THE House committee on appropriations has approved a substitute bill seeking to grant incentives to Filipino filmmakers who have received awards in international film festivals.
The substitute bill is entitled the “Film Industry Incentives Act".
Under the bill, an amount of P5 million shall be granted to the filmmaker or producer whose full-length feature or documentary film received the highest recognition for technical or artistic excellence in notable international film festivals.
An incentive of P3 million shall be given to the filmmaker or production entity that produces the international award-winning short feature or documentary film.
A P2 million incentive shall await the film director, main artist, screenplay, or technical support filmmaker personnel, including the scriptwriter, cinematographer, editor, production designer, music scoring, sound director, audio or video technician, who received the highest international awards in their respective categories.
Supporting artists or technicians who will obtain the highest award in their respective categories will receive P1 million.
To be eligible for the P5 million and P3 million incentive, the film should be produced by a Filipino filmmaker or production entity.
The total production budget for each of the full-length feature or documentary film must not exceed P10 million while the total production budget for each of the short feature or documentary film must not exceed P5 million.
The funding for the incentives shall come from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Both agencies should give the amount of P50 million for the incentives fund.
The international award-winning films shall be automatically qualified to receive an “A” rating from the Cinema Evaluation Board.
Authors of the substitute bill are Camarines Sur Representatives Luis Raymund Villafuerte, Quezon City Rep. Alfredo Vargas III, and Cavite Rep. Strike Revilla. (Keith Calayag/SunStar Philippines)