The letter sent to foreign producers on 31 March 2022

Due to the great interest in filming in the Czech Republic, the capacity of the film incentive system for this year has already reached its maximum. Therefore, the Czech Film Fund stopped accepting new applications for registration of projects in January. This temporary suspension of registrations has now been extended until 30 September 2022. Projects currently filming or in the pipeline for filming this year will not be affected by the move.

Following up our previous announcement from January this year about the temporary discontinuation of receiving new applications to the Czech incentive scheme due to the national budget stopgap, I am obliged to give you further information.

Mainly due to the sudden need of financial aid of humanitarian and military support to Ukraine, registration of new projects will remain temporarily closed till September 30 this year. Please rest assured that already registered productions are not affected in any way.

These already registered projects´ incentives are being processed, the film incentives scheme is running and there is just a temporary gap in receiving applications for new ones. All the registered projects will be satisfied with receiving their allocation. The production of audiovisual works is smooth as always and uninterrupted. The Act No. 496/2012 on Audiovisual Works and Support for Cinematography remains in effect.

Some of you know from our previous discussions that we were almost there right before the Russia - Ukraine conflict, with the date of opening up again and a nice sum of additional money that we dearly need to keep the scheme up and running. The annual sum of 800 million CZK (37m USD) was granted to us long before the budget stopgap ended. However the break-out of the conflict have caught many European countries with what we can call the very basic military and mainly humanitarian aid budgets for war refugees we pledged to take care.

I also need to mention the Czech incentive scheme already revised in 2016 desires another lift-up. We need to be able to accommodate the rising number of movies and shows with the interest to shoot in the Czech Republic. If I didn´t tell you already, our new government is a strong supporter of the production incentives and a true partner of the Czech Film Fund in the aim to service you the best we possibly can. We just need more time.

The superb quality of our infrastructure, enthusiastic crews and creative minds were all here long before the incentives were first implemented in Europe. I am certain this quality will prevail.

Let me also point out the 2 opportunities to meet in person: Representatives of the Czech Film Fund, Audiovisual Producers´ Association and Czech Film Commission will attend Cannes Marché du Film May 19 – 26. I will also be attending the AFCI Week in Los Angeles June 27 – 30 and I will arrive LA for in-person meetings a week prior that starting June 20.

I remain at your disposal. Please let me know if you need any additional explanation.

My very best,

Pavlína Žipková
National Film Commissioner