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Zagreb - The Sabor on Wednesday continued its session with a debate about changes to the Audiovisual Activities Act, which, Culture and Media Minister Nina Obuljen Koržinek said, will facilitate the work of producers and enable more stable financing, which was welcomed by MPs.
The amendments envisage an increase in funds for the development and production of Croatian audiovisual works and provide for the possibility of additionally financing the development and production of Croatian audiovisual works of independent producers by investing funds raised as various fiscal charges in new audiovisual works.
"Producers who are considered independent and pay taxes in Croatia will have the right to financial incentives, which are granted automatically, without project evaluation," Obuljen Koržinek said.
She recalled that a grant scheme for film and TV productions was introduced in 2011, with more than 120 projects worth €260 million having been filmed. "We consider it the most profitable scheme of state support ever," she said.
She noted that the incentives range from €10,000 to 130,000.
"During the two terms of our government, the budget of the Croatian Audiovisual Centre (HAVC) was significantly increased. In 2008 it amounted to around five million euros, in 2016 it was reduced to four million, and since the start of our first term we have increased it continually and this year it amounts to €10 million, with the funds coming from the state budget and lottery revenue," the minister said.
She congratulated director Nebojša Slijepčević for winning the Golden Palm award at the Cannes Film Festival for his short film "The Man Who Could Not Remain Silent", as did members of parliament, who welcomed the amendments.
"This is a good financial injection but it is too small for the film community in Croatia. I would be happy if some of the parliamentary sessions were interrupted also because of the great successes of the Croatian film industry and culture, which are equal to those in sports," said We Can! MP Urša Raukar Gamulin, a reference to a break to be made in today's parliamentary session over a match to be played by the national football team at the European championship in Germany.
Raukar Gamulin called on the Culture and Media Ministry to expand the subsidy scheme to include all of cultural and artistic creation.
As the minister boasted about the increase in funding for the film industry in two terms of the HDZ-led government, SDP MP Ivan Račan asked her if she knew how much the prices of film services had gone up in the last eight years due to inflation and growing exports.
"In 2012 the SDP-led government forgot to include incentives for the film industry in the budget. The cumulative inflation over the last eight years was around 25% and we increased the incentives by 147%. Every year, unlike the SDP, we continually increased funding for culture and audiovisual culture," the minister said.
"If the state gives money for certain projects, then there is responsibility on the part of the state and HAVC as to what kind of films are made," said Bridge MP Nikola Grmoja, calling with his party colleagues for making films that would portray the 1991-95 Homeland War in a positive light as "no such films have been made."
MP Raukar Gamulin said that this was interference in creative freedoms that were guaranteed by the constitution, while the minister dismissed Grmoja's statement as untrue.
Homeland Movement (DP) MPs will support the proposed changes, but agree with Bridge MPs and welcome the proposal for a special call for applications for grants to make patriotic works, said DP MP Ivana Mujkić.
"All options that represent Croatian family values and traditions must be financed, and that has not been the case so far. I believe that that will be included in the bill before its second reading because otherwise the bill would not be quite constitutional," said DP MP Dubravka Lipovac Pehar on behalf of her caucus which wants emphasis to be put on "educational and patriotic content, support to local talents, cooperation with the diaspora, innovations, preservation of the tradition, language and traditional values, parenthood and child welfare."
The SDP caucus, too, said it would support the amendments but noted that the financial crisis of the film sector was far greater than the increase in funding envisaged by the bill. "It's nice to boast about the increase in the budget but what has not been said is that Croatia does not meet the minimum production in its own national programme," Račan said.
HDZ MP Vesna Bedeković commended plans to additionally develop and strengthen the quality of Croatian cultural products. "We should pay more attention to the culture of watching Croatian films. Croatia is a strong sports power but it is also a country that has a rich culture," she said.