FDCP Chairman Rolando S. Atienza

PUSAN, S. Korea – The current status of the Asian film industry, how to lure foreign film productions to shoot in Asia and incentives for this to happen were the focus of the two-day 2nd Asian Film Policy Forum that opened at the Novotel Ambassador Hotel in this city on Oct. 13. Keynote speaker during the opening was the Honorable Mayor of Metropolitan Busan, Hur Nam-sik, who is also the chairman of the Busan Film Commission.

The 2nd Asian Film Policy Forum is an integral part of the ongoing 14th Pusan International Film Festival which ends on Oct. 16.

In his speech, Mayor Hur noted the cutthroat competition in world cinema and therefore the AFP Forum was an opportunity to develop ways to promote the film industry in Asia. He described Busan as “the cinema city” with dreams of becoming a world-class Mecca in the film industry. The forum which started in 2008 was a special event that satisfied those with a thirst for substantial information in the film industry including policy makers and filmmakers, he said. “Now, the film industry has been confirmed as the optimum medium to understand and share a variety of aspects in lives around the world, solidifying its global prestige. It has already created cultural and industrial added values such as global business through non-local planning and shooting.”

The Forum, participated in by eight film commission heads from Korea, Japan, Cambodia, Malaysia, Nepal, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, “will attempt to play the role of a stepping stone where the main bodies of the film industries in Asia have a chance to exchange rapidly transforming policy information and experiences with one another, keeping pace with the current alterations. It will then be a hub of progressive and complementary networks, which can fully increase Asia’s cultural potential and attractiveness,” Mayor Hur said.

The uniqueness of the Asian film industry and its current state especially during the global economic downturn, and ways to promote and encourage both domestic and international production of films were discussed. The Forum was “an opportunity to communicate with one another in order to find its distinct and individual strategy differing from that of North America and Europe.”

The participants of the Forum, all film policymakers and film commissioners in their respective countries, also had the opportunity to hear the remarkable experiences of film production from Bill Bowling, an expert in international film production who for 30 years worked with Hollywood studios organizing filming around the world. From 2006 to 2008, Bowling was the Worldwide Locations Executive for Warner Bros. Pictures.

For the second AFP Forum, suggestions to further develop the Asian film industry were presented and they included the improvement plan of a tax system and incentives based on the complaints from practitioners who attended the first AFP Forum last year.

On his part, Rolando S. Atienza, chairman of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), said they will now be offering incentives to foreign film productions that will be shot in the Philippines. “Just recently, our one-stop shop that assists foreign producers filming in the Philippines, has introduced two incentive packages,” he added.

Grants of up to $15,000 per motion picture project will be given and this will be disbursed via coupons for: Petrol providers, hotels/inns, equipment providers, post-production houses, airlines/shipping lines, film laboratories, and other establishments/providers. Projects must be in production to be eligible for the grant. Projects are rated according to total Philippine-based expenditures, total Philippine labor expenditures and duration of production and specific sites.

Co-productions with Philippine Equity endorsed by the FDCP to the Philippine Department of Trade and Industry may avail of income tax holidays for four years for revenue generated by the film in the Philippines and duty-free importation of capital/film equipment.

In his speech, Atienza noted with pride that the Philippine film industry is flourishing. “In the last five years, the market share of Philippine films has improved from 25% to 35%. In 2008, the total box-office revenues of Philippine films in the Philippines amounted to P1.5 billion ($30 million), 1/3 of the total box-office revenues of P4.5 billion ($30 million),” he said.

He also noted the increase of the number of Filipino films invited to prestigious international film festivals. From three films in 2006, it rose to 15 in 2007, and 19 in 2008, and seven films so far this year, totaling 45 films in 42 festivals.

“The number of Filipino films that have won in international film festivals was 33 in 2008 and 15 as of September for 2009. The highest award ever was achieved by the Philippines at the Cannes Film Festival this May when Brilliante ‘Dante’ Mendoza won the Best Director award for his film ‘Kinatay.’ Significantly, this year was the second consecutive year that a film from the Philippines directed by Mendoza was invited to be the official competition section of the Cannes Film Festival. And just this September, the Philippines again won two major awards: Pepe Diokno’s ‘Engkwentro’ won the Orizzonti Prize for Best Feature Film and the Luigi de Laurentiis ‘Lion of the Future’ award at the Venice International Film Festival.

“And of course, we are very honored and grateful to have been chosen as the country of honor in the Retrospectives Section of the 14th Pusan International Film Festival.”

Atienza thanked President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for her support to the film industry. Such financial support through the FDCP has amounted to P370 million ($7.8M) in amusement tax rebates to local films judged to have high quality. Among other support programs that President Arroyo has extended to the industry is the grant of P30 million ($625,000) to 82 filmmakers who attend film festivals abroad.

For this year, FDCP’s thrust is in laying down the groundwork for the creation of a national film archive, a more aggressive thrust to encourage foreign production companies to shoot in the Philippines, and the development of a distribution strategy internationally.