Written by David Lewis on Jul 31, 2008. Posted in Incentive News

German Federal Film Fund gets extension

The German Government is to extend the DFFF (German Federal Film Fund ) for a further three years from 2010 to 2012. It will have an annual budget of EUR60m.

The fund was launched at the beginning of last year with an annual budget of EUR60m for 2007 to 2009 to reimburse EUR0.31 of every Euro of "German spend" up to a maximum of 80% of a film's total production costs.

To date it has backed 137 feature film and documentary projects which have generated a german spend of EUR540m.

16/7/08 Thais plan tax breaks

The Thai cabinet has agreed in principle to create more tax incentives for foreign productions filming in the kingdom.

Any new incentives will not be in place for at least a year, but it does represent an immediate marketing boost for the country.

The next step is for the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and Thailand Film Office to work with the Ministry of Finance and the Board of Investment to spell out the detailed plan concerning tax refunds to foreign productions, the possibility of drafting bilateral privileges with interested countries in terms of co-production and the potential of establishing a tax-free industrial park for film production financed by Thai and foreign investors.

Wanasiri Morakul, director of the Thailand Film Office, said, "It will take a while to draft the actual guidelines of the tax incentives, but it will certainly benefit both Thailand and the productions choosing to come here.

Hong Kong martial arts epic Stormwarriors is currently shooting in Bangkok. The Weinstein's Shanghai, starring John Cusack, Chow Yun-fat and Gong Li, is due to start shooting in various locations around the country soon. And later in the year, the Wesley Snipes vehicle Chase the Dragon will arrive on location in Thailand.

"Under the Board of Investment rule, a full-scale movie park covering every stage of the production will get an eight-year tax break," said Morakul of the Film Office. "Hopefully, this will attract foreign investors to form a joint venture with Thai companies, who need more financial support to pull off such large-scale projects."