When is an Application of Quality? A Study of the Priorities of the Audiovisual Fund's Evaluators in the Feature Film Programme

The study analyses different representations of qualities of projects submitted to The Slovak Audiovisual Fund based on interviews with commissioners. First, and most important quality, according to commissioners, is related to the content: topics, themes, genre, structure, scriptwriting. If the content-related qualities are met, commissioners focus on the symbolic capital of applicants, and external validations by film festivals and workshops, then on funding, potential distribution strategies, etc.
Genre film gets specific attention, because commissioners consider it to be an undeveloped field in Slovak cinema, and, in the opposition to film students and journalists, are enthusiastic about genre film applications. As other research shown, genre film is considered unoriginal per se, commissioners see it more as a challenge to write film with some degree of originality and unorthodoxy compared to other films in the same genre. Genre film could be viewed as a quality per se, but it has to meet some demands.
Films with the potential for a commercial success are a specific category. They could be funded by the state fund, but they cannot be "shallow" or "superficial". Some commissioners are willing to forgive projects problems with the script; in terms of structure, others do not. Some feel that this type of a project should not be funded by public funds, especially if it has a potential to be funded by the private sector. Paradoxically, what is considered a positive quality of auteurist projects is considered the opposite for projects that are targeted at mass audiences.

Keywords: Film funding, film fund, film commission, Slovak film, Pierre Bourdieu, symbolic capital, governmentality