A popular international filming location in the Balkans, Bulgaria has introduced a 25% cash rebate on local spending carried out in early 2022 for international productions. The scheme is designed to cover feature films, animations, TV productions, and documentaries. The Bulgarian National Film Centre has simplified the application process to ensure it isn’t mired in administrative processes. “We are here to help and support productions, not to hinder them with overbearing bureaucracy”, the Film Centre’s executive director Peter Todorov confirms.

(El artículo continúa más abajo - Inf. publicitaria)

The reality, however, is that applicants are still encountering difficulties when preparing application documents, which sometimes leads to their removal as they fail to meet the Film Centre’s requirements. The agency is set to publish methodological guidelines for the three stages of the application process, vis-à-vis the implementation of the scheme, as well as for auditing and reporting projects. Regulatory changes are also pending, which should see the application process improve and applicants better supported.

As it stands, more than twenty projects have been examined in the initial phase of the application process. The six companies which have qualified for the 25% cash rebate scheme are Spider Production for sci-fi thriller Subservience, directed by SK Dale, which recently kicked off filming; the Bulgarian Unified Production Organization (B.U.F.O.) which supported the two-week Bulgarian film shoot of the soon-to-be-released Hallmark production A Paris Proposal, directed by Jessica Harmon; Black Sea Film for the Bulgarian-British coproduction Wheels of Heaven, directed by Ben Charles Edwards; Invictus for the Bulgarian-Hungarian coproduction Axis of Life, directed by Atanas Hristoskov; majority coproducer Red Carpet for the coproduction between Bulgaria, Germany and Luxemburg The Herd directed by Milko Lazarov (read our news); and, finally, Studio Zmei for services provided to Cartoon Network Studios' series Unicorn Warriors Eternal, directed by Genady Tartakovsky.

An estimated sum of over €1.5 million will be distributed among the applicants.