Written by David Lewis on Jul 14, 2009. Posted in Incentive News

Czech politicians acknowledge need for incentives

Czech politicians from opposite sides of the political divide are showing new support for the Czech film industry. Speaking on a July the 5th talkshow broadcast by Czech Television, Mirek Topolanek of the center-right Civic Democrats and Vitezslav Jandak of the center-left Social Democrats both agreed that the next government should introduce incentives for filming in the Czech Republic.

“The Czech film industry needs some kind of stimulus,” said Topolanek, a former prime minister, on the popular weekly political show Otazky Vaclava Moravce (Questions with Vaclav Moravec). “We should encourage cinema like we encourage business.”

“These two parties rarely are of the same opinion, but on this occasion both of them agreed that something must be done,” said Ludmila Claussova of the Czech Film Commission. “It was the first time the two sides have publicly admitted the need for incentives in the Czech Republic to mirror the systems in place in other European countries – systems that now put the Czech film industry at an unfair disadvantage.”

The Czech Republic will hold a general election this autumn. In the coming months, film industry professionals will work together with the ministries of culture and finance and other government agencies to draw up a model for incentives which will be presented to the new government in the fall.