16/04/2012 - The institute headed by Susana de la Sierra has announced an end to aid to screenplays, short films, television films, animation series, and exhibition, among others

The director general of the ICAA, Susana de la Sierra (photo) last Friday, April 13, had the tough task of explaining the details of the government’s 35% budget cut to the Cinema Protection Fund managed by the institute (read more). But despite the reduction in available money for the fund (now €49m, of which about €35m will go to repayments for feature films from the second half of 2010 and 2011) and the consequent annulment of certain types of aid (only seven out of the 15 of last year’s activities remain), De la Sierra was optimistic about the sector’s future.

While the greater part of the sector has explained the cuts as a conservative government settling scores with an industry traditionally affiliated with the political left, the ICAA has had to reprioritize its aid to the sector, maintaining its support to production (repayments and projects), distribution, conservation, short films already produced, and festivals (for both film participation and organisation).

There will however no longer be aid for screenplay development, project development, short film production, non-regulated cultural and training projects, fiction and documentary films for television, animation series, film exhibition and the promotion of new technologies, as well as investigation and development.

But the bad news does not quite end there. De la Sierra also threw a bucket of cold water on the industry’s great hope of tax deductions for investment in cinema (read more). While the sector hoped for around 40% in tax deductions for investments, the ICAA director said that this was “unrealistic” and brought it down to about 20-25%. Currently, the figure is at 18% and has proven incapable of attracting private investment. There were no quick-fix solutions on Friday. The sector will simply have to wait until the end of the year.

(Translated from Spanish)