The Moldovan National Film Center has recently announced that a new cash rebate scheme is now available for foreign productions. The scheme offers a cash rebate of 25%, with a supplementary 5% for productions that specifically promote Moldova. The Center is the administrator of the scheme as a whole, with payments being made to foreign production companies in a partnership with the local Ministry of Finance.

All applications of the foreign producers must be filled in partnership with local production companies, at least 25 working days before the shoot begins. Two months after the production ends the producers can apply for the cash rebate, the Center and the Moldovan Ministry of Finance promising that the payment of 25% or 30% of the expenses made on the Moldovan territory will be made in circa two and half months after application.

An interesting aspect of the scheme is that it covers an impressive array of creative content possibilities, from fiction, documentary and animation features and shorts to TV show episodes, music videos, commercials, reality shows and web shows.

Valentina Iusuphodjaev, the director of the Moldovan National Film Center, tells Cineuropa that the budget proposed for next year amounts to €500,000 and that the sum can be increased if the interest of the foreign producers justifies the increase. She also says that the biggest advantage of the Moldovan cash rebate scheme is that “it is extremely friendly with low-cost productions”. The minimal required expense on Moldovan territory is €100,000 for fiction features, €30,000 for fiction shorts, €200,000 for animation features, €20,000 for animation shorts, €25,000 for documentary features, €15,000 for one TV-series episode, €15,000 for commercials and music videos, €50,000 for a reality show and €15,000 for any multimedia narrative project.

The Center is aware that the political volatility in the region, with the war in Ukraine raging so close to Moldovan borders, is a risk for the scheme, “but as the funds we are offering are not so big, this risk is diminished”, Iusuphodjaev explains.