Introductory chapter: Definitions

For the purposes of these general regulations, the following definitions shall apply
"Subscriber to a digital channel" means any person who has expressed an intention to follow the activity of a digital channel and, as such, benefits from information on all works newly available on that channel as soon as they are made available to the public.
"Audiovisual adaptation of a live performance": a work based on the recording or audiovisual recreation of a performance, whether pre-existing or not, regardless of the presence or absence of an audience or the location of the recording.
"Automatic financial aid": aid giving rise to the allocation of investment allowances within the meaning of 1° of article D. 311-2 of the Code du cinéma et de l'image animée and direct allocations within the meaning of 2° of the same article.
"Selective financial aid": aid awarded in consideration of an application subject to assessment in accordance with the Article D. 311-3 of the Code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"Programming slot": a time slot identifiable by the public during which works are broadcast on a regular and recurring basis.
"Digital channel": a collection of works based on a theme, a concept or a person, made available to the public on a digital platform.
"Community of economic interests": a situation in which a group of undertakings or cinematographic establishments find themselves, which is characterised in particular when these undertakings or establishments are set up in the form of a commercial company whose partners or majority shareholders or managers are the same.
"Control": control within the meaning ofArticle L. 233-3 of the French Commercial Code.
"Financial co-production": international co-production of a cinematographic work eligible under an intergovernmental co-production agreement, in which French participation is a minority and does not include any artistic or technical contribution.
"Creative documentary: a work that aims to make known and understand a pre-existing reality through an in-depth treatment that bears witness to the author's singular point of view and a particular production intention.
"Giant screen": a screen at least twenty metres wide.
"Immersive screen": a screen, or an assembly of screens, on which projection is possible using a device other than frontal.
"Publisher of videograms intended for private use by the public": a person who has made the declaration of activity provided for in article L. 221-1 du code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"Digital visual effects": digital processing work used to add, remove or modify characters, set elements or objects involved in the action, or to modify the rendering of the scene or the camera's point of view, excluding colour grading work.
"Delegated production company": a production company which, as part of a co-production, takes the initiative and financial, technical and artistic responsibility for the production of a work and guarantees its successful completion. It acts in the name and on behalf of the other production company or companies and is expressly designated for this purpose in the co-production contract. A delegated production company is a production company which, outside of a co-production, performs the above functions alone.
"Company established in France": a company actually carrying out an activity in France by means of a stable and permanent establishment and whose registered office is located in France, in another Member State of the European Union or in a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. For companies whose head office is located in another Member State of the European Union, compliance with the condition of establishment in France, in the form of a permanent establishment, branch or permanent agency, is only required at the time of payment of the aid.
"Technical industry company or organisation": a company or organisation that, through the technical equipment and services it provides, contributes to the development of creation and the quality of distribution of cinematographic, audiovisual and multimedia works.
"Editorial space": a space identifiable by the public and dedicated to the provision of a set of cinematographic or audiovisual works and presented as such.
"Small and medium cinemas": cinemas operated by people who have achieved, on average, less than 1% of admissions on national territory alone or as part of a community of economic interests. This condition is assessed over the two calendar years preceding the year in which the application for aid is made.
"European State": a Member State of the European Union or party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area. A State party to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe, a third European State with which the Community or the European Union has concluded agreements relating to the audiovisual sector or, for aid concerning long- and short-length cinematographic works, a State party to the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production of the Council of Europe, is considered to be a European State.
"Exhibitor of a cinematographic entertainment establishment": a person holding a licence to operate as provided for in the article L. 212-2 du code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"Group of undertakings": a group of undertakings linked together under the conditions set out in article L. 233-3 of the French Commercial Code.
"Video game": any leisure software made available to the public on a physical medium or online, incorporating elements of artistic and technological creation, offering one or more users a series of interactions based on a storyline or simulated situations and taking the form of moving images, with or without sound, as defined in II of article 220 terdecies of the French General Tax Code.
"Magazine": a regular programme consisting of several sections, generally aimed at popularising the subjects covered.
"Current music": music falling within the scope of Article 1 of the Order of 5 May 2017 setting out the terms and conditions relating to the "Scène de Musiques Actuelles-SMAC" label.
"Audiovisual work": a work that is not intended for first screening in cinemas.
"Short-length audiovisual work": an audiovisual work with a running time of one hour or less.
"Cinematographic work": a work that is commercially exploited in cinemas, with the exception of that which gives rise to one of the cinematographic performances mentioned in Article R. 211-5 of the Code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"French-initiative cinematographic work": a work produced solely by one or more production companies established in France as well as a work produced as part of an international co-production in which the French participation in the financing is the largest and for which the exploitation rights to the original work or screenplay have been acquired by one or more delegated production companies established in France.
"Foreign-initiated cinematographic work": a work that does not meet the conditions set out in the definition of French-initiated cinematographic work.
"Short-length cinematographic work": a work whose screening time in cinemas is less than or equal to one hour.
"Long-length cinematographic work": a work that is shown in cinemas for more than one hour.
"Heritage cinematographic work": a work that was first shown in cinemas at least thirty years ago.
"European cinematographic or audiovisual work": a cinematographic or audiovisual work within the meaning of Article 6 of Decree no. 90-66 of 17 January 1990 implementing Law no. 86-1067 of 30 September 1986 and laying down the general principles governing the broadcasting of cinematographic and audiovisual works by television service providers.
"Poorly distributed cinematographic work": a work which, during its first week of national release, is not represented in more than eighty cinematographic establishments.
"Animated work": a work whose production is based specifically on the setting in motion of a narrative image by image or by any synthetic process for most of its duration.
"Original French-language work": a work produced entirely or mainly in the original version in French or in a regional language used in France.
"Work of fiction": a work based on a fictional narrative and characterised characters, shot for the majority of its duration on location with the help of performers.
"Immersive work": an audiovisual creation that offers a dynamic viewing experience linked, together or separately, to the movement of the gaze and the activation of visual or sound content by the viewer, making use in particular of virtual or augmented reality technologies or any other device enabling immersion.
"Unit work": an audiovisual work other than an episode of a series.
"Digital platform": a service providing or enabling access to audiovisual content free of charge, upon individual request made by an electronic communication process.
"Theatrical receipts": the proceeds from the sale of tickets for screenings organised by the operators of cinematographic entertainment establishments or, in the case of a cinema access package giving entitlement to multiple admissions, the sums corresponding to the reference price per seat determined under the conditions set out in the Article L. 212-28 of the Code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"Creative residency": a public or private host structure that temporarily provides one or more artists with a working space and technical and financial resources, including professional consultancy services, to design, write or prepare a work.
"French nationals or equivalent : Persons of French nationality or nationals of a Member State of the European Union, a State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, a State party to the European Convention on Transfrontier Television of the Council of Europe, a European third State with which the Community or the European Union has concluded agreements relating to the audiovisual sector or, for aid concerning long or short cinematographic works, a State party to the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-production of the Council of Europe. Foreign nationals other than nationals of the aforementioned European States, holding a residence permit valid for ten years or more or an equivalent document issued by a Member State of the European Union or another State party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area, are also considered to be assimilated to French citizens.
"Season": a coherent set of episodes of an audiovisual work in the form of a series or collection.
"Film week": a cycle of seven consecutive days as defined in the Article D. 212-67 of the Code du cinéma et de l'image animée.
"On-demand audiovisual media service": an on-demand audiovisual media service as defined inarticle 2 of law no. 86-1067 relating to freedom of communication.
"Television service": a television service as defined in article 2 of law no. 86-1067 on freedom of communication.
"Videomusic": an audiovisual work putting pre-existing musical compositions with or without words into images.