Romania to resume cash rebate scheme for film industry, pay past debts
Romania’s minister of culture, Lucian Romaşcanu, recently announced that the government has taken "an initial legislative step" to restart the cash rebate state aid scheme for the film industry and that previous debts would be paid starting from September.
"Since 2017, at the suggestion of the Ministry of Culture at that time, we launched a cash rebate state aid scheme for the film industry, which means the reimbursement of a percentage of expenses that foreign or Romanian investors in the film industry in Romania can receive. Unfortunately, for a fairly long period of two to three years, this scheme has been blocked. Today, we have achieved an initial legislative step: transferring this aid scheme from the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Tourism to the Ministry of Culture," the minister said, cited by Agerpres.
Romaşcanu noted that rules governing the program’s implementation will be developed in the immediate future, and added that the state aid scheme will receive funding after the budget adjustment.
He also said that previous debts could be paid at the beginning of September.
"It is an extremely important obligation for Romania. When we implemented this scheme in 2018, important producers applied to receive the respective funds. Unfortunately, approximately 40 companies [...], although they applied, did not receive their money. We are able to announce that we will rectify this situation. Sometime in early September, we will be able to pay the first installment of the owed money, and we will also implement a new aid scheme for the film industry for 2023-2027," the minister said.
He also assured investors in the film industry that they will have "an extremely important partner" in Romania.
Lucian Romaşcanu, who recently visited Cannes, stated that he had meetings with representatives of the National Center for Cinema in France, Eurimages, and international production companies.
"There is fantastic interest in Romania. Aside from having everything necessary for film productions, we have talented people, studios, and everything related to film production infrastructure... this was exactly what was missing. Since then, we have announced that we will have this emergency ordinance this week, and I want to say that once we pay the first installment - I am convinced - we will have numerous requests from film producers," he stated.
(Photo source: Inquam Photos | Sabin Cirstoveanu)
