Increased funding and tax incentives promise a more active year for the Lithuanian film industry (Press conference held at the Lithuanian Film Centre)

At a press conference held by Lithuanian Film Centre (LFC), results of the previous year and the most important plans for this year were presented. Last year, 113 film projects received support for a total of LTL 6,747,946. This year, funding of film projects is planned to reach LTL 7.5 million.

“This year, 121 applications for the state funding competition have been received. That is 40 applications more than in the previous year. Seeing such activity, we are glad that the bigger LFC budget will allow us to consider more intensive funding for film projects,” - says LFC director Rolandas Kvietkauskas.

Also, more funds are planned to be allocated for recovery and digitization of Lithuanian film heritage. Copies of 10 Lithuanian films are to be purchased from one of the biggest Russian film storage archives Gosfilmofond, with which cooperation was started last year.

Kvietkauskas also mentioned the administration and promotion of tax incentives for film production among the key activities of 2014. The amendments of the Corporate Tax Law of the Republic of Lithuania that came into force this year offer several advantages for film production in our country: companies wishing to donate funds for film production can cut their corporate tax burden, and producers making films in Lithuania are now able to receive funding from private sponsors worth up to 20% of the film production budget. In addition to its direct function - administration of the incentives - LFC will present the opportunity to utilize tax incentives to Lithuanian and foreign film producers and profitable companies operating in Lithuania.

Film education projects will continue: through the film education and training programme which was successfully launched this year, the Young Film Critic Contest, and other educational initiatives. More efforts will be directed towards training of local film professionals: in the autumn of 2014, Lithuania will host the session of the training programme for documentary professionals, Eurodoc.

For the second year in a row, LFC will organize presentation of Lithuanian films and film industry in Berlin, Cannes and Annecy International Animation Film Festival film markets; documentaries will be presented at the film market of the Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. Besides presentations at film markets, LFC also has plans for film promotion projects in Israel, Poland, USA, as well as closer cooperation and joint projects with the film centres of other Baltic countries.