uFund
 | |
| Industry | Film industry |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2004 |
| Founder |
Nadia Khamlichi Adrian Politowski Jeremy Burdek |
| Headquarters | Brussels, Belgium |
| Parent | uMedia |
| Website | www.ufund.be |
uFund (formerly Motion Investment Group) is an audiovisual financing company which has developed a financial product based on the Belgian tax relief legislation for the film industry or Tax Shelter. The aim of the company is to raise funds from businesses and invest them in film and television productions. uFund was founded by Nadia Khamlichi, Adrian Politowski and Jeremy Burdek in 2004.
After having raised 156 million €[1] since October 2004 and having financed 120 films, uFund is currently carrying out its eighth fund-raising operation, covering the year 2011. In 2010 the founders decided to extend their film industry activities by creating uMedia.[2]
uFund
Investment strategy
uFund offers an original investment strategy: to create a portfolio of films of different genres with a high earning potential. This diversification enables investors to maximise their optimum return.
The financial product
uFund has structured a financial product which benefits from a fiscal blank signature, in the form of a tax ruling by the Federal Government Service for Finance applicable to its entire structure, and it comes with bank guarantees from large Belgian banks. Moreover, the financial product benefits from an attractive minimum return.
The two sources of the minimum return are:
- the tax benefit granted by the administration;
- the bank guarantees issued by large Belgian banks.
The tax benefit is subject to certain conditions (see Tax Shelter Act Article 194(3) C.I.R.), mainly the completion of the film and compliance with the condition about expenditure in Belgium. These conditions are guaranteed and audited by insurance or specialised financial institutions (or equivalent systems), as well as by strict procedures and internal guarantees.
The overall fiscal structure benefits from a tax ruling by the Advance Rulings Services. Therefore, this grants a particularly sizeable benefit for investors: total legal security. This structure and each individual contract have been developed in collaboration with an expert in the Tax Shelter, Maître Pierre-Philippe Hendrickx, a partner in the law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse.
The economic and cultural impact of uFund
uFund contributes both to the cultural and economic development of the Belgian film industry:
- Cultural: uFund persuaded international-scale films to collaborate with Belgium (Outside the Law nominated at the Oscars 2011 for Best Foreign Film and an Official Selection for the Cannes Festival 2010) and supported the biggest Belgian animated film ever produced (Sammy’s Adventures: the Secret Passage). Since 2004, it has invested over 41 million euro in films made by Belgian directors and 32.2 million euro in films that were 100% Belgian.[1]
- Economic: from 2004 to 2010, uFund raised and spent over 156 million € in the Belgian film industry. It is considered that all Tax Shelter funds combined (incl. uFund) represent around 6000 supported jobs per year.
Filmography
- 14 Days With Victor
- 9mm
- A Bout Portant
- A Deux C'est Plus Facile
- A Dix Minutes de Nulle Part
- Alle Tijd
- Around the World in 80 Minutes
- Artist, The
- Astérix Aux Jeux Olympiques
- Au Cul du Loup
- Balada Triste de Trompeta
- Black Heart White Men
- Blackout
- Book of Blood
- Bruxelles - USA
- Bye Bye Harry
- Cinderella
- Cloclo
- Cochon de Gaza, Le
- Complot d'Amateurs
- Crime Très Populaire, Un
- De Force
- Dents de la Nuit
- Deux Mondes, Les
- Devil's Playground
- Disco
- Dread
- Dunya & Desie
- Duska
- Eichmann
- Elle ne Pleure pas, Elle Chante
- En Chantier Monsieur Tanner
- Ernst & Bobbie en het Geheim van de Monta Rossa
- Estás Ahí?
- Expatriate, The
- Faux Coupable
- Fille du Chef, La
- Fils à Jo, Le
- Fly Me to the Moon
- Gloss
- Gooische Vrouwen
- Grabouillon
- Groove High
- Haven, The
- Hitler in Hollywood
- Hollywood
- Hors-la-Loi
- Hot Potato, The
- Jackboots on Whitehall
- Joseph, l'Insoumis
- Jour des Corneilles, Le
- Julia
- Kaeloo
- Kamikaze
- Khadak
- Kika & Bob
- Late Bloomers
- Légitime Défense
- Libre Echange
- Liens du Sang, Les
- Little Big Panda
- Lost World Raiders, The
- Louis Chez Les Flamands
- Louis la Brocante
- Lyonnais, Les
- Mademoiselle Drot
- Madre e Ossa
- Magic Crystal, The
- Majesteit
- Masangeles
- Max & Co
- Mer à Boire, La
- Meute, La
- Mijn Opa de Bankrover
- Monde de Pahe, Le
- Monstre à Paris, Un
- Montana
- Nicostratos
- Nuit Blanche
- Otages
- OVNI
- Pasteur, l'Homme Qui A Vu
- Petit Témoin, Le
- Pierre Goldman
- Plus Belle la Vie
- Poissons Marteaux, Les
- Pom le Poulain
- Possibilité d'une Ile, La
- Pot de Colle, Le
- Poulet Aux Prunes
- President, De
- P'tites Poules, Les
- Repenti, Le
- Réveillon des Bonnes, Le
- Rondo
- Sacre de l'Homme, Le
- Sammy's Adventures: the Secret Passage
- Surviving Evil
- Survivre avec les Loups
- Tableau, Le
- Tamed Ones, The
- Titeuf
- Tombé sur la Tête
- Tony Tien
- Torpedo
- Très Excellente et Divertissante Histoire de François Rabelais, La
- Tribulations d'une Caissière, Les
- Véritable Histoire du Chat Botté, La
- Vintner's Luck, The
- Vinyan
- Viva Riva
- Wallies
- Within the Whirlwind
- Yeux de sa mère, Les
- Zwartboek
References
External links
- Official uFund site
- uFund on IMDB
- uFund on WBimages
- Tax Shelter page on the site of the Federal Government Service for Finance
- French-speaking Community of Belgium
- Flemish Community of Belgium
- Brussels Film Office
- Cinema made in Wallonia
- Antwerp City Film Office
- Walloon Brabant Film Agency
- CLAP – Liaison Office of the Provinces of Liège and Luxembourg
- BATCH – Liaison Office of Film Shooting in Hainaut
- The official site of the Young Film-makers’ Workshop