the image of the street,” according to which works or building art or other works of fine art (sculptures, pictures) can be filmed without the consent of the copyright owner and reproduced to the extent that the works concerned are located in places used for public circulation.

Accepts ATA Carnets for Commercial Samples, Exhibitions and Fairs, Professional Equipment. For detailed information visit http://www.koda.ee

Standard Rate 20% (since 1 July 2009) Reduced rate of 9% available on: books, newspapers, medicines and accommodations. Zero-rated items include exports, intra-Community supply of goods, sale of certain services to foreign persons and goods supplied on board vessels and aircrafts. Estonia VAT Recovery time: 6-12 months

As in the majority of continental European countries, Estonian copyright law is conceived as author-rights. In every case, the original owner of copyright can only be a natural person (author in the sense of creator of the intellectual work); legal entities can either be original owners of related copyright law (“ancillary copyrights”) or the owners of individual licenses derived from the author. Furthermore, Estonian copyright law embraces relatively strongly distinguished copyright-personality laws, some of which cannot be renounced, (such as the right to claim authorship, protection against relevant adaptations, etc.). Special regulations apply to performers participating in the production of the film (actors, singers, dancers, etc.). To the extent, that they participate in the performance of a work of literature or music within the scope of the film’s production, they are entitled to specific (restricted) ancillary copyrights. The film producer, is entitled to ancillary copyrights both as producer of moving pictures and of sound-carriers. Links: www.kul.ee, www.eau.org

Taxes paid by the employer:
1. social insurance – 33%;
2. personal income tax – 26%;
3. unemployment insurance – up to 3%.   Links: www.ma.ee, www.fin.ee, www.bsr.aktiva.ee

Film Commissions

Tallinn

The Estonian Film Commission, launched in 2012, will promote Estonia as a location for international productions. It also plans to initiate financial or tax incentives to draw in outside shoots. The commission is backed by a dozen of the Estonia’s leading production companies as well as the national...

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Coproduction treaties

Professional Associations

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