Luc Jacquet, director and documentary maker, is moving ahead with his plans to produce films from his new base in the Principality. He is world famous for his original documentary film that depicted the odyssey of the Antarctic penguins. The March of the Emperor had won an Oscar in 2006 and Luc won fans in the Principality for his focus on the environment. Luc Jacquet has been a more high profile part of the Monaco scene since 2017 after he was rewarded by the Prince Albert II Foundation which had provided support as early as 2011.
Luc Jacquet is currently installed in Monaco building his teams and his companies LJPF and Icebreaker. They work with a brand new approach to financing films. The money will be raised by Initial Coin Offerings (ICO) based on blockchain technologies. It is an innovative way of financing that allows for a project to be financed by its supporters who receive valuable digital tokens in exchange for their money. In the end, the more successful the film the higher the value of these tokens will likely be. They can then be sold on the cryptocurrency market.
This venture is a first in the Principality and has been formalized with two memorandums of understanding that have been signed to create the initial capital. The Monégasque government has invested 2 million euros. And the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, has added a further 750,000 euros for a total of 2.7 million euros.
The Principality is ready and willing to support innovation. Even so, it has been been thoughtful about it and undertaken the necessary due diligence, taking a year to put in place the administrative and legislative powers to implement ICOs.
A bill on blockchain activity was tabled on the National Council’s board a few weeks ago, in the hope that this initiative will be as successful as possible. The initial 2.7 million euros from the Government and the Prince’s Foundation will enable Luc Jacques’s companies to acquire the necessary financial resources for the production of films which shed light on the environment.
This provides freedom of creation in the face of a film industry that sometimes struggles to fund original and different concepts. LJPF with the support of the Principality is finding new ways to make cinema, facilitated by digital money. Digital tools are already legion in the world of film animation and also in the artistic side of mainstream films, but are an innovation in the financial arena.
So now on the immediate horizon is Icebreaker and a new wave of prospective funding for it. The Principality and the whole world stand to reap the benefits from this additional focus by a world-class film director on issues facing the environment.
