Bolstering investment in film
Deputy Culture Minister Petros Tatoulis on Sunday met with representatives of the European film industry at Cannes – currently hosting its annual film festival – to present the government’s new policies for attracting foreign film industry players to Greece. «Nine Reasons to Choose Greece for Shooting your Film» outlined the ministry’s policies, which include tax incentives for investors and the establishment of a Greek Film Commission Office aimed at promoting the country as a location for foreign productions and co-productions. «For the past few months the Ministry [of Culture] and the Ministry of Economy and Finance have been working on the relevant support framework for providing economic incentives to film and other audiovisual productions – a plan that will soon be tabled in Parliament and will eventually be drafted into the law of the Greek state. This will be our first draft law on our new policies for the film industry for one very simple reason: It expresses the political will of our government for the development of an outward-looking film sector,» said Petros Tatoulis. The luncheon, held at the Carlton Intercontinental, was attended by Italian Deputy Culture Minister Antonio Martusciello, director of the European Commission’s Media Program Constantinos Daskalakis, executive secretary of the Council of Europe’s Eurimages Renata Roginas, head of European affairs of the CNC French Film Center Xavier Merlin, director-general of the international film desk of the Italian Culture Ministry Gaetano Blandini, and strategy adviser of the UK Film Council Jonathan Davis. The Greek delegation was composed of cinema adviser to the government Antonis Papadopoulos, Greek Film Center Director Thanassis Valtinos, Thessaloniki International Film Festival Director Despina Mouzaki and Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Director Dimitris Eipides, as well as a group of Greek producers and distributors. The draft law’s main points are aimed at offering tax incentives that will increase both local investment interest in the Greek industry and make Greece more attractive to foreign investors, for productions or co-productions – both Greek and foreign – being shot in Greece. It also hopes to promote production services being offered by Greek companies to foreign businesses. The main points presented include tax breaks of up to 30 percent of the production budget being invested by Greek independent production companies or, via them, by foreign companies; and the formation of tax-free reserves up to 100 percent of the production budget.
