{"id":201926,"date":"2025-06-21T07:10:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:10:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201926\/"},"modified":"2025-06-21T07:10:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-21T07:10:17","slug":"romanian-cash-rebate-finds-success-after-settling-debts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/201926\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian Cash Rebate Finds Success After Settling Debts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLast year, Romania launched the Office for Film and Cultural Investments (OFIC) in a bid to restructure and relaunch the country\u2019s cash rebate<\/a> program, suspended in 2021 due to unresolved payment requests for projects submitted in the 2018, 2019, and 2020 calls. <\/p>\n

\n\tLess than a year on and a mere two hours after recently elected president Nicusor Dan nominated Ilie Bolojan as the country\u2019s new prime minister, industry leaders gathered at the Transilvania International Film Festival \u2014 the country\u2019s most prominent film event \u2014 to discuss the results of the reshaping, the need to regain the trust of the international industry, and the future of the rebate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLast year, we managed to pay 85% of the outstanding debts,\u201d said Valentin Savu, manager at OFIC. \u201cWe then relaunched the scheme, starting with an app that digitizes all applications. You now get [shooting] certificates within 30 days, and the film commission has access to all project details online. We\u2019ve had a lot of progress, and some trust has been regained, which can be seen in the more than 50 projects we have supported since the end of July.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAs it stands, the cash rebate program offers returns of 30% of expenditure (down from the original program\u2019s 35%), covering eligible expenses incurred in Romania and the total production costs of audiovisual works, excluding pre-production expenses and promotional\/distribution costs. The new program has a budget of up to \u20ac55 million per year to support productions to shoot in Romania, with the total budget for the period between 2024-2026 sitting at an estimated \u20ac122 million. <\/p>\n

\n\tOFIC can sign financing agreements until the end of 2026 and make reimbursements until the end of 2028, with the possibility of prolonging the scheme next year or creating a new one from scratch. \u201cWe\u2019ll get together and find the best way to do it,\u201d says Savu.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tAlien Film\u2019s Iuliana Tarnove\u021bchi, who worked on high-profile international productions in Romania such as \u201cKilling Eve\u201d and national projects such as \u201cOtto The Barbarian,\u201d emphasized how the success of the new programme was only possible \u201cwith the support of all producers and filmmakers in Romania.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe last four years were very difficult for us,\u201d she added. \u201cI know how much we fought and how much we worked day and night to keep up the hope and try to convince people in government what this program means to Romania and our industry. We are a small country with a very professional industry, and we don\u2019t want people to go away. My hope is that whoever is coming into place now to rule this country to just leave us alone to do what we know best. They will benefit from every single thing we\u2019ll do because we are still one of the most powerful marketing tools this country has to build a good reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTarnove\u021bchi was reserved when it came to sharing any details, but spoke at length about a major international production she is currently working on with an equally major American studio, which had last shot in Romania over two decades ago. Shooting is scheduled to start in August, with the project benefiting from the new rebate system. \u201cI hope no one in this chain will disappoint [this studio], because it is one of the biggest film producing companies in the world. I\u2019m really grateful, and it\u2019s a great experience for me to work on this project. I\u2019m enjoying calling people and asking if they want to work with me on a film because I\u2019ve wanted many years to be able to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI hope this film will bring more productions to Romania,\u201d she added. \u201cI have more films in discussions with this partner, so I know that, if this film works, they will come back. And all of you will benefit from someone trusting us, coming to Romania, and promoting the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Rafa Sales Ross<\/p>\n

\n\tDirector and producer Tudor Giurgiu, also the head of TIFF, highlighted how surprised he was at the ease of the new application process, which he believes will ease the life of not only local producers but international companies wanting to take advantage of the rebate. The producer also commented on the recent elections, stating that he hopes the new cabinet, which is to be appointed soon, will continue to support the program. \u201cWe hope that now they\u2019ve paid all the debts, things will roll like a snowball. Besides, our producers have been very much supported by international producers, mostly American, British and French, who pushed with the previous government for the scheme to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHowever, Giurgiu pointed out the program currently focuses too heavily on serialized projects, urging the team running the initiative to shift the primary focus to film. \u201cI think it also helps because of the co-production landscape, where getting funds in Europe is becoming more and more competitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll panellists seemed positive on the future of the scheme, with Iulia Popovici, from the Romanian Film Office, stating that there are plans in place to increase the rebate to 40% in the near future to make Romania able to compete with aggressive rebate initiatives from neighboring countries like Hungary, which has hosted several high-profile shoots in the last year, including Oscar-winning \u201cThe Brutalist\u201d and \u201cF1: The Movie.\u201d \u201cIn order to remain competitive, you need to analyze what we need to do to increase the attractiveness for international producers to come to Romania,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThis scheme survived a near death attempt and a lot of injuries,\u201d continued Popovici. \u201cWe are all here to prove that if we put our minds together we can work better than any medical team on American television. Of course there are risks, I won\u2019t pretend that you don\u2019t know we are on a political and financial crisis on a national level, but that doesnt have a direct impact on the scheme. There is a general promise that this will continue at the best base and the best form possible on all human limits,\u201d she concluded.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, Romania launched the Office for Film and Cultural Investments (OFIC) in a bid to restructure and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201927,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3090],"tags":[51,81501,1700,81502,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-201926","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-cash-rebate","10":"tag-economy","11":"tag-transilvania-film-festival","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114720107891590726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201926","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201926"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201926\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201927"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201926"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201926"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201926"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}