Friday March 16, 2012

30% production rebate for movies filmed in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR: International and local movies filmed in Malaysia will be given a production incentive of 30% from this year, said Information, Communications and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim.

He said locally-made international movies, with a minimum cost of RM5mil while filming in Malaysia, would be entitled to the incentive while local movies would have to spend a minimum of RM2.5mil to qualify.

“The move is to encourage the filming of international movies in Malaysia and the growth of the local movie industry,” he said at the opening of a presentation series on the “Transformation of the Local Film Industry” here yesterday.

He said the expenses of the productions would have to be audited by the relevant authorities before the rebate was given.

Dr Rais said creative productions, such as animation and documentaries, would also be entitled to an allocation of RM120mil under the ministry’s Creative Industry Grant.

He said the ministry’s deputy secretary-general had been instructed to work with the National Film Development Corporation to set up a trust to look into applications for such grants.

He added that RM170mil from the Creative Industry Foundation had been channelled to 153 projects by creative industry entrepreneurs, mainly for film production, and RM30mil more were still being distributed to those involved in similar projects.

“With the funding, we have seen a drastic increase from RM6.1mil in 2010 to RM93mil in the sales of film and television content by Finas in the international market,” he said.

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