Terry Gilliam film to benefit from Portuguese tax incentive
Terry Gilliam film to benefit from new Portuguese tax incentive
’The Man Who Killed Don Quixote’ directed by Terry Gilliam will benefit from the new system of tax incentives created by the Portuguese Government to attract foreign film productions.
Business with Luso
May 10, 2017 at 14:22
Terry Gilliam was one of the members of the British comedy group Monty Python, who starred in a television series and several films. Pandora da Cunha Telles, a co-producer, explained to Lusa that parts of ‘The Man Who Killed Dom Quixote’ will take place in Portugal making it the first movie to benefit from the new system of tax incentives for cinema.
Tax Program for Cinematographic Work
With this tax incentive, the Government expects foreign producers to take a loan if they want to work in Portugal. This tax credit is deducted from the IRC (Corporate Income Tax), which is calculated on the expenses of the cinematographic production and it equals around one million euros. The program covers "cinematographic works of foreign initiative carried out with national producers or with national executive producer, works in international co-production and also works of national production", states the law. The maximum amount for annual tax credits is 7 million euros in 2017, 10 million euros in 2018 and 12 million euros in 2019.
Inviting Foreign Films to via PicPortugal
Because of this fiscal incentive, a portal was created - www.picportugal.com - with information about Portugal, to capture more foreign film productions. In the site there are attributes, praise and statistical data about the country including landscapes, monuments, emblematic and historical buildings, as well as information on legislation, producers and other Portuguese entities. Anyone who searches on PicPortugal will find a summary about the mild climate, the diversity of landscapes - from the 800 kilometers of coast, historic villages of the interior to natural parks, castles, palaces and urban art. Also, there are several film commission in the country that are promoting regions for film production, television or publicity.
There were a lot of foreign films that were filmed in Portugal or that had Portuguese cast and technicians, such as Fernando Trueba's "Belle Époque" (1992), Patrice Chereau's "Queen Margot" (1994), " The Nineth Gate (1999) by Roman Polanski, and " La fidélité" (2000) by Andrzej Zulawski.
What does this mean for Portugal?
According to the Film and Audiovisual Institute, in 2012, the cinema, audiovisual and multimedia sector in Portugal was made up of 6,800 employees, 811 companies and an amount of 949 million euros in sales.
Chosen & Translated by: Badriah.
Revised by: Luisa.
I was struggling to find new topics for this blog when I came across this article. This topic might be controversial for some people and that is why I decided to translate it. There is a big discussion on whether this initiative is helping or harming Portugal. In my honest opinion, tax breaks on the rich always had the same excuse "boosting economy, creating jobs, bringing investments" which I do not necessary agree with. Maybe this case is different since its promoting Portugal and its culture. Only time will tell if this is a good initiative or not. I just wish there were bigger promotion for Portuguese films and film makers.
- Badriah.
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