.
One of the many ambitious targets set by the government to revive the economy was to offer incentives to the film industry to set up shop in Cyprus.
This would either be done by registering production companies here or by offering business and financial services at attractive rates. But we have yet to hear of any mega-achievements of this service, with results most probably next to zero.
This was clearly a bright idea conceived by some accountant or lawyer and adopted by the Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency as one way to lure new business to the island.
But apart from boosting the revenues of the services companies, this incentive or ‘scheme’ has no real impact on the economy or on the pool of creative talent in our audiovisual industry.
What should have happened was to create a proper film commission or ‘office’ to deal with foreign production companies seeking to shoot parts or entire projects in Cyprus, that would tap into the local post-production service providers (camera crews, sound editors, animation, direction, actors, satellite link-ups).
What we have instead is a cinema regulator that distributes EU or other funds to local production houses, but not an agency that would look to tie-up local talent with foreign demand and coordinate services.
As usual, there is no joined-up approach to an idea that shows promise.
It’s no good declaring ambitious plans that do not carry measurable targets. Sitting in an office and waiting for a film studio to suddenly pop up in Cyprus and knock on the door is not the right way to go.
Perhaps this scheme should be handed over in its entirety to the new Deputy Ministry of Tourism, replacing the outdated Cyprus Tourism Organisation next January.
It should consider setting up a ‘Cyprus Film Office’ and coordinate with the private sector and other relevant public offices (Ministry of Culture, Transport, Interior, Finance, Dept. of Antiquities, etc.)
In the past few months alone, Greece has announced setting up of a handful of film offices, the latest being in Crete this week, to offer location shooting, but also competitive post-production services.
Malta has half the population of Cyprus yet has allowed for various blockbusters to be filmed there, subsequently promoting its locations as tourist sites.
Visitors to the quiet and historical city of Dubrovnik will also be surprised to see that parts of a Star Wars film were shot there, an event which the Croatian authorities promote fervently.
Of course, the trouble of setting up a Cyprus Film Office will carry the dilemma of which state service will have ownership of the department and who will be in charge, a technocrat or an individual with friendly ties to a politician or political party? Patronage and progress are not the best companions.
At least, lessons should be learned from the never-implemented one-stop-shop for foreign businesses at the Ministry of Commerce and try not to repeat that mistake again.
