New Delhi: India and Colombia signed today an audio-visual co-production agreement to boost film co-production and cultural ties between the two countries, and the utilization of Indian locales for shooting. It is expected to increase the prospects of India as a preferred film shooting destination across the globe and will lead to the inflow of foreign exchange into the country.
The agreement will enable Indian and Colombian film producers to utilize a platform for collaboration on various facets of filmmaking. It is expected to benefit producers from both countries by pooling their creative, artistic, technical, financial, and marketing resources for the co-production. It will also lead to an exchange of art and culture and create goodwill among the people of both countries thereby boosting cultural ties.
The Minister of State for Information & Broadcasting, Dr L Murugan, and Jorge Enrique Rojas Rodriguez, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Colombia, signed the agreement on behalf of their respective countries.
“India has enjoyed a rich cultural exchange with Colombia over the years. The Government of India acknowledges the importance of co-production agreements, a significant step towards fostering international partnerships,” Dr L Murugan said.
The agreement is expected to lead to the transparent funding of film production and boost the export of Indian films into the Columbian market. It will also provide an opportunity to create and showcase India’s ‘Soft Power’ and lead to employment generation among artistic, technical and non-technical human resources engaged in film production including post-production and marketing, the Information & Broadcasting Ministry stated.
Earlier, India had signed similar agreements with Italy and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in 2005, Germany in 2007, Brazil in 2007, France in 2010, New Zealand in 2011, Poland and Spain in 2012. More recent agreements were signed with Canada and China in 2014, South Korea in 2015, Bangladesh in 2016, Portugal in 2017, Israel in 2018, Russia in 2019 and Australia in 2023.
The co-production agreements signed so far seek to achieve economic, cultural and diplomatic goals. For filmmakers, the key attraction of a treaty co-production is that it qualifies as a national production in each of the partner nations, and can avail benefits that are available to the local film and television industry in each of these countries. Benefits of such agreements include government financial assistance, tax concessions and inclusion in domestic television broadcast quotas.
India has increased the incentives for film production in India including for coproductions 12 times with the maximum incentive possible being 300 million rupees. The incentives scheme for official co-productions offers reimbursement of up to 30% of costs incurred in India, with a maximum of ₹300 million. Services undertaken in India for foreign productions can claim an additional bonus of 5% for showcasing significant Indian content subject to a maximum of ₹300 Million. A further 5% can be claimed for employing 15% or more Indian manpower raising the reimbursement to 40% of the expenses.
– global bihari bureau
