After the recent reform of the Media Law (see our article), 21 film and audiovisual unions came together on April 5th to express their anger at government delays in public funding.
Nearly 1,500 directors, producers and distributors, plus representatives of all the industry’s professions took part in the meeting. They want the government to issue the forms necessary for obtaining tax credit which, promised at the start of the year, have still not been issued. This delay directly impacts Italian and international productions, many of which have been put on hold, as well as people’s jobs. The postponements have made many workers and technicians redundant.
The Screen Daily article explains that this delay is linked to understaffing within the Ministry of Culture as well as to the new tax credit reform which the government wants to implement.
During the meeting several requests were made to the government. As well as demanding it honours its own commitments on deadlines and tax credits, they want the immediate release of the automatic funds, which haven’t been allocated for four years.
As Cineuropa points out, the Italian film and audiovisual industry represents 9,000 companies and 65,000 jobs. It is the third largest in Europe after Germany and France, with a turnover of 13 billion euros, or 10% of the European total.
Sources: Cineuropa, Screen Daily, Videoage
