Incentives attract major international productions to Czech Republic
The Czech Republic's new Film Industry Support Programme is paying off. The programme, which offers producers rebates of up to 20% of eligible local spend, has attracted interest from scores of productions. Eighteen projects have already been approved to receive a combined total of nearly CZK 205m ($10.8 m) in grants.
Mission: Impossible IV is set to receive CZK 37.8m through the programme. Prague-based co-producer Stillking Films is setting up the local shoot with producers J.J. Abrams, Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner. The new installment returns to Prague, where Cruise and director Brian De Palma kicked off the franchise with 1996's Mission: Impossible.
Etic Films is approved for CZK 31.5m in support for The Borgias, Canal Plus' 12-episode miniseries about the notorious and noble Borgia family, set in the Renaissance.
Partnership Pictures is approved for CZK 20.5m for Red Tails, the Lucasfilm production about the Tuskegee Airmen, which returned to the Czech Republic this summer after primary photography last year.
Philibert, a co-production between Okko Production and Mandarin Cinema, is approved for a CZK 16m rebate. (Read our interview with Okko producer Marc Jenny here.)
Der Mann mit dem Fagott, a co-production between German public broadcaster ARD, Austrian public broadcaster ORF and MIA Film is cleared to receive CZK 8.7m. The two-part TV film will tell the story of Austrian pop star Udo Jürgens and is based on the singer's own book of the same title.
Punk Film will receive an estimated CZK 6.3m for Rockstar, a co-production with Shree Ashtavinayak Cine Vision of India. You can learn more about the shooting of the Bollywood musical in the Czech Republic here.
International films are by no means the only ones to benefit from the incentives. Local productions that have been approved for the 20% rebate include Actor´s Runway Agency's The Last Children of Aporver (CZK 10.1m); Hollywood Classic Entertainment's 3D family film V peřinách (CZK 8.5m); Movie s.r.o's Lidice (CZK 8m); Buc-Film's Leaving, written and directed by former Czech President Václav Havel (CZK 8m); Golem Film's The Devil's Bride (CZK 5m); Negativ's Alois Nebel (CZK 3.3m); Cinemania's Westernstory (CZK 3.5m), and In Film Praha's Innocence (CZK 3.6m) and A Men's Novel (CZK 3.1m).
You can learn more about the Film Industry Support Programme in our guidelines section. If you're looking for a local co-producer, please see our industry directory.
